NOAA Fisheries has announced revisions to the federal rules for recreationally caught Gulf of Maine (GOM) cod and haddock, which includes Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge, to take effect on May 1, 2014.
For cod, the size limit is increased by 2 inches to 21 inches, and for haddock, a daily bag limit of 3 fish is implemented. Cod and haddock season will close on September 1 in 2014.
Refer to NOAA Fisheries’ press release for full details: www.nero.noaa.gov/nr/2014/April/14mul2014recspecsphl.pdf
Cod:
- The minimum fish size increases to 21 inches.
- The daily per angler bag limit is not changing and remains 9 fish per day.
- Possession prohibited (closed season) increases by 2 months: now September 1, 2014 –
April 14, 2015. Possession of cod in the GOM regulated mesh area is permitted May 1-
August 31, 2014, and April 15-30, 2015.
Haddock:
- The minimum fish size is not changing and remains 21 inches.
- The daily per angler bag limit is decreasing from an unlimited amount to 3 fish per day.
- Possession prohibited (closed season) increases by 4 months: September 1-November
30, 2014, and March 1- April 30, 2015. Possession of haddock in the GOM regulated
mesh area is permitted May 1-August 31, 2014, and December 1, 2014-February 28,
2015.
| FY 2014 Gulf of Maine Regulated Mesh Area Recreational Fishery Measures | |||
| Species | Daily Bag Limit (fish per angler) | Minimum Fish Size, Inches (cm) | Retention Prohibited (closure periods) |
| Cod | 9 | 21 (53.34) | September 1, 2014 – April 14, 2015 |
| Haddock | 3 | 21 (53.34) | September 1-November 30, 2014 and March 1 – April 30, 2015 |
For more information on state regulations, refer to the Recreational Fishing webpage of the Division’s website: www.mass.gov/marinefisheries or contact the Division of Marine Fisheries at 617-626-1520 with any questions.
I’ve never seen a set of regulations get jerked around so much. 24 inches, 21 inches, 19 inches, limited, unlimited. I’m losing confidence that they know what they’re doing.
When it comes to recreational fishing NOAA doesn’t have a clue. They should watch a recreational fisherman and see what happens when we throw back fish that are too small, 95% live and then go see what happens when a dragger throws back fish.
Are you kidding me?? 3 haddock for recrational fishermen?? We need to rep,lace you people!
Jeff is right – how can you have unlimited haddock one year and three haddock per person the next—-something smells fishy or someone miscounted— ya all this is caused by recreational fisherman —- NOT—- See how much the draggers are taking—
That sucks I’ll go cod fishing in rhode island instead
They keep making it harder and harder for the recreational fisherman, while the draggers keep dragging their nets tearing up the ocean bottom. Then when they bring the nets in they dump them on deck and pick through what ever is there looking for the biggest fish of what ever they are fishing for. Then when they are done picking they dump the fish they don’t want back in the water, which has a high % of dead-kill because the fish have been stepped on and been out of the water for awhile. Get rid of the nets and switch to pots like they use in Alaska.
Its all about the money. Lobbyists are the people running this country. Politicians say they “care” about the people. They care about getting money to get re-elected. They are hacks.
The new Cod and Haddock regs suck!!!!!
Welcome to MSA. NMFS sets a hard quota for a species and creates sub-allocations for both the recreational and commercial sectors. As the recreational harvest target isn’t a “hard quota”, NMFS is required to set limits that ensure that the recreational harvest for the upcoming year does not exceed the recreational harvest target.
They make this determination using MRIP data. MRIP data is collected by surveys on head boats, sampling at docks and random surveys conducted over the phone of recreational fishing permit holders. The error bars associated with these data are significant and they are made worse by observed non-compliance on-board head boats.
Yet, despite the limited confidence in this data it is used to finely tune regulations. Look at black sea bass this year, states were required to reduce their harvest by about 5% but the error bars associated with the black sea bass were over 30%. You don’t need to be a statistician to recognize that the process is asinine.
As for the 21″ haddock minimum size, you can thank the foresight of the for-hire interests on the Council’s Recreational Advisory Panel for that. Seasons and bag limits hurt business, so just yank up the minimum size. Who cares about discard mortality? Who cares how discards were going to negatively skew the already piss poor MRIP data? Who cares that you are going to be locked into an incredibly restrictive minimum size moving forward? Who cares that seasons and bag limits were inevitable in 2014/2015 and this just made matters worse?
These haddock regulations are a disgrace. A recreational angler does not influence the overall fish stocks. The result of these new regs will put long time family operated charter boat operations out of business, resulting in economic downturn in multiple ways. Neither myself or anyone I know will pay $70 for a party boat where you can only keep 3 haddock. Thank you for taking the joy out of my summer.
