Fishing Year 2024 Catch Limits
Framework 66 sets annual catch limits for 8 of the 20 groundfish stocks. Quotas for the U.S./Canada area are shown in Table 1. The 2024 catch limits are listed in Table 2.
Based on the preliminary 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. These quotas replace those that were put in place by the April 5, 2024, final rule that made initial allocations to sectors and set default specifications for several stocks.
Sector and common pool quotas are based on the preliminary fishing year 2024 rosters. If changes to the sector rosters occur, updated catch limits will be announced as soon as possible in the 2024 fishing year to reflect the final sector rosters as of May 1, 2024. NOAA Fisheries will subtract any sector or common pool overages in a separate action, if necessary, after finalizing fishing year 2023 catch information.
Table 1. 2024 Fishing Year U.S./Canada Quotas (mt, live weight) and Percent of Quota Allocated to Each Country
| Quota | Eastern GB Cod | Eastern GB Haddock | GB Yellowtail Flounder | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Shared Quota | 520 | 10,000 | 168 | |
| U.S. Quota | 151 (29 percent) | 3,100 (31 percent) | 71 (42 percent) | |
| Canadian Quota | 369 (71 percent) | 6,900 (69 percent) | 97 (58 percent) |
| 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 | 534 | 406 | 395 | 11 | 43 | 86 | ||||
| GOM Cod | 536 | 488 | 286 | 10 | 192 | 48 | 0 | |||
| GB Haddock | 7,040 | 6,909 | 6,756 | 153 | 131 | 0 | 0 | |||
| GOM Haddock | 2,346 | 2,268 | 1,479 | 31 | 759 | 22 | 48 | 8.0 | ||
| GB Yellowtail Flounder | 70 | 58 | 55 | 3.3 | 11.0 | 1.3 | 0 | 0 | ||
| SNE/MA Yellowtail Flounder | 40 | 35 | 27 | 7.6 | 2.7 | 0.2 | 2.0 | |||
| CC/GOM Yellowtail Flounder | 990 | 921 | 881 | 39 | 30 | 40 | ||||
| American Plaice | 5,513 | 5,457 | 5,315 | 142 | 28 | 28 | ||||
| Witch Flounder | 1,254 | 1,204 | 1,163 | 41 | 19 | 31 | ||||
| GB Winter Flounder | 1,548 | 1,532 | 1,488 | 44 | 0 | 16 | ||||
| GOM Winter Flounder | 800 | 635 | 556 | 79 | 153 | 12.1 | ||||
| SNE/MA Winter Flounder | 624 | 461 | 408 | 53 | 19 | 144 | ||||
| Redfish | 8,303 | 8,303 | 8,226 | 77 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| White Hake | 1,933 | 1,923 | 1,905 | 18 | 0 | 10 | ||||
| Pollock | 13,934 | 12,818 | 12,696 | 122 | 627 | 488 | ||||
| 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 | 75 | 58 | na | 58 | 16 | 1.2 | ||||
| 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.
Table 3. ACE (in 1,000 lb), by stock, for each sector for fishing year 2024#^
| 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 | 35 | 60 | 5 | 119 | 146 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 83 | 38 | 76 | 29 | 10 | 101 | 42 | 762 |
| Maine Coast Community Sector | 7 | 12 | 103 | 224 | 276 | 404 | 2 | 2 | 127 | 1,876 | 327 | 27 | 111 | 23 | 1,683 | 586 | 3,582 |
| Maine Permit Bank | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 37 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 141 | 19 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 151 | 70 | 480 |
| Mooncusser Sector | 40 | 68 | 41 | 263 | 324 | 123 | 2 | 1 | 62 | 104 | 48 | 32 | 40 | 25 | 870 | 453 | 2,979 |
| NEFS 2 | 32 | 53 | 177 | 986 | 1,214 | 842 | 5 | 5 | 568 | 1,888 | 553 | 151 | 393 | 58 | 4,025 | 566 | 5,128 |
| NEFS 4 | 29 | 49 | 73 | 414 | 510 | 295 | 3 | 2 | 131 | 1,137 | 235 | 24 | 105 | 11 | 1,226 | 351 | 2,055 |
| NEFS 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 31 | 38 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 19 | 35 | 12 | 7 | 12 | 98 | 2 | 3 | 19 |
| NEFS 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 38 | 47 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 106 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 204 | 22 | 90 |
| NEFS 8 | 107 | 181 | 42 | 2,713 | 3,340 | 633 | 52 | 14 | 376 | 2,567 | 547 | 1,923 | 91 | 408 | 4,826 | 814 | 5,298 |
| NEFS 10 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 54 | 25 | 0 | 99 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 25 |
| NEFS 11 | 1 | 2 | 74 | 2 | 3 | 91 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 183 | 41 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 342 | 170 | 2,480 |
| NEFS 12 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 44 | 0 | 0 | 189 | 187 | 48 | 0 | 173 | 3 | 100 | 38 | 394 |
| NEFS 13 | 37 | 62 | 4 | 1,122 | 1,381 | 29 | 44 | 18 | 149 | 916 | 205 | 647 | 29 | 167 | 331 | 57 | 384 |
| New Hampshire Permit Bank | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 32 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 1 | 22 | 37 | 46 | 580 | 714 | 560 | 8 | 4 | 98 | 1,990 | 357 | 369 | 57 | 57 | 3,381 | 858 | 3,337 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 2 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 161 | 198 | 140 | 1 | 1 | 52 | 339 | 74 | 21 | 43 | 26 | 878 | 146 | 915 |
| Sustainable Harvest Sector 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 109 | 22 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 19 | 32 |
| Common Pool | 10 | 15 | 22 | 159 | 178 | 67 | 7 | 17 | 87 | 314 | 90 | 97 | 174 | 117 | 170 | 40 | 269 |
| Sector Total | 323 | 547 | 630 | 6,675 | 8,219 | 3,260 | 120 | 60 | 1,943 | 11,718 | 2,564 | 3,281 | 1,226 | 899 | 18,135 | 4,201 | 27,990 |
# 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.
^ The data in the table represent the total allocations to each sector.
Other Measures
Framework 66 modifies the catch threshold for implementing the Atlantic halibut accountability measures. In the situation where the Atlantic halibut annual catch limit is exceeded by more than the management uncertainty buffer, NOAA Fisheries would take into account the landings from the Canadian fishery for the last calendar year and determine whether, when combined with the landings by U.S. fisheries (Federal and state), the total acceptable biological catch had been exceeded as well. Framework 66 does not make any changes to the accountability measures themselves, which are a combination of a zero-possession limit and gear-area restrictions.
Framework 66 temporarily modifies the catch threshold for implementing the scallop fishery’s accountability measures for GB yellowtail flounder for the 2024 and 2025 fishing years, so that the accountability measures for GB yellowtail flounder 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. Unless this modification is extended in a future action, the underlying policy for implementing the scallop fishery’s accountability measures for GB cod would be in effect for catches in fishing year 2026 and beyond.
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