- Division of Marine Fisheries
The commercial quotas described herein are subject to change. Check the Division’s quota monitoring webpage for updates.
Atlantic Herring: 20,137,023 pounds (coastwide quota)
The 2026 coastwide commercial quota for Atlantic herring represents a 64% increase from the all-time-low (final) quota of 12.25 million pounds in 2025. This is still severely reduced compared to historical values due to record low biomass driven by poor recruitment. The coastwide limit is allocated among four management areas: 28.9% to Area 1A (inshore Gulf of Maine), 4.3% to Area 1B (offshore Gulf of Maine), 27.8% to Area 2 (south of Cape Cod), and 39% to Area 3 (Georges Bank). The 2026 quota will provide modest relief from the 2025 quota which supported a very limited number of directed fishing days per area. A management track assessment is scheduled for 2026 which is expected to inform the setting of specifications for 2027–2029.
Atlantic Menhaden: 8,667,681 pounds (MA quota)
Massachusetts menhaden quota for 2026 is reduced 20% from that of 2023–2025 (when it was ~10.82 million pounds) based on an equivalent reduction to the coastwide quota. The state’s share of the roughly 412-million-pound coastwide quota for 2026 is 2.12% (after a 1% set-aside is taken off the top). The 20% reduction stems from the results of the 2025 single-species and ecosystem reference point (ERP) stock assessments for menhaden. Using population estimates from the single-species assessment, the ERP assessment evaluates menhaden’s role as a prey species in the ecosystem and provides a mechanism to set the coastwide quota leaving sufficient forage for key menhaden predators. An improved estimate of menhaden natural mortality used in the single-species assessment is primarily responsible for the decline in the coastwide quota (as opposed to a declining trend in menhaden). While the coastwide quota established for 2026 has no risk of exceeding the ERP fishing mortality threshold, it falls short of achieving the ERP fishing mortality target, which past quota-setting decisions under the ERPs have done. Based on the socioeconomic impacts of the larger reductions (~50%) associated with the target level, the ASMFC Atlantic Menhaden Management Board set the coastwide quota for just one year, and will consider further reductions for 2027 and 2028 when they reconvene at the end of 2026 after having more time to discuss the assessment results with stakeholders and understand the impacts. In 2025, the Massachusetts fishery brought in about 12 million pounds of menhaden landings, in excess of the allocated quota by means of the Episodic Event Set-Aside and a quota transfer. DMF does not plan to make any regulatory adjustments in response to the quota reduction in 2026 but may again rely on these plan provisions to support the menhaden fishery and the lobster fishery that it supplies with bait.
Black Sea Bass: 1,027,317 pounds (MA quota)
Based on a 30% increase to the coastwide commercial quota, Massachusetts’ black sea bass quota will increase an equivalent percentage, from roughly 787,000 pounds in 2025 to over 1 million pounds for 2026—the highest it has ever been. This quota level is supported by a black sea bass population estimated to be at 284% of its spawning stock biomass target. Massachusetts’ share of the coastwide quota remains the same as 2025 at 13.12%. The Massachusetts fishery landed its full quota in 2025, plus an additional ~39,000 pounds made possible by a quota transfer from another state. Based on the quota increase for 2026, DMF will be proposing several minor liberalizations to commercial measures at public hearing this winter.
Bluefish: 426,280 pounds (MA quota)
The Massachusetts bluefish fishery will see a 62% increase in its quota for 2026 (compared to its 2025 allocated quota of roughly 262,000 pounds). This is on account of a 54% increase in the coastwide quota and a slight bump in Massachusetts’ percent share of that coastwide quota. 2026 is the fifth year of a 7-year phase-in of revised state-by-state allocations which will ultimately take MA’s share from its historical allocation of roughly 6.71% to just over 10.11%. The coastwide increase reflects the results of the 2025 stock assessment for bluefish, which found that the stock may soon be considered rebuilt, several years ahead of its 7-year rebuilding plan ending in 2028. Fishery managers held back on the quota increase to some degree with an eye towards long-term fishery stability. The Massachusetts fishery fell short if its quota in 2025 but high interannual variability in landings is not uncommon, with factors like resource distribution and fishing effort playing leading roles. No changes to the commercial measures are planned.
Horseshoe Crab: To Be Determined
Massachusetts has managed two distinct horseshoe crab quotas—one for bait use and one for biomedical use—since 2023. The bait quota supports the harvest of horseshoe crab for use primarily in whelk pots, whereas the biomedical quota supports the catch and subsequent release of horseshoe crabs from which blood is drawn for use in testing the safety of biomedical products. Crabs harvested under the bait quota may also be borrowed from bait dealers for bleeding by biomedical firms prior to sale to bait users. For the past three years, the quotas have been set at 140,000 bait crabs and 200,000 biomedical crabs. Due to reduced effort in the whelk fishery and increasing biomedical demand for horseshoe crabs, DMF has initiated the rule-making process to consider reallocating some horseshoe crabs from the bait quota to the biomedical quota. Accordingly, the outlook for the bait and biomedical horseshoe crab quotas in 2026 is uncertain at this time.