That’s just great.
You start charging 12 bucks a year to fish saltwater and you take the only return away with a 3 haddock limit.
Time to go back to fresh water.
With all the new ground fish regulations targeting the recreational sector ,it is sickening that noaa has basically ignored the real problem and that is the mid-water herring trawlers. Why is this fishery allowed to continue when it has been obvious for many years that this practice has had a devastating impact on the gulf of Maine fish stocks. I am baffled how the haddock bag limit can go from no limit to 3 fish per day. I personally think that a slot length regulation similar to what is used for striped bass would be much more effective than any of the pie in the sky regulations that have been implemented for 2014.
I totally agree. The cod stock that we are trying to rebuild feed and grow on herring. Yet we observe large pair trawlers being allowed to. sweep an area south of Jeffries for all of the herring and other bait fish their nets will hold. Where is the logic in this policy?
After registration insurance licenses and slip fees. Never mind fuel and maintenance A bunch of so called educated marine bionuts have determined that it’s in my best interest to save the haddock population by limitation! how about shutting down bottom raping trawlers for a couple years! Make every one catch em the same way hook line and sinker. Who cares about market price. If someone wants haddock make them pay just Like I do. We all know about bycatch and discard waste. and it’s destructive results !
Going from an “unlimited limit” to 3 fish in one season just demonstrates how out of touch with reality the council is. They have, with one stroke of the pen, ruined the year for so many recreational fisherman. Four of the best months for bottom fishing are now gone. Bottom fishing in the heat of the summer is terrible. The cost to go out to get just 3 haddock is prohibitive. The businesses that support the recreational anglers are going to suffer: marinas, bait and tackle, restaurants etc. I wonder what other ulterior motives are behind their decisions. Are we headed toward a Canadian model where the right to fish saltwater (Atlantic)
is given to corporate commercial interests rather than the recreational fisherman? The fishing community should be screaming with outrage over the changes. They should be demanding a more reasonable limit as it is with cod.
This is a sham! The bottom rapers can drag nets all over and kill with impunity but the little guy needs to be restricted to protect the commercial fisheries, REALLY! I went out on my 25′ trophy last week, 125 gals gas, oil 70 bucks, bait etc. caught 2 doz. 19″ cod and 20 15″ haddock all told I did catch an 8lb. cod to take home but I noticed 7 different sets of nets floating in my fishing area. I wonder how many they caught and were able to set free alive. That was an expensive fish dinner so if we recs have these regs and spend our hard earned money for 1 keeper the commercial guys can long line or pot fish and people will pay the price if they want fish. Make it fair and make it equal.
Mark
It’s Time To Sell The F’n Boat.
One Note: If I’m getting paid six figures to study an make recommendations on protecting the fish stock, do you think I am going to say everything is working, you can fire me now.
When a NOAA secretary is making $80,00 plus what’s a few haddock among friends.
Another job well done!!
How true I wonder if NOAA secretary is even a fisherman — more likely a biologist
These regs are something that have to be reconsidered! Lot of boats for sale! Lots of guys going out of business! Who is going to pay 70 bucks to go out on the water to keep 1 or 2 fish….how about something like cod and haddock 19 inches with a combined catch bag limit of 10 fish that seems reasonable
After years of party boat fishing I’ve seen all fishing for the rec fisherman go to hell gas is at a min of $3.65 a gallon in N.Y. and I’m drive over 200 miles to go on Yankee Fleet for a 8 hour trip and catching less and less with every trip I go on. I’m in my late 50s and the down and back is getting to be too much so I get a hotel room at a min of $100.00 bucks. But all I’m seeing is more and more trawlers out there. Many of my friends live work and died in Gloucester protecting and giving rec fisherman from young to old and really enjoyable time and enjoyed doing it. Some own fishing boats others restaurants, gas stations, hotels and small deli’s. These new limits on rec fisherman is going to harm all of these business’s in one way or another. Let’s tally up what just I will not be spending in Gloucester this year $100.00 for gas, $150.00 hotel, $30.00 for bait, $50.00 min I won’t be spending for dinner at the Cause Way, the $20.00 at Dublin Donuts, the $20.00 at the deli for sandwiches, the $30.00 at the Crows Nest Bar, the $30.00 or so on Keno and scratch offs and let’s not forget the $70.00 for the boat and $10.00 to $20.00 on tipping the mates if I had a good day it all adds up to a grand total of $420.00 give or take a few bucks sorry to me that’s a lot of money not going into Mass economy or my friends bussiness’s. Welcome to the Great Lake this year.
