The New England Groundfish Fishery after 10 Years under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act

In the first 10 years under the Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the New England and Mid-Atlantic regional fishery management councils (FMCS) managed 19 species of finfish and shellfish under eight fisheries management plans. The ability of the councils to effectively manage marine fisheries can be demonstrated by examining the management plans and levels of catch, and by noting the condition of the resource. Heavy foreign fishing during the 1960s and early 1970s was constrained by catch quotas imposed by the International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, and the abundance of principal groundfish increased significantly by 1978. From 1976 to 1983, New England fishing effort doubled, and stocks that had not been heavily fished by foreign fleets went from being underfished to being overfished in just a few years. The total U.S. catch of finfish and squids steadily increased from 1973 to 1980 and then declined. The original Groundfish Plan was only for Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus, and yellowtail flounder Limanda ferruginea, and lasted from 1977 to 1982. Good year-classes of Atlantic cod and haddock entered the fisheries during the first year of management and created significant management problems. This plan contained catch quotas as its main method of control of fishing. By 1979, the New England FMC decided that catch quotas were inappropriate for managing the groundfish resource and developed the Interim Groundfish Plan, which included recommendations for indirect controls on effort, such as mesh sizes, minimum fish sizes, and area closures. The plan went into effect in 1982 and lasted through 1986, when the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan was developed. Under FMC management, the abundance of New England groundfish declined by 65% from 1977 to 1987. Some stocks–haddock, redfish Sebastes spp., and yellowtail flounder–were so heavily fished that their abundances declined to record low levels, and the abundances of other species were also greatly reduced.