News, articles, photos, and other information about commercial fishing in North America.
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) recently announced a new, mandatory education and certification program for everyone who commercially harvests and lands shellfish in Rhode Island. Certification may be obtained by completing a 30-minute online tutorial, available on … Continued
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) recently approved Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic Menhaden. The Amendment maintains the management program’s current single-species biological reference points until the review and adoption of menhaden-specific ecological … Continued
In Massachusetts, Jonah crabs were traditionally landed as bycatch of the American lobster fishery. Now a targeted species, Jonah crabs support one of the top ten most valuable fisheries in the state. In 2015, over 9 million pounds of Jonah crab … Continued
New research has identified the North Atlantic Oscillation as a potential predictive tool for managing North Atlantic cod. Historically, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) comprised one of the most important fisheries in North America. Atlantic cod stocks off the coast of … Continued
A project underway at Woods Hole Sea Grant is evaluating surf clams (Spisula solidissima) as a potential shellfish aquaculture species. An early phase involved distributing local hatchery-produced surf clam seed to southeast Massachusetts growers and establishing a seed clam planting … Continued
NOAA Fisheries recently published the 2016 Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Annual Discard Report with Observer Sea Day Allocation and the resulting final 2016 sea-day schedule for the Northeast Fishery Observer Program. NOAA will use remaining funds to offset some of … Continued