With four days to go before the new skate fishing year begins, NOAA has not yet published the final rule for Skate Amendment 3. However, the Amendment has been approved by NOAA and the New England Council Staff anticipates a final rule will be published by May 1st.
According to Council Staff, the final rule for Skate Amendment 3 has not yet been published and the information on the NE Regional Office web site refers to existing limits. The Council has been informed that Amendment 3 was approved by NMFS and the amendment reduces the skate wing possession limit to 1,900 lbs. of wings, based on Total Allowable Landings (TAL) of 11,544 mt. Recent estimates by the PDT using new data however indicate that the TAL can be increased to 14,277 mt.
Skate fishery information can be found here, which should be updated when the final rule is published.
The Council is evaluating updated information at the April meeting and may recommend changes to the skate wing possession limit by Emergency Action. An Emergency Action would become effective quickly, possibly at the start of the 2010 fishing year, for up to 360 days. The value for a revised skate wing possession limit had not yet been chosen.