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Mackerel Quota Report for 2002/2003 Fishing Year

The 20th quota monitoring report of commercial king mackerel and Spanish mackerel landings for the 2002/2003 fishing year is attached.

GULF GROUP KING MACKEREL

The fisheries for Gulf group king mackerel opened for the 2002/2003 fishing year on July 1, 2002. The Florida east coast subzone, however, opened on November 1, 2002, and will close on 03/31/2003

For the hook-and-line fishery for Gulf group king mackerel in the southern Florida west coast subzone, the daily vessel trip limit was reduced to 500 pounds on March 5, 2003, when landings reached the 75-percent quota level (i.e., 390,234 pounds). The latest landing estimate indicates that about 90 percent of the quota has been taken and that less than 52,000 pounds remains to be harvested before the fishery is closed.

The 2002/2003 fishing year for the Atlantic migratory groups of king mackerel and Spanish mackerel and the Gulf migratory group of Spanish mackerel began on April 1, 2002, and ends on March 31, 2003.

ATLANTIC GROUP SPANISH MACKEREL

For the commercial fishery for Atlantic group Spanish mackerel off the Florida east coast, the unlimited trip limit season began on December 1, 2002. The daily trip limit will remain unlimited Monday through Friday and at 1,500 pounds on the weekends (Saturday and Sunday) until 75 percent (or 2,715,000 pounds) of the adjusted allocation (3,620,000 pounds) is harvested. When landing estimates indicate that 2,715,000 pounds of Spanish mackerel have been landed, NOAA Fisheries will reduce the daily vessel trip limit to 1,500 pounds for all days of the week. The current landing estimate indicates that the 75-percent level will not be reached this season. To reach that level, landings for the remaining 2 1/2 weeks of the season would have to exceed 191,796 pounds. That appears unlikely considering that March totals for the past five seasons (1997/98 - 2001/02) have ranged from 91,108 pounds to 243,960 pounds for Florida east coast landings of Spanish mackerel.

Thanks again to our folks at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center for monitoring these mackerel landings. We also would like to thank NMFS (NOAA) SE Office of Law Enforcement, the Florida Marine Patrol, and the U.S. Coast Guard for their efforts in helping to monitor the Gulf group king mackerel gillnet quota this past week.