This Sunday will be the first time fishing for ground fish this year. Thank God I looked at the regs for size and creel limits. I can’t believe what they did to the haddock creel. Really “3 fish”. You folks (NOAA) are sticking it to the wrong people. Those draggers have been raping these waters for years. I’m not going out to try to feed the entire east coast. I just want to catch some fish(haddock) and share them with my friends and family. I guess I can kiss that idea good bye. ARE YOU KIDDING ME !!! Is there some department that we can voice our concerns to that will actually listen and take action towards this situation. Please reply!
Yes. If you go to the noaa building and ask for Helen Waite
She’s in charge of the complaint department. Lots of misinformation here that’s how they win.
As far as the ” evil dragger and gillnetter s” the regulations on that fleet have reduced them from 1600 active boats 3 years ago to less than 200 in the tri state area. Down from 2700 active commercial boats in 1996.
They are close to done with the commercial fleet. And now they want to reduce the charter fleet by the same amount of percentage of participants. Cause that’s fair. The time to complain has pasted you should have complained with they we’re destroy the small family commercial fleet. A dead fish is a dead fish is a dead fish. Don’t matter how you kill it. So now it’s the next a guys turn while you where all clapping when the hammered the all day boat fleet. Whys no on clapping now ? How to you guys like 2015 regs zero retention of cod and prohibition on fishing in areas where they may be. But keep up the good work divide and conquer has work so well for the anti fishing lobbists. The only lobbies involved in fishing discussions. It’s works so well for them to just have us point fingers and play the blame game. While WE ALL ARE STOPPED FROM FISHING !!! We should keep it up like greedy little children since it worked so well. Or we could grow up and realize we are all in the same boat. And the enemy isn’t other fishermen. Haven’t some of your realized that pouring the poison down your neighbors well may work for you now but someday you will wish those neighbors were standing with you when it’s your turn
And I have spent more hours and days at these council meeting hearings and subcommittees. Than most on here have spent out. Fishing.
For the record
I have been fishing for over 30 years with the Yankee Fleet, Gloucester, Ma. I have gone fishing over a dozen times this year (2014). I have kept count of what I caught so far: 20 Cod, 14 Haddock, 20 Little Red Fish and 14 Cusk, a total of 68 keepers. I threw back a total of 8 fish to 1, that’s over a total of 350 fish that the Sea Gulls had for dinner. Why is it that we have to throw them back, the Gulls can eat them but we can’t keep them. No wonder the Sea Gulls are getting fat at my expense. HENRY A. GRACZYK
This is outrage’s, A recreational fisherman is the only one that plays by the rules that you non experience people put out there, why you don’t go out with the net’s and see all the fish that comes out under size, it’s all death, the recreational fisherman goes out for fun not for business, we get enough fish to eat and we come home, every fish that we catch with out the size we make sure that fish goes back in the water alive, you have any idea what this is like for those that make their living on a charter boat, a party boat, you did a research on the recreational fisherman, what about the commercial boat’s?
they say this country is a free country, yes for the lob bias and the politicians and the rich, if you have all this under your belt you are Golding in United states, if you are the middle guy you have to work for all those, and your are the one that get’s hit at all times, and the rich get’s richer, Get real and do your job.
There were three of us going fishing on September 8th but I just read the regs and will spend my $85 .00 on camping instead. NOAA can kiss my ass with their regs. Its a shame to have to hurt a fellow fisherman by not going on his boat so he can make a living. I hope that the big draggers have a nice season killing the cod/haddock and the bycatch and the rec.angler as well. KEEP THE POLITICIANS HAPPY KEEP changing the regs
I am a recreational fisherman from Massachsuetts and have been fishing these waters well over 50 years. I fish mainly in the Boston Harbor area out to Stellwagen Banks. I am absolutely appalled, disappointed and confused about the new cod and haddock regulations. As a New england recreational fisherman I depend on Striper, Bluefish, flounder, cod and haddock as the very few targeted species we have here in New England. Our season is already very short due to current regulations and weather. When the flounder move out in August we depend on the 4 other species for enjoyment. Sometimes the Stripers and Bluefish do not always comply as in the past couple of years which leaves us with cod and haddock. In the past we could pick up some cod fairly close inshore but due to the new size limit most are now throwbacks. This leaves me with no alternatives other than to head out to the bank for some keeper cod and haddock. The new regulations effectively take those out of the equation leaving me with virtually nothing to fish for. I am losing 2 months out of a 6 month season that I wait all grueling winter for. Not to mention the charter guys that are in the same boat. I have been told that some of these new regulations were based on catch rates of private boats. That has got to be the biggest line of BS I’ve ever heard. I know of very few friends or fellow boaters at my marina and others in the quincy/Hingham/ Weymouth area that even fish for cod or haddock let alone make the expensive trip to Stellwagen. Just to break it down, I own a 24 ft single Outboard boat. If I go out to Stellwagen I burn about $200 dollars+ in fuel, $40 in oil, maybe another $50 in ice and bait, $30 in lost tackle on an average day, maybe another $40 in food and beverage for 4 people. That’s just under $400 for a day on the water. We are allowed a total of 36 cod and 12 haddock which we never usually limit out on. By taking 2 months off the fall fishing these regulations are taking a lot of money out of the economy if we are to believe that so many of us are going out to fish. I have been out to Stellwagen 2 times this summer and I have not seen more than a dozen boats fishing on either of these trips. Granted Stellwagen is a large area but most boats spending money to get out there are targeting Tuna.
