Framework 69 sets commercial and recreational management measures, including annual catch limits, for groundfish stocks for fishing year 2025, which ends April 30, 2026. Catch limits for GB cod and GOM cod were set by emergency action for fishing year 2025 and are not implemented by this rule.
The New England Fishery Management Council took final action on the revised Amendment 25 (September 2025) and Framework 72 (December 2025). Amendment 25 is focused on the transition from two stocks of cod to four stocks. Framework 72 includes specifications for groundfish stocks for fishing year 2026. Both actions are still under review by NOAA Fisheries, and have not yet been approved or implemented.
Fishing Year 2025 Catch Limits
Framework 69 sets fishing year 2025 annual catch limits for groundfish stocks. Quotas for the U.S./Canada area are shown in Table 1. The 2025 catch limits are listed in Table 2.
Based on the at-sea monitoring coverage target of 100 percent, the management uncertainty buffer has been removed from the sector sub-annual catch limits for all allocated stocks. Sector annual catch entitlements (ACE) are shown in Table 3, updating the ACEs implemented by the May 2, 2025, emergency rule. Sector and common pool quotas are based on the fishing year 2025 rosters.
Table 1. 2025 Fishing Year U.S./Canada Quotas (mt, live weight) and Percent of Quota Allocated to Each Country
| Quota | Eastern GB Haddock | GB Yellowtail Flounder |
|---|---|---|
| Total Shared Quota | 7,410 | 200 |
| U.S. Quota | 1,556 (21 percent) | 96 (48 percent) |
| Canadian Quota | 5,854 (79 percent) | 104 (52 percent) |
Table 2. Fishing Year 2025 Catch Limits (mt, live weight)
| Stock | Total ACL | Groundfish sub-ACL | Final Sector sub-ACL | Final Common Pool sub-ACL | Recreational sub-ACL | Midwater Trawl Fishery | Scallop Fishery | Small-Mesh Fisheries | State Waters sub- component | Other sub-component |
| A to H | A+B+C | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | |
| GB Cod* | 194 | 147 | 142 | 5 | 16 | 31 | ||||
| GOM Cod* | 336 | 306 | 178 | 7 | 120 | 30 | 0.0 | |||
| GB Haddock | 2,175 | 2,123 | 2,077 | 46 | 41 | 0 | 10.9 | |||
| GOM Haddock | 3,324 | 3,258 | 2,129 | 54 | 1,075 | 32 | 34 | 0.0 | ||
| GB Yellowtail Flounder | 95 | 79 | 74 | 5.0 | 14.9 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder | 40 | 35 | 26 | 9.0 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 2.0 | |||
| CC/GOM Yellowtail Flounder | 913 | 848 | 801 | 48 | 28 | 37 | ||||
| American Plaice | 8,684 | 8,640 | 8,385 | 255 | 0 | 44 | ||||
| Witch Flounder | 1,523 | 1,477 | 1,424 | 54 | 7.6 | 38 | ||||
| GB Winter Flounder | 1,488 | 1,473 | 1,402 | 71 | 0 | 15 | ||||
| GOM Winter Flounder | 799 | 634 | 541 | 93 | 153 | 12.1 | ||||
| SNE/MA Winter Flounder | 624 | 461 | 395 | 66 | 19 | 144 | ||||
| Redfish | 8,268 | 8,268 | 8,170 | 98 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| White Hake | 1,920 | 1,910 | 1,889 | 21 | 0 | 10 | ||||
| Pollock | 12,727 | 11,263 | 11,145 | 117 | 764 | 700 | ||||
| N. Windowpane Flounder | 127 | 94 | na | 94 | 27 | 0.0 | 6.8 | |||
| S. Windowpane Flounder | 205 | 30 | na | 30 | 71 | 6.4 | 98 | |||
| Ocean Pout | 83 | 49 | na | 49 | 0 | 34 | ||||
| Atlantic Halibut | 34 | 23 | na | 23 | 9.1 | 1.6 | ||||
| Atlantic Wolffish | 87 | 87 | na | 87 | 0 | 0 |
na: not allocated to sectors. ACL = annual catch limit, GB = Georges Bank, GOM = Gulf of Maine, SNE/MA = Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic, CC/GOM = Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine, N = northern, S = southern.
