West Coast Trawlers Receive Permits to Target Rebuilt Rockfish Stocks
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Seafood News] by Susan Chambers - March 2, 2017
West Coast groundfish trawlers are fishing for rockfish again -- finally.
Rockfish was once targeted by trawlers and a popular item sold in stores and restaurants, but some species were listed as overfished in the early 2000s. Measures to rebuild the stocks to healthy levels led to constraints on both targeted and non-targeted species. Recent stock assessments show rockfish are abundant and healthy.
That situation helped support the National Marine Fisheries Service approving an exempted fishing permit for trawlers in the catch shares program. The exempted fishing permit, or EFP, could result in significant harvest increases for rockfish species in Oregon and Washington waters, according to the EFP applicants...
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