The Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils and NOAA Fisheries are conducting the next three-year review of the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology (SBRM). The review will evaluate how effectively SBRM is working and identify potential opportunities for improvement.
This framework will consider options to increase management flexibility during the commercial scup Winter I quota period.
This framework will consider regulatory changes to simplify/streamline the recreational tilefish reporting process.
This joint omnibus framework action will consider revisions to gear marking regulations to allow the use of fixed gear without a persistent buoy line, also called on-demand fishing gear, in all New England and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council fishery management plans.
The spiny dogfish FMP currently requires pound for pound paybacks of any Annual Catch Limit overages as an accountability measure (AM). This action considers if there are some circumstances where the current strict paybacks may be excessive, and if modified/relaxed payback AMs may be sufficient.
This amendment will consider options for managing for-hire recreational fisheries separately from other recreational fishing modes (referred to as sector separation), as well as options related to for-hire permit and reporting requirements.
This action will concurrently conduct the 5-year EFH review required under the Magnuson Stevens Act while amending fishery management plans for the Council, as needed.
This amendment proposes changes to the species separation requirements in the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries.
