December 17, 2019 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
During its early December meeting in Newport, RI, the New England Fishery Management Council approved Framework Adjustment 59 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Among other provisions, the framework includes 2020-2022 specifications for 15 groundfish stocks in the Northeast multispecies complex, as well as total allowable catches (TACs) for three groundfish resources on Georges Bank that the U.S. shares with Canada.
Also on the groundfish end, the Council received:
- A presentation from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) on the recent operational assessments for 14 groundfish stocks – the report and presentation are available here;
- A report from the Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) on the SSC’s overfishing limit (OFL) and acceptable biological catch (ABC) recommendations for groundfish stocks and Atlantic sea scallops – the presentation and related documents can be found here;