GLOUCESTER, Mass. — October 2, 2014 — Despite their elusiveness in a recent trawl survey in Maine, evidence shows that there is no shortage of spiny dogfish in the federally regulated waters around Gloucester, where the July and August landings for 2014 eclipsed all of the landings from 2013.
According to figures from NOAA, Gloucester landed 721,536 pounds of spiny dogfish in all of 2013, with a value of $129,955.
In July and August of 2014, 830,059 pounds of the species were landed in Gloucester, with a combined value of $193,038. Fishermen brought in 625,601 pounds of the species in July, with a value of $146,022, and 204,548 pounds, with a value of $47,016, were landed in August.
According to NOAA catch and landing figures, spiny dogfish stock remain abundant and healthy four years after NOAA declared the stock rebuilt. In Massachusetts, the Division of Marine Fisheries considers the dogfish stock near an all-time high in abundance and health.
Dogfish landings are closely tied to the stock’s migration, with peaks occurring from May through October when they reside along the southern end of Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine and the waters off Massachusetts.
The diminutive sharks, which occupy a habitat that stretches from Canada to Florida, are considered one of the under-utilized species that fishing advocates believe might help fill the consumer void created by the demise or scarcity of traditional species such as cod and haddock.
The most recent NOAA figures show a steady flow in the amount of dogfish being caught in states along the Eastern Seaboard, with Massachusetts producing the most landings.
In the week ending Sept. 20, more than 655,000 pounds of spiny dogfish were landed nationally, with about 615,500 pounds, or 94 percent of that amount, coming into Massachusetts ports. New Hampshire was second with about 33,500 pounds.
For the year to date, U.S. fishermen have landed more than 8.7 million pounds of spiny dogfish, or about 18 percent of the stock’s 48.79 million pound landings quota.
Read the full story from the Gloucester Daily Times