- Fishermen report what they catch.
- Scientists research and estimate the number of fish.
- Managers recommend and regulate the amount of fish that can be caught.
You can be confident that if you find fish available for sale that was caught in the United States, including Massachusetts, it was caught sustainably. Fishing regulations in the US are very stringent and are designed to help preserve our oceans for future generations.
Size Limits
Many fish must be larger than a certain length in order to be kept once they are captured. This helps make sure fish have a chance to grow large enough to reproduce before they are harvested. There are also some fish that are not allowed to be kept if they are too big, in order to protect the breeding stock.
Gear Specifications
There are restrictions on the measurements of the gear that fishermen use. For example, mesh size is the amount of space between the knots in a fishing net. Regulations state that nets must be equal to or larger than a specified mesh size. These sizes are different for different types of gear and different target species. Regulating mesh size helps make sure that small fish can pass through the net without being caught.
Area Closures
Specific areas of the ocean are closed to fishing. These areas can be closed only at specific times of year, for example when a certain species is known to be spawning there. They may also be closed all year, to protect areas of habitat that are critical to marine life.
There are also regulations on where different types of gear can be used. For example, fixed fishing gear is not allowed to be set in areas that are known to have a high number of whales swimming through them. This helps reduce the number of whale entanglements, and helps prevent the fishermen from losing their expensive fishing gear!
Quota Limits
For some species, scientists estimate the number of fish they think it would be okay to harvest without threatening the overall population. This amount is set as the quota, which is then divided up among fishermen. Once the quota is reached, harvesting of that species must stop and it is no longer allowed to be sold if captured.
For more detailed information about regulations in Massachusetts, check out our Fisheries Management Overview that takes a look at these complex regulations, and the various organizations that help write them.