So I ask, who did they survey, where did the numbers come from. I can hardly believe private boaters put even a tiny dent in the cod and haddock numbers especially with the limits already on the fish size and bag limits. We just were forced to get saltwater fishing licences and now we aren’t allowed to use them. Commercial fishermen had long gone unregulated and made quick work of many of the species in this area over the years including baitfish. Why are we (rec guys) being targeted? As a whole we spend money on boats, licences, taxes, fuel, insurance, mooring fees, dockage fees, fishing tackle, ice, food, bait, charters, travel to fishing destinations, hotels etc pouring millions if not billions into the economy and now I am being told I cannot fish. How can this possibly be a good decision. It seems it was made by someone in an office far from the ocean that has no understanding about the way it really is. We all know the numbers (cod, haddock and others) are not what they used to be but there are other factors governing their thin numbers also (maybe warming of the waters, change of cycles) It could be a hundres different reasons for the change but i would bet the house that the meager takings of the recreational guy fishing with his kids is not doing the damage.
How can I get answers to some of these questions and what can I do personally to change these rules. If they continue as they are now I will have to make a serious decision on wheter it is worth spending all the money it takes to put a boat in the water if a third of the season is being stolen from us. Ther are so many facets of this decision that affect us fishermen in so many ways it needs to change.
What I really feel. NOAA and any and all politicians that voted for these recreational regulations are full of S***. NOAA guys are too busy with their BS to actually go out and have a good time fishing. They have never asked me how many fish I catch on a given day or for the year. They can’t even give us reliable weather reports these days. Stick to what you know whatever that is but it is not fishing. These rulings are a manmade disaster.
I agree with most comments out there just the other day we caught over 75 small haddock and threw them back and they all lived. I wonder what that’s going to do to the economy also. who knows best
Never took the cover off my boat this year. Won’t be bothering to register it next year if the rules are still this stupid. Gee, No gas taxes collected, no registration fees collected. No license fee collected. Won’t be paying any fees to launch or park. More money in my pocket less in the hands of the ignorant bureaucrats. Hope you get plenty of money from the commercial slugs that are stripping the ocean bed because you won’t be seeing any from me.
You can only take so much from the ocean before its all gone, regulations are to save the fish populations before its all fished out by these nets that can catch tons of fish at one time.
this is the kind of stuff that happens when you don’t go out a vote or you just say everyone sens to like him or her ( too many liberals with gee this would be nice or the books say this. ) NO Common Sense. I remember a time when if you wanted to go fishing you picked up a pole and some bait and you and your friends went off and spent the day fishing and had some fun and things to talk about on some other day. Today about the only thing they haven’t put in for a regulation is that you have to go pass a some kind of screening process before you go to the beach or get on your boat to make sure you don’t hurt the water, air, fish, birds, clams, plant life, and anything else you can throw in there. SO NECKS TIME YOU GO TO THE VOTING POLES OR IF YOU HAVEN’T ,THEN YOU BETTER GET GOING THIS TIME AND START TO FIND OUT WHO AND WHAT A PERSONS POLICY’S ARE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO VOTE FOR THEM . Oh and one more thing lets try and get away from the lets give this gender or that skin tone or nationality a chance kind of thinking because if you think that’s working look are and see how things are today in this country and asks your self are we better and happy-er today than a year ago.
Lou, right on! I just went and voted in the nh primaries tonight and found myself actually running thru the hall to get there. 2 minutes left and got my vote in. Learning that numbers are at an all time low for voters, I am concerned with this. Still, many of these decisions are driven by the lobbyists for resume building.
And don’t worry about the commercial guys draggers nets not filling up as federal money is on the way to subsidize what could not be stripped from our ocean.
