April 27, 2017 — The New England Fishery Management Council will spend much of the summer considering five alternatives to potentially limiting entry into the region’s small-mesh whiting fishery.
The council last week approved the five alternatives as part of Whiting Amendment 22, which includes three major components — limited access qualification criteria, possession limits by permit type and permit characteristics, and conditions that could result from the decision to pursue a limited-access fishery.
The council, following the approval of the five alternatives, said it expects to select preferred alternatives at either of its regularly scheduled meetings in June or September. Those preferred alternatives would go to public comment in the summer or fall (depending on when the preferred measures are identified), with final action anticipated for the fall or early winter.
The fishery includes five stocks: northern silver hake, southern silver hake, offshore hake, northern red hake and southern red hake. The first three fall under the general description of whiting.
Historically, the whiting fishery has been characterized by low effort, with harvesters landing only a fraction of the annual catch limits for the three species that fall within the whiting category.
But, as fishing stakeholders continue to cast about for underutilized species, regulators are concerned that allowing the fishery to remain wide open “could result in effort increases.” They also point out that northern red hake has exceeded its annual catch limit in several recent years and there also is concern that harvesters also have exceeded the sub-annual catch limit for the fishery’s yellowtail flounder.