Northeast Multispecies (Groundfish)

This list contains a brief summary of selected management actions in the groundfish fishery. For more information about these actions, or to learn more about additional actions not mentioned in this list, please visit the New England Fishery Management Council's groundfish page.

• 1976 – the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) is enacted to conserve and manage fishery resources in U.S. federal waters
• 1977 – NOAA Fisheries and the New England Fishery Management Council implement a joint groundfish plan that relies on hard quotas to manage Atlantic cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder
• 1982 – the Interim Groundfish Plan replaces the joint groundfish plan and implements mesh size restrictions and minimum fish sizes to regulate fishing mortality
• 1986 – the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan replaces the Interim Groundfish Plan and establishes biological targets to maximize spawning potential of groundfish stocks
• 1987 – Amendment 1 revises the silver hake exempted fishery area, revises the large mesh area, and strengthens existing mesh size regulations
• 1989 – Amendment 2 cancels a scheduled increase in codend minimum mesh size requirements and implements a suite of additional effort control regulations
• 1989 – Amendment 3 creates the Flexible Areas Action System
• 1991 – Amendment 4 adds 3 species (silver hake, ocean pout, and red hake) to the groundfish management plan, implements small mesh regulations, and creates a process for the Council to recommend alterations to shrimp fishing gear
• 1993 – Amendment 5 establishes a moratorium on new groundfish permits, implements a days-at-sea effort reduction program, creates additional gear restrictions, implements minimum fish size restrictions, and creates a mandatory landings reporting system
• 1996 – The Sustainable Fisheries Act revises the Magnuson-Stevens Act, introducing additional requirements designed to prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, and protect essential fish habitat
• 1996 – Amendment 7 establishes target total allowable catches for regulated species, expedites the days-at-sea effort reduction program, introduces new closed areas, creates additional limited access and open access permit categories, imposes new recreational fishing regulations, and establishes the Nantucket Shoals dogfish exempted fishery
• 1997 – Framework Adjustment 20 sets Atlantic cod trip limits for vessels fishing north of 42°00’N , increases trip limits for Georges Bank haddock, implements additional gillnet restrictions, and modifies and adds several exempted fisheries
• 1998 – Framework Adjustment 24 adjusts the Atlantic cod trip limit days-at-sea provisions, enables active vessels to carry over up to 10 unused days-at-sea into the next fishing year, and implements additional regulatory exemptions for vessels fishing in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Regulatory Area
• 1998 – Framework Adjustment 25 implements a suite of measures intended to reduce fishing effort on Gulf of Maine cod, including a reduced Gulf of Maine cod trip limit, additional area closures in the Gulf of Maine, and an increased Georges Bank haddock trip limit
• 1998 – Framework Adjustment 26 modifies the April Gulf of Maine Inshore Closure Area and adds additional inshore and offshore closures in February to protect spawning cod
• 1999 – Amendment 9 specifies optimum yield for regulated species and adds Atlantic halibut to the groundfish management plan
• 1999 – Framework Adjustment 27 implements Georges Bank cod possession limits and authorizes the Regional Administrator to make in-season adjustments to these possession limits to prevent catch from exceeding the target total allowable catch
• 1999 – Framework Adjustment 30 sets Georges Bank cod possession limits for vessels enrolled in the Gulf of Maine Cod Trip Limit Exemption Program
• 1999 – Amendment 11 identifies and describes essential fish habitat for regulated species and establishes the Small-Mesh Multispecies Fishery Management Plan
• 2000 – Framework Adjustment 31 increases the Gulf of Maine cod landing limits, creates an additional Gulf of Maine area closure, and restricts the use of the days-at-sea program running clock 
• 2000 – Framework Adjustment 33 maintains the Western Gulf of Maine closed area, creates two additional conditional closure areas, maintains the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod possession limits, increases the Georges Bank haddock possession limits, and implements additional recreational management measures
• 2003 – Framework Adjustments 37 and 38 implement a suite of additional small-mesh multispecies regulations
• 2004 – Framework Adjustment 39 creates Scallop Access Areas in groundfish Closed Area I, Closed Area II, and the Nantucket Lightship Closed Area
• 2006 – Amendment 13 establishes sector management, creates the Handgear A permit category, and implements a collection of effort reduction measures geared towards ending overfishing and rebuilding overfished stocks
• 2004 – Framework Adjustment 40 A implements the Regular B Days-At-Sea Program, the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program, and the Eastern U.S./Canada Haddock Special Access Program
• 2005 – Framework Adjustment 40 B modifies the Days-At-Sea Leasing and Transfer Programs, revises the Closed Area II Yellowtail Flounder Special Access Program, modifies the Georges Bank Cod Hook Gear Sector, updates notification requirements for the herring fishery , removes restrictions for trip gillnet vessels, and creates a days-at-sea credit for vessels standing by an entangled whale
• 2005 – Framework Adjustment 41 modifies the Closed Area I Hook Gear Haddock Special Access Program to allow all limited access days-at-sea groundfish vessels fishing with hook gear to participate
• 2006 - Framework Adjustment 42 implements a rebuilding plan for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder, adjusts rebuilding plans for 6 other stocks , and establishes measures to alleviate the socioeconomic impacts of Amendment 13
