1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Headboat, Beltnar, New 

 Jersey. 



in the earl)' 198()'s and subjected to severe catch restrictions het;inning in tlie mid l')8()'s, 

 was declared fully restored in earlv 19'-)5. I'he region's valuable crustaceans and bivalve 

 mollusks, both oHshore (e.g. American lobster, sea scallop, surfclam, and ocean quahog) 

 and inshore (e.g. blue crab, oyster, blue mussel, and hard and sohshell clam) are nearly all 

 fully or overexploited. 



Most Northeast Region fisheries are governed by FMP's that are either in place or 

 under development. Despite the goals of FMP's, overexploitatioii of their respective species 

 has occurred in many cases, and efforts to rebuild have generally not yet succeeded in fully 

 restoring depleted stocks. Striped bass (managed since l')81 b\' an Atlantic States Marine 

 Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) FMP), herring, mackerel, short-finned sqtiid, and surfclams 

 (managed by Federal FMP's) are the only species to have fully recovered from overutili/ation. 

 Both simimer floimder and weakflsh have experienced marked increases in abundance and 

 reductions in fishing mortality as a result of regulatory constraints imposed by FMP's, 

 although target levels have not vet been fullv achieved. Amendment 'i to the Northeast 

 Multispecies FMP, approved in March l'-)94, was intended to limit commercial fishing 

 effort on groundfish in New Ijiglaiid and bring recovery within S-IO \'ears. However, 

 scientific advice issued in Auiitist 1994, indicatint: that the Cleorges Bank stocks of cod, 

 haddock, and yellowtail flounder had collapsed or were in danger of collapsing, led to tlie 

 Secretary of Commerce approving, in December 1994, an emergency closure of portions 

 of Georges I^ank and severely restricting fishing for haddock. In addition, tlie New Fin- 

 gland Fishery Management Council (NFIFMC) developed and implemented Amendment 

 7 to the Multispecies FMP to further reduce fishing mortalit\- on these stocks by means of 

 even stricter restrictions on fishing. As a result, some relniilding has occurred for stocks on 

 Georges Bank, but additional restrictions are in the process of being implemented to achieve 

 management objectives for the cod stock in the Gulf of Maine. Concurrentl\', Canada has 

 tightened controls on its groundfish flsher\' on the eastern part of Georges Bank to pro- 

 mote stock rebuilding, and these measures have resulted in improved abundance in those 

 waters. 



Amendment 4 to the Sea Scallop FMP, implemented in 1994, was intended to con- 

 trol fishing effort h\ limiting the days at sea for each vessel, placing a moratorium on new 

 entrants, ami imposing a larger mesh-ring size for dredges. Since fishing mortalit)' on sea 

 scallops has remained well above the overfishing level, ftirther measures tor reducing effort 

 and protecting undersized scallops (closed areas in the Mid-Atlantic area) are being devel- 



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