NOAA Fisheries recently issued a final rule to adjust the recreational measures for Georges Bank cod, Gulf of Maine cod, and Gulf of Maine Haddock. The recreational measures are available on the recreational fishing page for the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.
As a reminder, Georges Bank cod are those cod caught outside the Gulf of Maine regulated mesh area (GOM RMA), and therefore include cod caught in Georges Bank (GB RMA), Southern New England (SNE RMA), and Mid-Atlantic (MA RMA) regulated mesh areas. This includes waters offshore of Massachusetts (south of Cape Cod), Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey (see figure).
These measures apply to:
- Private recreational fishing vessels in federal waters (3-200 miles from shore)
- Federal charter/party permitted vessels in all waters
- Federal Northeast multispecies permitted vessels fishing under the charter/party or recreational regulations (i.e., not commercial fishing) in all waters
Visit our website for additional information on current recreational regulations in the Greater Atlantic Region.
