April 24, 2017 — The following was released by NOAA:
NOAA Fisheries announces a proposed rule to protect unmanaged forage fish. Forage fish are small schooling species that serve as prey for larger commercially and recreationally important fish, as well as for marine mammals and sea birds. Anchovies, herring, chub mackerel, and sardines are some common forage fish.
Commercial fisheries occasionally catch forage species, and we know little about the amount of forage species caught in Mid-Atlantic waters. Because of their importance to the food web, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council wants to keep current levels of forage species catch stable while it collects more information on these species. This new information will help inform future scientific assessments and management decisions.
This action would be the first action in the Atlantic to list 14 forage species and species groups as ecosystem component species. This action would set landing and possession limits to prevent the further expansion of commercial fisheries on forage species by federally permitted fishing vessels within Mid-Atlantic federal waters (see map below).
This action is part of an effort to integrate ecosystem-based management components into fishery management plans.
Read the proposed rule as published in the Federal Register, as well as the supplemental documents on our website.
The comment period is open through May 30.
Submit your comments through the e-rulemaking portal or by mailing:
John Bullard, Regional Administrator
Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office
55 Great Republic Drive
Gloucester, MA 01930