June 29, 2020 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:
The New England Fishery Management Council has received a new report that provides insightful information about monkfish discards and how alternative approaches for projecting future discards might be used when setting limits on total allowable landings (TALs) in the fishery.
The Council sets monkfish specifications every three years using data from the previous three years. In September 2019, the Council signed off on 2020-2022 specifications using data from 2016-2018. Discards during that three-year period were notably higher than the past period, increasing from 13.9% to 18.2% in the Northern Monkfish Management Area and from 24% to 50.8% in the Southern Management Area.
Since discards are subtracted from the annual catch target to get to the landing limit for fishermen (see flow chart below), the large change in discard estimates was concerning, especially in the southern area, because the estimates were reflective of a high discard period that was not expected to continue in the future.