If the fishery is this bad lets set some practical recreational fishing limits and close the commercial fishery. This is a wild resource that cannot sustain our production needs with the current populations demand. Time to farm that stuff out boys and help rebuild the fishery for our kids.
i would like to know who voted these regs in
Last year I took my 15 year old son on a full day shared charter out of Gloucester for his birthday in Oct. My other son also joined us. We had a fantastic day and took home a fair amount of cod and haddock which lasted for several months. I just called the charter boat company to book this years trip and found out that they are essentially out of business until further notice. This is a perfect example of another industry made up of small independents getting totally screwed by regulations that make no sense. It really sucks.
This problem has been brewing since about 2010. Here is the best summary that I have found regarding the situation. I will try and remove names..
I had a very good charter fishing business out of since 2001 called CHARTERS and fished mainly Stellwagen Bank and Tilles for groundfish. The boats in the industry such as XXXX and others saw the fishery making great strides coming back after fisherman both commercial and recreational made sacrifices through strict limits including bag limits, size restrictions, closed seasons for both commercial and recreational fisherman, closed spawning areas and having Days at Sea (DAS). We were to the point where most of our charters were landing cod in the 26-32″ for an average and a charter could limit out by nine in the morning. Anglers from far away as Ohio, New Jersey, PA, CT, MD and of course NY were all eager to fish the waters off Massachusetts for cod and haddock.
When the Catch Share System was introduced after being shoved down the throats of local fisherman after much opposition except by the greedy pigs with promises of more fish, better fishing and higher prices for fisherman the tide turned hard. Local day boats who made the sacrifices received little quota based on their landing history over the years with a daily limit of 800 lbs of GOM cod which was as low as 30 LBS at one time were penalized. Allocation for vessels was based on catch history and the NMFS overseen by Jane Lubchenco rewarded the large draggers who historically fished Georges Bank with its 2,000 LB daily limit.
Once these big boats received quota they flocked to Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys’s ledge being close to home, burning less fuel, protected inshore waters to sweep clean the winter concentration of cod fish. The following spring after catch shares and subsequent years there were no fish on Stellwagen or Jeffrey’s with charter boats and rec boats struggling to catch just a dozen 19″ cod forcing them further offshore.
We are where we are and it seems there is little involvement from the recreational sector when it comes to attending council meetings or even the RECREATIONAL ADVISORY PANEL MEETINGS where you can have a voice. The next RAP meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday, September 16th in Portland, ME. http://s3.amazonaws.com/nefmc.org/2_…enda_FINAL.pdf I understand Portland is a ride but it is all highway and your chance to have a voice. There most likely will be even more restrictions on cod and a break on the haddock based on the stock analysis from what I have heard. Currently the service is using a figure of 30% of the discards for cod and 50% for haddock are considered dead and added to the landings each year. This is false and we need to fight this to allow for reasonable bag limits and reduce the seasonal closures for the recreational sector. We need to speak up folks and not sit back and do nothing. At these meetings I run into XXXX and a few other regulars, never see the Wicked Tuna guys who are in the groundfish charter business now, or even some of the high flyers. It is disappointing and letters to the council also help. Enough of a rant for now, need my morning coffee. Please open the link and look at the agenda.
This comment was cut and pasted from “The hull truth” and was written by a professional charter fisherman. I found that it answered many of my questions relative to the SUDDEN down turn in what was a thriving fishery.
I don”t live near the coast so I have to trailer my boat when I go. Now with these Shty Brass limits. It adds to my issues. How many times will I travel to the coast and return with what ends up as Fish costing more that my local supermarket because of the very low limits, not as often as I was going. I have to eat to live and it was nice when I enjoyed the fishing and catched A few meals, now its nothing more than an expence due to the VERY LOW LIMITS that have been set up for personal fisherman like me, WOW. I really don”t think the small guy like me is emptying the fish stock. Even if it slightly dents it I am eating what I catch for my meals not raping the floor like draggers for A profit. P.S NOW I AM PAYING FOR THIS RESTRICTION. LOL
Well it’s 2015 and fishing was ok at Tillies – Jefferys and Stellwagon Bank but due to the new regulations very few were kept. Had a thought what if NOAA-pushes the commercial net draggers out 100 miles or so —- you can’t even fish any of theses location without running into some kind of net or commercial dragger. O Ya my 3 Haddock AND NO COD THIS SEASON must of really helped with the status que —what a joke putting any restrictions on what I like to call the lone fisherman
The mere existence of regulations isn’t the problem – it’s BAD regulations that is the problem, and a lack of enforcement (government workers) of those regulations on the commercial fleet – and also rec fishermen.