March 22, 2013 — NOAA Fisheries today announced the first of two actions developed by the New England Fishery Management Council for fishing year 2013 to respond to updated stock information and to adjust management measures to prevent overfishing of groundfish stocks.
This proposed action also contains measures to enhance fishing opportunities for groundfish vessels to mitigate potential negative economic impacts from anticipated reductions in catch limits including:
– Modify a prohibition so sectors can request access for their vessels to portions of year-round groundfish closed areas, to provide additional opportunity to target healthy stocks but still maintain closures to protect habitat
– Reduce minimum fish sizes for most stocks to turn discarded fish into landed revenue
– Revise the way recreational and common pool accountability measures (AMs) are administered to help recreational fishermen better achieve but not exceed their catch limits and assist small vessels using handgear
The deadline for submitting public comments on these proposed measures is April 9, 2013.