ASMFC – Spiny Dogfish Quota for 2012-2013

ASMFC Sets Spiny Dogfish Quota for 2012-2013

 

 

 

 

 

Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

NEWS RELEASE

Press Contact: Tina Berger

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2011

ASMFC Sets Spiny Dogfish 2012/2013 Fishing Year Quota at 30 Million Pounds

Boston, MA – The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks Management Board approved a 30
million pound quota for the 2012/2013 fishing season (May 1 – April 30), with a maximum possession limit
of 3,000 pounds per day for the northern region states Maine through Connecticut. State-specific shares for
the southern region states (New York through North Carolina) are provided below.
Any overages from the 2011/2012 fishing season will be paid back by region or state in the 2012/2013 season.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) forwarded a recommendation for a 35.6 million
pound quota to the National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Regional Administrator for final action
prior to the start of the 2012/2013 fishing season.

Regional/state quotas and possession limits for the 2012/2013 fishing season ( Base Quota in pounds).
Quotas will be adjusted for any over/under harvests in the 2011/2012 fishing season :

Northern Region (Maine to Connecticut) : 17,400,000
New York : 812,100
New Jersey : 2,293,200
Delaware : 268,800
Maryland : 1,776,000
Virginia : 3,238,500
North Carolina : 4,210,800

The Board’s action responds to the findings of the 2011 Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC)
Update on the Status of Spiny Dogfish, which estimates that spiny dogfish are not overfished and not
experiencing overfishing. Spawning stock biomass (SSB) was estimated at 373.56 million pounds in 2011,
and has exceeded the target (351.23 million pounds) for the last four years. Fishing mortality (F) is
estimated to be 0.093 in 2010, well below the plan’s target (0.207) and threshold (0.325). While the stock
remains not overfished, it is projected record low recruitment from 1997 to 2003 will cause SSB to decrease
in the future. Projections indicate that the magnitude of this drop is reduced by lower F rates (quotas).

The Commission’s Spiny Dogfish Technical Committee and MAFMC’s Monitoring Committee (MC) both
recommended a maximum quota of 35.6 million pounds for the 2012/2013 fishing season. However,
members of the public cautioned the Board against setting a 35.6 million pound quota, citing the market
cannot absorb a 75% increase in quota and dogfish prices are likely to drop significantly with increased
supply. In addition, they asked that the Board set a lower quota to minimize future fluctuations in the
annual quota given concern regarding the limited contributions of the 1997 to 2003 year classes to the
fishery.

Discards decreased by 31% from 2009 (13 million pounds) to 2010 (8.1 million pounds) and the number of
commercial groundfish trips decreased by 48% following the implementation of Amendment 16 the
Northeast Multispecies Groundfish FMP. Canadian landings have also decreased significantly in recent
years (3.5 million pounds in 2008; 249,000 pounds in 2009; 13,230 pounds in 2010). It is believed the
Canadian dogfish harvest will not increase in the near future given the lack of demand for the product and
the subsequent closure of Canadian spiny dogfish processors.

Based on the recommendation of its Coastal Sharks Technical Committee, the Board approved a 33 fish
possession limit for sharks in the large coastal sharks (LCS) species group (silky, tiger, blacktip, spinner,
bull, lemon, nurse, scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, and smooth hammerhead sharks) for 2012.
The Board maintained the 33 fish LCS possession limit since it worked well in distributing the quota in
2010 and 2011 and is consistent with proposed federal shark specifications.

For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at
(703) 842-0740 or <cvonderweidt@asmfc.org>.

Source: Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)