The National Marine Fisheries Services has issued a final rule for the spiny dogfish shark fishery implementing a commercial quota and possession limits for the 2003 fishing year to address overfishing of these sharks.

The spiny dogfish is a small schooling shark that forms groups of hundreds or thousands of individuals of the same sex and size.

Distributed in the western North Atlantic from Labrador to Florida during spring and autumn, dogfish migrate northward to the Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank region and into Canadian waters in summer and southward in autumn and winter.

These small sharks have been harvested for the last 100 years for their oil rich liver which was used in lamp oil and machine lubricants. The oil was later used as a source of vitamin A. Today spiny dogfish is valued as food in many countries.

Dogfish are known to feed on many species of fish and crustaceans, but generally target the most abundant species. In the Northwest Atlantic, maximum ages reported for males and females are 35 and 40 years, respectively. The species bears live young, with a gestation period of about 18 to 22 months, producing two to 15 pups with an average of six.

The principal commercial fishing gears used for catching dogfish are otter trawls and sink gillnets. Dogfish are frequently caught as bycatch and discarded during groundfish operations, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic Southern New England area.

The spiny dogfish fishery is managed under an Fishery Management Plan (FMP) developed jointly by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the New England Fishery Management Council.

This final rule implements a commercial quota of four million pounds (1.81 million kilograms) for the 2003 fishing year that is allocated in two quota periods: Period 1 from May 1 through October 31 when 57.9 percent of the total quota may be caught, and Period 2 from November 1 through April 30 when the rest of the quota may be caught.

This final rule also maintains the existing possession limits of 600 lb (272 kg) and 300 lb (136 kg) for Quota Period 1 and Quota Period 2, respectively, to allow for the retention of spiny dogfish caught incidentally while fishing for other species throughout the entire fishing year.

One set of written comments was submitted during the comment period in response to the proposed rule. The comments were prepared by a group of environmental organizations, including The Ocean Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Audubon Society, and Environmental Defense. They supported the four million pound commercial quota, but urged the service to consider a lower quota.

The National Marine Fisheries Service stated that the organizations' comments were considered in shaping the final rule. Their suggestion for a lower quota was not considered because, the service said, "Any further reduction in landings would have to be considered in light of potential increased spiny dogfish discards."

This action must be taken immediately at the start of the 2003 fishing year on May 1, to conserve this resource, the service says, because an unrestricted harvest would allow vessels to quickly fill the Period 1 quota if spiny dogfish are congregated in areas where other species are being targeted, or targeted by some vessels. In the absence of a commercial quota, there would be no ability to close the fishery to prevent further increases in fishing mortality and potential deleterious effects to rebuilding efforts.

In addition, because this final rule maintains measures implemented in the 2002 specifications, there is no requirement for participants to come into compliance with any new gear requirements.