1999 



OUR LIVING OCEANS 



reduced trip limits and area closures to achieve 

 management objectives tor cod in the Gult ot 

 Maine (i.e. reduce landmgs and hshing mortahty 

 to target levels). 



The joint MAFMC-ASMFC Summer Floun- 

 der Fishery Management Plan, mitiallv approved 

 in 1988 but subsequently modified by a series oi 

 amendments, has a strategy to reduce fishing mor- 

 tality to F ,' the level chosen as the overfishing 

 definition for this stock. Fhe Summer Flounder 

 Plan uses commercial catch quotas, allocated by 

 state and season, and recreational harvest limits 

 and possession size limits to achieve these man- 

 agement goals. Increased recruitment levels, com- 

 bined with lower fishing mortality rates during 

 199.^-96, have resulted in increased biomass. 



Goosefish. 



tect haddock. The objective of the plan was to 

 gradually eliminate the overfished condition of 

 cod, yellowtail flounder, and haddock over 5-7 

 years. Since December 1 994, three large areas (i.e. 

 Closed Areas I and 11 on Georges Bank and Nan- 

 tucket Lightship Closed Area) (Figure 1-3) have 

 been closed through emergency action by the Sec- 

 retary of Commerce to protect the regulated 

 groundfish, particularly spawning fish. In view of 

 a Special Advisory on Groundfish Status on 

 Georges Bank (Northeast Fisheries Science Cen- 

 ter, 1994), based on new assessments which indi- 

 cated that the stocks of haddock and vellowtail 

 flounder had already collapsed and that cod was 

 in imminent danger of also collapsing, Amend- 

 ment 7 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Man- 

 agement Plan was developed and implemented (in 

 1996) to accelerate the existing days-at-sea reduc- 

 tion schedule established in Amendment 5 and 

 impose other tighter restrictions, including three 

 closed areas in the Gulf of Maine, in order to re- 

 duce fishing mortality to the F^^ | level." Since 

 1994, the Multispecies Plan has been modified by 

 a series of framework adjustments, with Frame- 

 work 25 (implemented in April 1998) imposing 



''F,, J and F^^^ are rwo reference rates oi fishing mortality used 

 in fisheries management (see Appendix 4). F^^^ maximizes 

 the amount of yield from the average recruit to the stocli; Fjj | 

 results in nearly as much yield per recruit bur is more conser- 

 vative than F 



Transboundary Stocks and Jurisdiction 



Significant catches are taken from transbound- 

 ary stocks of Atlantic cod, haddock, and pollock 

 from Canadian waters of Georges Bank and the 

 Gulf of Maine. In 1997, 18% of the cod, 64% of 

 the haddock, and 73% of the pollock landings were 

 taken by Canadian fishermen. Management regu- 

 lations employed by the two countries, although 

 different, are based on a common objective of 

 maintaining fishing mortality at or below F|, ,. 

 1 here is coordination of stock assessment activi- 

 ties between the countries, and beginning in 1 998, 

 the two countries embarked on a joint process for 

 annually performing and peer reviewing the as- 

 sessments of these transboundary stocks. I he two 

 countries will, however, continue to independently 

 prepare management advice on the basis of jointly 

 prepared and reviewed assessments. 1 here is no 

 formal joint management of these shared resources, 

 although regular informal discussions take place 

 berween government officials, managers, and in- 

 dustry representatives of the r^vo countries. 



Economics 



Rebuilt stocks eventually will provide increased 

 net benefits to producers and consumers, but in 

 the short term, effort reductions will curtail rev- 

 enues to fishermen and may raise prices to con- 

 sumers. Recent analyses (New F^ngland Fishery 

 Management (xiuncil, 1997) indicate that fish- 



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