NOAA REMOVES CONTROL DATE ON ATLANTIC MACKEREL; MAKES FISHERY MORE ATTRACTIVE TO FISHERMEN

Due to the abundance of Atlantic mackerel in the Northeast and Mid- Atlantic coastal waters, the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will lift a management condition Tuesday, called a control date, that could have discouraged vessels from entering the fishery that were not historic participants before August 13, 1992.

Lifting the control date may encourage many fishermen who have been hit hard by the collapse of groundfish and other East Coast high value stocks to re-rig their vessels to catch Atlantic mackerel.

"This is an example of how we're trying to address the fishing crisis in the Northeast," said Rollie Schmitten, head of the National Marine Fisheries Service. "We are working with fishermen to identify ways in which they can sustain their livelihood, but not contribute to further depletion of overfished stocks. By encouraging diversification into Atlantic mackerel, we are helping to reach this goal in a positive manner."

During 1992, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council recommended to the fisheries service that measures to control possible overfishing and overcapitalization in the Atlantic mackerel fishery might be necessary in the future. The council, through the fisheries service, established a control date -- or cutoff date -- that could have been used to exclude fishermen not in the fishery before that date. A limited access measure using the control date had not been triggered in the Atlantic mackerel fishery.

The council and fisheries service officials were presented data recently that indicate that Atlantic mackerel catch and fishing effort decreased in 1993 and 1994, while stock levels remained constant, and that mackerel stocks look healthy into the near future.

Fisheries service officials believe that many vessels from the New England and Mid-Atlantic areas may enter the Atlantic mackerel fishery if viable markets can be developed.

According to fisheries service statistics, 10.3 million pounds of Atlantic mackerel valued at $1.3 million were landed at East Coast ports during 1993. Those figures are down from the 1992 catch of 26 million pounds, valued at $3.7 million.