January 6, 2020 — After nine years in a rebuilding plan with strict management, including a prohibition on landings, Gulf of Maine smooth skate was declared rebuilt in 2018.
The declaration was included in “Status of U.S. Fisheries Annual Report to Congress,” prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and submitted to lawmakers this fall.
The report details the status of 479 federally managed stocks or stock complexes in the U.S. in an effort to identify which stocks are subject to overfishing, are overfished, or are rebuilt to sustainable levels.
Building on a trend of the past few years, the report noted that the vast majority of U.S. fish stocks were at sustainable population levels in 2018, and the number of U.S. fish stocks subject to overfishing remains at a near all-time low.
According to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, the Northeast skate complex fishery includes seven skate species and operates from Maine to North Carolina. The bottom-dwelling, kite-shaped skate is taken with long lines and gill nets, both as a targeted fishery and as by catch.