NOAA 94-R195
Contact: Scott Smullen FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE(301) 713-2370 11/22/94
The National Marine Fisheries Service has responded to a district judge's order to raise the commercial quota in the summer flounder fishery from Maine to North Carolina an extra 3 million pounds above the previously set 1994 quota, the fisheries service announced today.
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Doumar of Norfolk, Va., issued a Nov. 4 order that directed the fisheries service to reset the 1994 commercial summer flounder quota to 19.05 million pounds. This represents an increase of roughly 3 million pounds above the set quota of 16 million pounds.
The fisheries service adjusted the quota on Nov. 18. However, the agency will request the Department of Justice to appeal Judge Doumar's order.
A group of Atlantic coast commercial fishing organizations and seafarers interests sued the fisheries service in April, hoping the action would bring a modification in the 1994 commercial quota. Judge Doumar ordered the quota reset, citing that the fisheries service had failed to take into account the best scientific information available when adopting the 1994 quota.
With this ruling, each coastal state previously closed to summer flounder landings can once again allow the fish to be brought to port by commercial fishermen. Many states were nearing their previously set individual quota for 1994. The Mid- Atlantic Fishery Management Council is expected to discuss the new quota adjustment at its Dec. 20 meeting in Long Branch, N.J.
Additionally, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recently recommended to the fisheries service a coast-wide summer flounder quota of 19.4 million pounds for 1995. However, this recommendation does not take into account the increased catch that will result from the 1994 quota adjustment. Therefore, to assure fishing mortality goals are met in 1995 and summer flounder stocks are able to rebuild, the council's recommended 1995 quota may be adjusted to offset any increased mortality in 1994.
Fishing regulations provide a distribution of the annual summer flounder quota among coastal states. Regulations also allow a state to transfer all or a portion of its commercial quota to another state or states.