The North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries released a proclamation reducing the amount of bluefish commercial fishermen can harvest to 50 pounds per trip or per day, “whichever is more restrictive.”
The proclamation went into effect Friday at 12:01 a.m.
The DMF will release another proclamation closing the fishery once the commercial quota is projected to be reached or on Dec. 31, 2024.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages bluefish from Maine to Florida, allocates bluefish quotas for each state on the east coast.
This year, the ASMFC set a quota of 2.4 million pounds of bluefish for commercial fishing harvest in the 14 states that it oversees, which is lower than previous years, said Chris Batsavage, the special assistant for councils at the DMF.
The ASMFC allocated more than 776,000 pounds of bluefish for commercial fishing harvest in North Carolina.
The DMF estimated commercial fishermen in North Carolina have already harvested 80 percent of that quota, Batsavage said.
“We’re not even 50 percent of the way through the year, and we’re already 80 percent of the way there,” Batsavage said.
The DMF is working on obtaining quota transfers from other states in the ASMFC. This would increase North Carolina’s share of the 2.4 million pounds of bluefish allowed for harvest this year, Batsavage said.
If the DMF obtains extra quota, it could increase the trip limits in the future, Batsavage said.
The DMF reduced the commercial daily harvest to 800 pounds on March 3 and further reduced the commercial daily harvest to 400 pounds on May 23.
North Carolina’s commercial fishermen harvested more than 872,000 pounds of blufish in 2022 when the state’s allocated quota was 1.13 million pounds, according to state data.
