NOAA Fisheries announces proposed catch specifications for the 2025 spiny dogfish fishery, as recommended by both the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils. These proposed 2025 specifications would decrease the acceptable biological catch by 2 percent, and the coastwide commercial quota by 18 percent, compared to fishing year 2024. These decreases are the result of a higher, corrected 2022 discard estimate; higher than expected discards in 2023, and a more precautionary discard estimate for 2025. A comparison of the initial 2024 and proposed 2025 specifications is summarized below in Table 1. All other management measures and requirements, including trip limits, would remain unchanged.
Table 1. Comparison of Initial 20241 and Proposed 2025 Atlantic Spiny Dogfish Fishery Specifications, in metric tons. (ABC = acceptable biological catch, ACL = annual catch limit, ACT = annual catch target, TAL = total allowable landings)
| 2025 | 2024 | Percent Change | |
| ABC | 7,626 | 7,818 | -2 |
| ACL = ACT | 7,622 | 7,782 | -2 |
| TAL | 4,347 | 5,252 | -17 |
| Commercial Quota | 4,236 | 5,140 | -18 |
1The 2024 quota was subsequently reduced by 491 mt to account for a 2023 ACL overage, as required by the regulations at 50 CFR 648.233(c).
