Council Asked to Not Cut
Dogfish Quota 50%

September 29, 2015 – A representative of six seafood associations, The Sustainable Fisheries Association; Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance; Garden State Seafood Association; Long Island Commercial Fishing Association; North Carolina Fisheries Association and the Virginia Seafood Council, asked the New England Fisheries Management Council to send a written request to the Mid Atlantic Council which would meet on October 6, 2015 to not cut spiny dogfish quota ,as the Northeast Science Center has recommended, until the benchmark assessment is completed next year.

The reason stated was that the spring stock surveys indicate an abundance in the overall population, which led the council to increase commercial quota 200% between 2011 and 2015.

The catch was low recently, the industry representative said, because less than 1/2 the quota was landed in 2013 and 2014 due to reduced international market demand. The science center, he said, relied on 2015 survey results and therefore proposed the 50% cut in commercial quota. The representative said, “It is our collective opinion that the 2015 survey results incorrectly presume this stock is declining.”

“Fishing families from Maine to North Carolina will be penalized by this misplaced reliance on this assessment. We believe there is no risk of over fishing above the proposed level for 2016,” he said.