The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) said it had approved “substantial quota increases” for a number of important groundfish stocks in 2018, including Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod, Gulf of Maine haddock and pollock.
While the catch limits for some other stocks will decrease and fishermen will continue to face challenges with non-allocated stocks such as windowpane flounder (down approximately 50 percent), NEFMC said that overall, the 2018 quotas are expected to provide a number of groundfish fishing opportunities on healthy resources.
The Georges Bank cod quota is raised more than 156 percent to 1,360 metric tons (MT), but its haddock limit falls almost 21 percent to 44,659 MT.
The biggest increases are in the Gulf of Maine where the haddock limit has been raised by almost 190 percent to 8,378 MT, pollock is up by nearly 110 percent to 37,400 MT and the cod limit has been increased 39 percent to 390 MT.
During its September meeting in Gloucester, the Council approved 2018 fishing year total allowable catches (TACs) for three shared U.S./Canada groundfish stocks on Georges Bank. The U.S. share for Eastern Georges Bank cod is 257 MT, while Canada has 694 MT. The United States also has 15,600 MT of haddock and 213 MT of yellowtail flounder, while Canada’s TACs for these species are 24,400 MT and 87 MT respectively.
