Recreational Harvest Control Rule Framework Adjustment to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass, and Bluefish Fishery Management Plans

NOAA Fisheries issued a final rule, as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board, implementing a new process to set recreational management measures (bag, size, and season limits) for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass, and bluefish. This final rule also approved changes to the process of modifying recreational accountability measures. The new approach is part of a broader long-term effort by both the Council and Commission to improve recreational management of these four species, and aims to provide greater stability and predictability in recreational measures from year-to-year while accounting for uncertainty in recreational catch estimates.

The new process allows managers to consider two factors: 1) biomass compared to the target, and 2) estimated recent recreational harvest compared to future harvest limits, to determine if management measures need to change and, if so, by how much.