The following is the text of a news release from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.
Rehoboth Beach, DE - The Spiny Dogfish & Coastal Sharks Management Board approved Addendum II to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish. The Addendum includes measures from both Draft Addenda II and III that were released for public comment throughout September and early October.
Addendum II uses the regional management approach from Draft Addendum II and includes an allocation for North Carolina similar to options contained in Draft Addendum III. Under Addendum II, the annual quota will be divided regionally with 58 percent allocated to the states of Maine to Connecticut, 26 percent allocated to the states of New York to Virginia, and the remaining 16 percent allocated to North Carolina. The Board allocated a specific percentage to North Carolina because spiny dogfish are not available to their fishermen until late into the fishing season when most of the quota has already been harvested. The North Carolina allocation will allow fishermen and processors to plan fishing operations based on a specific amount of dogfish.
Regional overage paybacks were also included in the addendum to maintain the conservation goals of the plan. Any overage of a region and/or state quota will be subtracted from that region/state the subsequent fishing year.
Addendum II will be applied retroactively to the 2008/2009 fishing season which has an annual quota of 7,940,776 pounds after adjustments for overages. Under Addendum II, states from Maine to Connecticut may harvest 4,605,650 pounds, states from New York to Virginia may harvest 2,064,602 lbs, and North Carolina may harvest 1,270,524 pounds. The northern states (ME to CT) have already harvested their entire allocation and their fishery will remain closed until the beginning of the 2009/2010 fishing season.
The final Addendum will be available in early November and can be obtained by contacting the Commission at (202) 289-6400 or via the Commission's website at
www.asmfc.org under Breaking News. For more information, please contact Christopher Vonderweidt, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at (202) 289-6400 or cvonderweidt@asmfc.org
