Regulatory History

1972
The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) encourages states to preserve, protect, develop, and, where possible, restore or enhance valuable natural coastal resources such as wetlands, floodplains, estuaries, beaches, dunes, barrier islands, and coral reefs, as well as the fish and wildlife using those habitats.

1973
§ Total Allowable Catch (TAC) limits implemented by the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) for Gulf of Maine cod.
§ Minimum codend mesh size at 4 ½" (114 mm).

1976
March
§ In response to foreign factory trawlers off New England, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSCFMA) instituted a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In addition the act established Regional Fishery Management Councils.

1977
§ The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) established annual quotas on the amount of groundfish landed and set limits on the amount of fish that could be landed from each fishing trip, as well as minimum sizes for fish and for meshes in nets.
§ Minimum codend mesh size increased to 5 1/8" (130 mm).

1982
§ Management of groundfish resources came under the "Interim" Plan for Atlantic Groundfish.
§ Direct catch controls were eliminated; the primary tools for fishery management became minimum mesh sizes and minimum landing sizes.

1983
§ Minimum codend mesh size increased to 5 ½" (140 mm).

1984
§ World Court established the Hague Line across Georges Bank.
§ Groundfish stocks peaked and started to decline again.

1986
§ Northeast Multi-species Fisheries Management Plan (NMFMP) implemented.

1987
August
§ NMFMP Amendment1
- decreased the area for the silver hake exempted fishery
- increased the large-mesh area to include yellowtail flounder grounds to the south
- tightened existing mesh size regulations for the southern New England yellowtail flounder area
- minimum sizes for cod, haddock, and pollock were increased

1989
§ As record low levels were reported NEFMC admitted that yellowtail flounder, cod, and haddock stocks were overfished. A 50 percent cut in fishing pressure was recommended to halt the overfishing, but no significant cuts were made.

January
§ NMFMP Amendment 2
- eliminated the scheduled increase in codend mesh size to 6 inches
- implemented trip bycatch limits and stricter non-reporting penalties in the Exempted Fisheries Program
- increased the minimum size for yellowtail flounder to 13 inches and American plaice to 14 inches
- established a seasonal large-mesh area on Nantucket Shoals to protect cod
- applied mesh size regulations to all mobile nets rather than only the codend
- set all recreational minimum sizes to be consistent with commercial sizes
- excluded trawlers from Area II during the closure to improve enforcement

November
§ NEFMC declared cod in Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank overfished

December
§ NMFMP Amendment 3
- established a Flexible Area Action System (FAAS) to aid NEFMC and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in enforcing regulations more rapidly
§ Minimum fish size = 19" (48 cm) for commercial and recreational sectors.

1991
January
§ NMFMP Amendment 4
- added more restrictions to the Exempted Fisheries Program
- established a procedure for the Council to recommend modifying northern shrimp gear to reduce bycatch
- expanded the management unit to include silver hake, ocean pout and red hake
- established management measures for the Cultivator Shoal whiting fishery
- tightened restrictions on carrying of small mesh while fishing in the Regulated Mesh Area
- established a 5 ½ inch mesh size in the southern New England yellowtail area
- expressed the need to develop strategies for rebuilding the currently depleted principal groundfish stocks

June
§ The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Commerce to force an end to overfishing New England groundfish.

August
§ The CLF lawsuit was negotiated and settled between the CLF and the NMFS. Deadlines were imposed for producing a management plan that would eliminate overfishing of groundfish within five years. Meanwhile, a good year class of cod and yellowtail flounder was being caught, generating opposition to the needed conservation.

1992
October
§ Title IX of Public Law amends the MFMCSA to provide for the restoration of New England groundfish and includes the following provisions:
- Allows the Secretary of Commerce to reimburse a State for certain expenses incurred while enforcing a groundfish management plan;
- Requires the Secretary of Commerce to establish the Northwest Atlantic Ocean Fisheries Reinvestment Program in order to promote development of commercial fisheries and underutilized fisheries in the northwest Atlantic Ocean
- Requires the NEFMC to develop fishery management plans for underutilized fisheries in the northwest Atlantic Ocean in order to prevent overfishing of these species.

1994
January
§ NMFMP Amendment 5
- established a moratorium on new vessel permits during the rebuilding period
- established a goal of reduction in time-fishing by 50% over a five-to-seven year period
- developed the "days-at-sea" (DAS) effort reduction program
- increased mesh size by ½ inch
- developed interim gillnet regulations to reduce harbor porpoise bycatch
- established a mandatory reporting system for landings and effort data
- prohibited pair-trawling for groundfish
- required a finfish excluder device for the northern shrimp fishery
- established minimum fish sizes appropriate to the increased mesh size
- expanded the size of the Area II closure

May
§ Minimum codend mesh size increased to 6" (152 mm), diamond or square.

