October 24, 2023 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
During its late September meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts, the New England Fishery Management Council acted on two items related to monkfish.
• The Council approved the range of alternatives for a joint action that is being developed in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Council to reduce the bycatch of Atlantic sturgeon in the monkfish and spiny dogfish large-mesh gillnet fisheries; and
• The Council also approved the Monkfish Research Set-Aside (RSA) Working Group’s final report.
MONKFISH RSA WORKING GROUP: The working group was formed early this year to review and develop measures to improve the Monkfish RSA Program’s effectiveness. As part of its charge under the Council’s 2023 priorities, the working group evaluated the findings and recommendations of the broader 2019 RSA Program Review to determine which, if any, of those recommendations should be further considered for the Monkfish RSA Program.
Fishermen, NOAA Fisheries and Council staff, Monkfish Committee members, and others served on the working group, which held three meetings. The group categorized its recommendations as follows:
High Priority: The working group recommended making these changes first;
Important: The group recommended addressing items in this category after high priority items were considered; and
Do Not Recommend: The group discussed 13 other possibilities but opted to remove them from further consideration.
The recommendations were further categorized by: (a) communication improvements; and (b) RSA allocation improvements. An at-a-glance list of these recommendations by category can be viewed in this presentation. Detailed tables can be found in the final report