“We have decided not to close the Federal recreational scup fishery as proposed on April 18, 2022.” That’s the official sentence that matters under the final rule published last month by NOAA regarding the recreational management measures for scup this season.
As first posted by The Fisherman Magazine in early May, NOAA Fisheries had announced on April 18 that the recent decision by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries (Commission) to increase the size limit of porgy (scup) coastwide by 1-inch would not be enough in federal waters to meet the required reduction in recreational harvest levels (RHL) for 2022.
Because the action proposed by the Council and Commission would not sufficiently reduce scup harvest, NOAA Fisheries was considering a federal closure on recreational porgy fishing which would’ve applied to all recreational vessels fishing in federal waters (outside of 3 miles) and all federally permitted for-hire vessels fishing in either state or Federal waters.
In their official announcement NOAA Fisheries recognized the public opposition to the closure as a key factor in their decision to keep federal waters open to porgy fishing. “We received 319 comments on the proposed rule, 296 of which were opposed to the Federal recreational scup closure.” the final ruling noted.
“In part due to our consideration of these comments, we have decided not to close the Federal recreational scup fishery and instead implement a 1-inch (2.54-cm) minimum size increase,” NOAA Fisheries stated. “Our rationale for implementing the size limit increase and not the Federal closure, is based, in part, on the objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Per the National Standards, management actions need to prevent overfishing while minimizing social and economic impacts, considering equity, and minimizing discards, among other factors.”