June
§ NMFMP Amendment 6
- established a 500-pound haddock possession limit

August
§ A new scientific assessment reported that Georges Bank cod was in the middle of a collapse

December
§ Parts of Georges Bank and southern New England were closed on an emergency basis to allow the NEFMC to come up with more stringent measures to replenish depleted stocks.
§ 6-inch square mesh codends were implemented for Stellwagen Bank and Jeffreys Ledge

1995
§ From 1978-95 the spawning biomass stock of Georges Bank cod declined from 80,000 metric tons to 20,000 tons.

1996
§ In the spring, the U.S. Department of Commerce began buying back groundfish vessels in a $2 million pilot program to reduce fishing capacity.

May 1
§ NMFMP Amendment 7
- established rebuilding program based on Fmax target fishing mortality
- established target TACs
- accelerated days at sea reductions
- established Framework Adjustment Process and the Multi-species Monitoring Committee to permit annual adjustments to management measures
- minimum fish size increased to 20" (51 cm) for recreational sector.
- accelerated the days-at-sea effort reduction program
- eliminated significant exemptions from the current effort control program
- provided incentives to fish exclusively with mesh larger than the minimum regulated size
- broadened area closures to protect juvenile and spawning fish
- established a multispecies permit for limited-access sea scallop vessels
- increased the haddock possession limit to 1000 pounds
- 50% reduction in "days at sea" is to be achieved within a two year period, rather than over seven years as stipulated in Amendment 5

October
§ Congress overwhelmingly approved amendments to the Magnuson Act that significantly strengthened its conservation provisions by adding measures to prevent overfishing, rebuild depleted stocks, protect fish habitat, and reduce wasteful bycatch. The amendments were named the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA).

December
§ The first annual review of Amendment 7 found that overfishing had been halted on all of the five principal groundfish stocks except Gulf of Maine cod. Georges Bank haddock was reported to have doubled its biomass from record low levels in 1993.

1997
§ An expanded $23 million program started purchasing additional groundfish permits in spring 1997.

May 1
§ Framework 20
- Target TAC: 2,605 mt
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 1,000 or 1,500 lbs/day
- Minimum fish size increased to 21" (53 cm) for recreational sector.

July 1
§ New stock assessments showed that the Amendment 7 fishing pressure targets had been achieved for cod, haddock and yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank and for yellowtail flounder in southern New England. Fishing on Gulf of Maine cod in 1996, however, was still three times the Amendment 7 target, and that stock was declared to be "on the verge of collapse."

1998
May 1
§ Framework 25
- Target TAC: 1,800 mt with trigger provision
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 700 lbs/day
- Series of 1-month rolling closures from Massachusetts Bay to Penobscot Bay.
- Year-round closure of portions of Jeffreys Ledge and Stellwagen Bank.

June 25
§ Framework trigger pulled
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 400 lbs/day

1999
February 1
§ Framework 26
- Additional month-block (30x30 minutes) closures implemented for February and April

May 1
§ Framework 27
- Target TAC: 1,300 mt with trigger provision
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 200 lbs/day
- Minimum square mesh increased to 6.5" (165 mm)

May 28
§ Framework trigger pulled
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 30 lbs/day

August 3
§ Interim Rule
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 100 lbs/day

2000
January 5
§ Framework 31
- Gulf of Maine cod trip limit: 400 lbs/day- 4,000 maximum/trip.
- Additional month-block (30x30 minutes) closures implemented for February

May 1
§ Framework 33
- Target TAC: 1,900 mt with trigger provision
- Continuation of most Framework 27 and 31 measures
- Year-round closure of WGOM area extended until April, 2002.

§ CLF files a lawsuit charging that groundfish catch levels, approved by NMFS, were too high and violated federal law by risking further depletion of New England groundfish populations.

November 1
§ Framework trigger pulled
§ One-month closure of Cashes Ledge

December
§ A federal district court judge completely upheld allegations by the CLF that the NMFS did not act to prevent overfishing and decrease bycatch in the New England groundfish fishery. The court found that NMFS was violating the federal SFA by failing to follow NMFS' own regulation that authorizes rebuilding fish populations and prohibits the continued overfishing of cod and other groundfish off the coast of New England.

2001
January 1
§ Framework trigger pulled
- Additional month-block (30x30 minutes) closures implemented for January

May 1
§ Annual Adjustment
- Target TAC: 1,118 mt
- Continuation of most Framework 27 and 31, and 33 measures.

2002
September
§ Necessary steps were taken to approve Amendment 13
§ Fisherman noticed discrepancy in length of cables for NMFS Bottom Trawl Surveys

October
§ NMFS released a report saying that after preliminary testing of trawl gear, there is virtually no change in management advice for groundfish

2003
January
§ At a Trawl Performance workshop NMFS delivered an analysis of the trawl surveys, the results of which "indicated that the proportion of tows where one vessel or gear configuration recorded a positive catch while the other did not was relatively low, less than 7.5% for any combination."

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