February 11, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
During its late-January meeting, the New England Fishery Management Council approved new specifications for the small-mesh multispecies fishery for fishing years 2021-2023. These limits apply to whiting and red hake stocks and are based on recent stock assessment information and other data. The package contains:
- Annual catch specifications for small-mesh stocks that follow overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) recommendations from the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) – except for southern red hake, where the Council went with a more conservative approach and selected an ABC that is 75% of the SSC’s recommendation in order to enhance stock rebuilding;
- A provision to reset the total allowable landing (TAL) trigger for northern red hake from the current 38% to the original value of 90% so that in-season accountability measures don’t unnecessarily restrict the fishery at a very low level of landings; and
- An adjustment to the whiting possession limit on trips using less than 3-inch mesh codend trawls so that fishermen can land up to 15,000 pounds of northern silver hake and southern whiting.