* Specifications for GB cod and GOM cod were set by emergency action and are not implemented by this rule. They are included here for a complete view of allocations based on final 2025 rosters.
Table 3. ACE (in 1,000 lb), by stock, for each sector for fishing year 2025*#
| Sector Name | GB Cod East ^ | GB Cod West ^ | GOM Cod ^ | GB Haddock East | GB Haddock West | GOM Haddock | GB Yellowtail Flounder | SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder | CC/GOM Yellowtail Flounder | Plaice | Witch Flounder | GB Winter Flounder | GOM Winter Flounder | SNE/MA Winter Flounder | Redfish | White Hake | Pollock |
| Fixed Gear Sector | 19 | 15 | 3 | 45 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 86 | 35 | 1 | 25 | 10 | 88 | 42 | 655 |
| Maine Coast Community Sector | 4 | 3 | 66 | 113 | 41 | 588 | 3 | 2 | 118 | 2,972 | 403 | 26 | 109 | 23 | 1,678 | 583 | 3,156 |
| Maine Permit Bank | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 54 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 223 | 24 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 150 | 70 | 421 |
| Mooncusser Sector | 21 | 17 | 30 | 125 | 46 | 183 | 1 | 1 | 73 | 182 | 71 | 2 | 55 | 19 | 868 | 456 | 2,711 |
| NEFS 2 | 18 | 14 | 105 | 532 | 195 | 1,209 | 12 | 6 | 495 | 3,029 | 688 | 165 | 377 | 61 | 4,022 | 560 | 4,478 |
| NEFS 4 | 16 | 12 | 46 | 208 | 76 | 427 | 4 | 2 | 120 | 1,801 | 288 | 23 | 105 | 11 | 1,221 | 349 | 1,805 |
| NEFS 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 17 | 43 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 71 | 2 | 1 | 16 |
| NEFS 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 203 | 22 | 79 |
| NEFS 8 | 62 | 50 | 26 | 1,451 | 531 | 912 | 84 | 15 | 368 | 4,187 | 696 | 2,050 | 71 | 445 | 4,830 | 812 | 4,694 |
| NEFS 10 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 57 | 20 | 0 | 80 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 18 |
| NEFS 11 | 1 | 1 | 43 | 1 | 0 | 128 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 273 | 47 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 339 | 167 | 2,106 |
| NEFS 12 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 27 | 10 | 68 | 2 | 1 | 180 | 356 | 67 | 13 | 175 | 7 | 107 | 39 | 350 |
| NEFS 13 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 432 | 158 | 33 | 43 | 16 | 75 | 909 | 165 | 417 | 16 | 108 | 278 | 40 | 250 |
| New Hampshire Permit Bank | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 28 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 1 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 231 | 85 | 442 | 4 | 1 | 87 | 2,130 | 284 | 215 | 72 | 31 | 2,059 | 516 | 1,409 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 69 | 25 | 194 | 1 | 2 | 40 | 399 | 76 | 12 | 29 | 23 | 760 | 120 | 676 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 3 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 80 | 29 | 398 | 7 | 3 | 59 | 1,666 | 245 | 159 | 34 | 56 | 1,402 | 385 | 1,718 |
| Common Pool | 6 | 4 | 15 | 79 | 23 | 120 | 11 | 20 | 105 | 562 | 119 | 156 | 206 | 145 | 215 | 46 | 259 |
| Sector Total | 175 | 139 | 393 | 3,352 | 1,227 | 4,693 | 162 | 57 | 1,766 | 18,487 | 3,139 | 3,091 | 1,193 | 870 | 18,013 | 4,165 | 24,571 |
* The data in this table are based on fishing year 2025 sector rosters, and represent the total allocations to each sector.
# Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds. In some cases, this table shows an allocation of 0, but that sector may be allocated a small amount of that stock in tens or hundreds pounds.
^ Specifications for GB cod and GOM cod were set by emergency action. They are included here for a complete view of all allocations based on final 2025 rosters and the removal of the management uncertainty buffer for sectors.
Sectors
This final rule approves all previously approved 15 sector operations plans for fishing years 2025-2026. No additional sectors are approved to operate in fishing year 2025.
For fishing years 2025 and 2026, sectors did not request any novel exemptions. This rule approves all 18 previously approved exemptions for fishing years 2025 and 2026.
Common Pool
Framework 69 includes the following fishing year 2025 common pool trip limits for all groundfish stocks:
Table 4. 2025 Common Pool Daily and Trip Possession Limits
| Stock | 2025 Common Pool Daily and Trip Possession Limits | |||
| DAS permits | Handgear A | Handgear B | Small Vessel Category | |
| GOM Cod | 25 lb (11.3 kg) per DAS, up to 50 lb (22.7 kg) per trip | 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip | 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip | 25 lb (11.3 kg) per trip |
| GB Cod | 0 lb (0 kg) per trip; possession prohibited | |||
| GB Haddock | 1,000 lb (454 kg) per DAS, up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) per trip | 1,000 lb (454 kg) per trip | 300 lb (136.1 kg) per trip | |
| GOM Haddock | 1,000 lb (454 kg) per DAS, up to 2,000 lb (907 kg) per trip | 1,000 lb (454 kg) per trip | 300 lb (136.1 kg) per trip | |
| GB Yellowtail Flounder | 100 lb (45.4 kg) per trip | |||
| SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder | 200 lb (90.7 kg) per DAS, up to 400 lb (181 kg) per trip | 200 lb (90.7 kg) per trip | ||
| Cape Cod (CC)/GOM Yellowtail Flounder | 1,500 lb (680 kg) per DAS, up to 3,000 lb (1,361 kg) per trip | 1,500 lb (680 kg) per trip | 300 lb (136.1 kg) per trip | |
| American Plaice | 3,000 lb per (1,361 kg) DAS, up to 6,000 lb (2,722 kg) per trip | 3,000 lb (1,361 kg) per trip | ||
| Witch Flounder | 1,500 lb (680 kg) per trip | |||
| GB Winter Flounder | 500 lb (227 kg) per trip | |||
| GOM Winter Flounder | 2,000 lb (907 kg) per trip | |||
| SNE/MA Winter Flounder | 2,000 lb (907 kg) per DAS, up to 4,000 lb (1,814 kg) per trip | 2,000 lb (907 kg) per trip | ||
| Redfish | No Limit | |||
| White Hake | 1,000 lb (454 kg) per trip | |||
| Pollock | No Limit | |||
| Atlantic Halibut | 1 fish per trip | |||
| Windowpane Flounder | Possession Prohibited | |||
| Ocean Pout | ||||
| Atlantic Wolffish | ||||
Recreational Management Measures
Framework 69 includes the fishing year 2025 recreational measures for GOM haddock and GOM cod. GB cod recreational measures were not set by this action are remain unchanged (possession prohibited).
Table 5: GOM haddock and cod recreational measures.
| Stock | Possession Limit (For Hire and Private) | Minimum Size in Inches (centimeters) | Open Season |
| GOM Haddock | 15 | 17 (43.2) | May 1 – February 28/29 and April 1 - 30 |
| GOM Cod | 1 | 23 (58.4) | September 1 – October 31 |
Scallop Fishery Accountability Measures
Framework 69 modifies the catch threshold for implementing the scallop fishery’s accountability measures for GB yellowtail flounder and northern windowpane flounder, so that the accountability measures for either of these two stocks would only be implemented if scallop fishery catch exceeds its sub-annual catch limit by any amount and the total accountability measures is also exceeded.
This bulletin serves as a Small Entity Compliance Guide, complying with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.
