July 14, 2012 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has approved the transfer of approximately 332,016 pounds of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder quota from the scallop fleet to New England groundfishermen in an action supported by both groups. The transfer is intended to provide some desperately needed relief to the groundfish fleet. Regulators had reduced its yellowtail quota by 80 percent this year while the scallop fleet took only 31 percent of its assigned yellowtail quota last year.
The Fisheries Survival Fund, a scallop industry group, expressed its appreciation for the move in a letter, dated July 12, to Samuel Rauch, deputy assistant administrator for NOAA's Fisheries Service. However, the letter also emphasized the government agency's need to develop better tools for tracking yellowtail.
"Scallop fishermen currently pay observers to track (yellowtail) bycatch during fishing operations," the letter said, "and yet NOAA Fisheries takes five to six months before the observer data is integrated into the catch estimates."
Read the full story in the New Bedford Standard Times