NOAA today announced new measures intended to end overfishing and continue the rebuilding of Northeast groundfish such as cod and flounder. The approved measures, which will be effective May 1, establish new catch limits and also include a major change in how the fishery will be managed.
Over the past several weeks, NOAA Administrator Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NOAA Assistant Administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service Eric Schwaab, and other senior NOAA officials have met with fishermen and community leaders from around the Northeast regarding the changes coming to the groundfish industry. Together with regional congressional leaders and other elected officials, they have committed to work to take advantage of scientifically sound flexibility within the law, adaptive opportunities, and economic assistance to help fishermen and fishing communities adjust to these changes.
“Going forward we will make a concerted effort to monitor the effects of the new measures and to make improvements as quickly as possible,” said Schwaab. He noted that there is new information on the condition of skate stocks, an alternative fishery for many participants in the groundfish fishery, and that there will be new information on the condition of pollock stocks this summer. “If these stocks are improving—and we do not know that yet—we will work to put that information into action, which could mean an increase in the allowable catch for both stocks without damaging rebuilding,” he said.
Also this week, Schwaab sent a letter to the New England Fishery Management Council, pledging his support in continuing to work closely with the Council in making adjustments to catch limits or allowable fishing practices as stock assessment work, new gear research and other applied science provide additional information.
NOAA is currently discussing with the National Academy of Sciences the possibility of an analysis of the rebuilding times for overfished stocks. The current law requires these timeframes to be as quick as possible, but no more than 10 years unless the biology of the stock, environmental conditions or international management measures to which the U.S. is a party dictate otherwise.
Schwaab also said that NOAA is committed to finding more ways for the groundfish fishery to target stocks that can withstand more harvest. Continued cooperative research with the industry is a key part of this effort. In the past two years, NOAA’s Northeast Cooperative Research Program has funded $13 million in such projects, including $2.5 million in awards recently announced for eight projects involving more than two dozen partners and a study fleet of more than 25 trawl vessels.
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AUDIO: Listen to the press conference