April 20, 2023 — The following was released by New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council is asking NOAA Fisheries to take emergency action under the Secretary of Commerce’s authority to address a critical Gulf of Maine haddock situation that is expected to result in significant fishery impacts during the 2023 groundfish fishing year. The new fishing year begins on May 1, less than two weeks after the Council gathered in Mystic, CT for its April 18-20, 2023 meeting.
The crux of the problem is this. Fishermen have been encountering Gulf of Maine haddock at very high catch rates. The proposed 2023 annual catch limit (ACL), however, is extremely low. The Council recently learned of one industry member who, in a single trip, harvested an amount of Gulf of Maine haddock equivalent to what will become his entire allocation for 2023. Several fishermen expressed concern that an early shutdown of the fishery was highly likely and would have wide-ranging impacts. Even without targeting haddock, fishermen need haddock quota to account for bycatch while harvesting other species.
The proposed low catch limit is part of Framework Adjustment 65 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which the Council developed to establish catch limits and management measures for 2023-2025. This action is now under review by NOAA Fisheries
Framework 65 contains an acceptable biological catch (ABC) of 1,936 metric tons (mt) as recommended by Haddock landed in Gloucester, Massachusetts. – NEFMC photo by the Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC). The ABC was largely based on results from the 2022 Gulf of Maine Haddock Management Track Stock Assessment, as well as other relevant information.
The 1,936-mt ABC led to an annual catch limit that was then divided into several components or sub-ACLs to cover catches from state waters, the recreational fishery, and other categories. The sub-ACL for the groundfish sector and common pool fisheries settled out at 1,149 mt, representing an 84% reduction from the fishing year 2022 sub-ACL (see slide 49 for 2023 sub-ACL breakdown).