Scup: 1,488,337 pounds (MA Summer Period quota)
The 2026 coastwide commercial scup quota is declining 9.4% to 17.70 million pounds as the resource trends down from astronomically high levels—still remaining well above its target level.
The Winter I (January–April) and Winter II (October–December) Periods, which are open to all states at federally set trip limits, receive 45.11% and 15.94% of the quota, respectively; this equates to 7.98 and 2.82 million pounds for 2026. The Summer Period fishery (May–September) receives 38.95% of the coastwide quota (6.89 million pounds for 2026), which is further distributed into state shares, with Massachusetts receiving 21.6% (1.49 million pounds). The Massachusetts fishery took less than 32% of its 2025 Summer Period allocation. Public and private efforts are trying to increase market demand for this ample, yet underutilized, species. DMF will be proposing a minor adjustment to commercial measures at public hearing this winter.
Spiny Dogfish: 5,334,651 pounds (ME–CT Regional Quota)
The coastwide spiny dogfish quota for the 2026 fishing year of May 1, 2026–April 30, 2027 is expected to be set at roughly 9.2 million pounds, of which the Northern Region of Maine–Connecticut receives a 58% share. This coastwide quota represents a mere 1.5% reduction from the FY2025 quota, but is only a third of the roughly 30-million-pound quotas set just a few years prior (i.e., in 2021–2022). Quotas have been lower since 2023 due to the last assessment’s finding of a less productive spiny dogfish stock. Coastwide landings have been between 8 and 13 million pounds the last five years, even under the higher quotas. The Northern Region fishery has not faced a quota closure since 2011.
Striped Bass: 683,773 pounds (MA quota)
Massachusetts’ allocated quota under the interstate fishery management plan remains 683,773 pounds at a 35” minimum size limit for 2026. Landings in 2025 were just below this quota (99.97%). The ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board was considering a 12% quota reduction to support stock rebuilding, but ultimately voted for status quo and to wait until the 2027 benchmark stock assessment to reassess the current measures’ progress towards rebuilding the stock by the 2029 deadline. DMF is therefore not proposing any changes to the commercial measures for 2026 (i.e., season, trip limits). However, access to the commercial fishery will be curtailed beginning in 2026. DMF has made the commercial striped bass permit endorsement limited to renewals only. Only those individuals holding an endorsement in 2024 or 2025 will be eligible to receive an endorsement in 2026, and they will be non-transferable. Additionally, DMF anticipates using the updated control date of December 31, 2025 along with activity criteria to further limit endorsement issuance in 2027; this will be the subject of a future public hearing proposal in 2026. These permitting actions are designed to preserve the remaining commercial fishing opportunity for existing participants; improve compliance and reporting; and ultimately enable the adoption of a commercial harvester tagging program, as newly required by the interstate management plan by 2029.
Summer Flounder: 1,040,403 (MA quota)
The coastwide quota for summer flounder is expected to increase 45% from 8.79 million pounds in 2025 to 12.78 million pounds in 2026. At this coastwide quota level, Massachusetts’ percent share increases from its historical allocation of 6.8% to an effective 8.2% due to the allocation formula that provides the state 12.375% of coastwide quota above 9.55 million pounds. Consequently, Massachusetts’ baseline quota for 2026 is increasing 75% to roughly 1.05 million pounds (up from ~570,000 pounds in 2025). However, a small quota overage occurred in 2025 that requires a pound-for-pound deduction, thus reducing the quota by about 10,000 pounds. The increase in the coastwide quota reflects the latest stock assessment’s projections for increasing biomass, minus a buffer applied by managers due to concerns about recent low recruitment and prior volatility in catch limits. Given the state’s quota increase, DMF will be proposing several liberalizations to commercial measures at public hearing this winter. In 2025, the Massachusetts fishery closed in late-October.
Tautog: 61,705 pounds (MA quota)
While Massachusetts’ baseline tautog quota of 64,753 pounds has remained unchanged since 2008, the quota is often adjusted to account for a prior year quota overage. (The combination of the relatively low quota with highly variable daily catch rates makes closing the fishery at precisely 100% quota use nearly impossible.) A 5% quota overage (roughly 3,000 pounds) in 2025 results in an overage-adjusted quota for 2026 that is slightly higher than that in place in 2025 (57,942 pounds). The 2025 fishery ran from its September 1 opening date through October 17 before facing a quota closure.
By Nichola Meserve, Fishery Policy Analyst
