Alexandria, VA – May 4, 2012 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board increased the 2012/2013 spiny dogfish quota from 30 to 35.6 million pounds. The increase is consistent with proposed regulations for federal waters as well the recommendations of the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Spiny Dogfish Monitoring Committee. The table below shows preliminary regional and state commercial quotas for the 2012/2013 season as adjusted for overages and rollovers.
The Board also approved Draft Addendum IV to the Spiny Dogfish Fishery Management Plan for public comment. The Draft Addendum proposes allowing exemptions (with Board approval) to the 5% maximum quota rollover provision as well as measures to update the spiny dogfish overfishing definition based on recommendations of the ASMFC Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee. The rollover provision exemption seeks to provide states the opportunity to rollover more than 5% of their unharvested quota from one year to the next. It responds to concerns by states in the southern region that early closure of federal water fisheries often leaves more than 5% of their quota unharvested.
The Draft Addendum also proposes providing the Board the flexibility to update or modify the management program’s overfishing definition by Board action based on the recommendations of its Technical Committee and best available science. The current overfishing definition is based on the number of pups per female that recruit to the stock and was adopted in 2002 from the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Plan. Since that time, the Council has updated its definition based on maximum sustainable yield or a reasonable proxy, consistent with the best available science. Adjusting the overfishing definition is a technical consideration and will not impact management significantly.