• 2006 – Framework Adjustment 43 implements a suite of regulations pertaining to the Atlantic herring fishery
• 2010 – Amendment 16 implements a collection of management measures designed to end overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, including expanding the sector management program and establishing annual catch limits for all regulated stocks
• 2010 – Framework Adjustment 44 revises the pollock and Gulf of Maine cod trip limits, sets fishing year 2010-2012 specifications  all groundfish stocks, and grants the Regional Administrator the authority to implement in-season measures (differential days-at-sea counting or trip limits) for any stock to prevent catch from exceeding that stock’s annual catch limit
• 2011 – Framework 45 modifies annual catch limits and status determination criteria for several stocks, updates monitoring requirements, establishes the Gulf of Maine Cod Spawning Protection Area, updates handgear regulations, and approves 5 new sectors
• 2011 – Amendment 17 approves the formation of NOAA-sponsored state permit banks
• 2011 – Framework 46 modifies regulations pertaining to haddock catch in the midwater trawl Atlantic herring fishery
• 2012 – Framework Adjustment 47 sets specifications for several groundfish stocks, modifies the definition of the Ruhle trawl, revises or modifies accountability measures for several groundfish stocks, modifies common pool management measures, and clarifies charter/party closed area regulations
• 2013 – Framework Adjustment 48 establishes new status determination criteria for several stocks, revises sub-annual catch limit allocations, clarifies the goals of the at-sea monitoring program, revises accountability measures for several stocks, and implements a number of additional recreational and commercial groundfish management measures
• 2013 – Framework Adjustment 50 sets specifications for several groundfish stocks and announces changes to Eastern U.S./Canada Area monitoring and reporting requirements
• 2013 – Framework Adjustment 49 implements a suite of management measures for the scallop fishery
• 2014 – Framework 51 establishes catch limits for regulated stocks, updates the Gulf of Maine cod and American plaice rebuilding plans, and modifies U.S./Canada Management Area regulations
• 2015 – Framework Adjustment 52 revises windowpane flounder accountability measures
• 2015 – Framework Adjustment 53 sets specifications for several groundfish stocks, revises management measures for Gulf of Maine cod, implements a process for setting default catch limits in years when management actions are delayed, and modifies sector carryover provisions
• 2016 – Framework Adjustment 54 modifies monkfish possession limits in the Northern and Southern Fishery Management Areas, and revises minimum mesh size requirements in the Southern Fishery Management Area
• 2016 – Framework Adjustment 55 sets specifications for all groundfish stocks, revises the at-sea monitoring program, adjusts the sector approval process, modifies trawl gear requirements, and implements a process for converting Eastern Georges Bank haddock quota to Western Georges Bank haddock quota
• 2017 – Amendment 18 implements measures to encourage fleet diversity and prevent the accumulation of excessive shares in the fishery
• 2017 – Framework Adjustment 56 sets catch limits for 4 groundfish stocks, allocates a northern windowpane flounder sub-ACL for the scallop fishery, modifies the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder and northern windowpane flounder accountability measures for the scallop fishery, and increases the Georges Bank haddock midwater trawl fishery sub-annual catch limit
• 2018 – Framework Adjustment 57 sets catch limits for all groundfish stocks, adjusts trimester total allowable catch allocations for several stocks, revises accountability measures for 3 stocks, and grants the Regional Administrator authority to make adjustments to recreational Georges Bank cod management measures
• 2019 – Framework Adjustment 58 sets catch limits for 7 regulated stocks, establishes or updates rebuilding plans for 5 stocks, and revises the Georges Bank yellowtail flounder accountability measure for scallop vessels
• 2020 – Framework Adjustment 59 sets or adjusts catch limits for 19 regulated stocks and makes minor changes to groundfish management measures. 
• 2021 – Framework Adjustment 61 sets or adjusts catch limits for 17 regulated stocks.  Additionally revises the status determination criteria for Georges Bank and Southern New England-Mid Atlantic winter flounder, implements a revised rebuilding plan for white hake, and implements a universal exemption for sectors to target Acadian redfish.
• 2022 – Framework Adjustment 63 sets or adjusts catch limits for 5 of the 20 multispecies (groundfish) stocks, adjusts recreational measures for Georges Bank cod, and revises the default specifications process. 
• 2022 – Amendment 23 adjusts the industry-funded at-sea monitoring program for groundfish sectors to improve the accuracy of collected catch data (landings and discards) and catch accounting.
• 2023 – Framework Adjustment 65 revises the rebuilding plan for Gulf of Maine cod, sets catch limits for 16 of the 20 multispecies (groundfish) stocks, and makes a temporary modification to the accountability measures for Georges Bank cod. This action also corrects erroneous regulations and removes outdated regulations. This action also implements an emergency action to set fishing year 2023 catch limits for Gulf of Maine haddock.
• 2024 – Framework Adjustment 66 set catch limits for 8 of the 20 multispecies stocks, modifies the accountability measure trigger for Atlantic halibut, and makes a temporary modification to the accountability trigger for the scallop fishery for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. 

Last updated by Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office on 05/01/2024.