Virginia’s 2015 commercial quota will be reduced to 608,230 pounds. At its February meeting, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) voted unanimously to establish the commercial bluefish quota in order to comply with a coastwide commercial quota reduction, set by … Continued
At the 2014 Special meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in Italy, members met and adopted multi-year total allowable catch (TAC) levels for bluefin tuna, amendments to the tropical tunas management measure, and terms … Continued
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) will host an educational workshop March 16-18, 2010 on “catch shares.” The workshop will be conducted in cooperation with the Fisheries Leadership and Sustainability Forum, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), and the … Continued
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission will buy back 359 commercial crab licenses, in a historic action to take more than 75,000 crab pots off the water as part of a multi-year species rebuilding effort. The licenses will be retired permanently. … Continued
Effective Monday, October 5, 2009, NOAA Fisheries Service is closing the recreational fishery for black sea bass. The closure applies to all federal waters north of Cape Hatteras, N.C., for 180 days in response to recent landing data that showed … Continued
The States of Maine and Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia have scheduled their hearings to gather public comment on Draft Addendum IV to Amendment 1 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Menhaden. The dates, times, and locations … Continued
NOAA Fisheries Service is continuing emergency measures to reduce the target total allowable catch and associated days-at-sea allocations in the Atlantic deep-sea red crab fishery, based on recent scientific information. The red crab stock was assessed by the Data Poor … Continued
A catch share program for the Mid-Atlantic tilefish fishery has been approved by NOAA Fisheries Service. Each fisherman will be allocated a percentage of the tilefish quota that can be caught throughout the year. The program, which takes effect November … Continued