In June, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council voted to recommend maintaining the 2010 quota levels of 5.3 million bushels for the ocean quahog fishery, 3.4 million bushels for the Atlantic surf clam fishery, and 100,000 Maine bushels for the Maine ocean quahog fishery for 2011-2013.
This quota represents the maximum allowable quota under the fisheries management plan.
Because Maine ocean quahogs are the same species as ocean quahogs, both fisheries are assessed under the same ocean quahog overfishing definition. When the two quota amounts (ocean quahog and Maine ocean quahog) are added, the total allowable harvest is still lower than the level that would result in overfishing for the entire stock, NMFS said Monday in an annoucement in The Federal Register.
Estimated
