Recreational Management Reform Continues to Advance in the Mid-Atlantic

In April 2025, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission jointly advanced recreational management reform for summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish through a revised recreational management measure setting process. The decision continues to provide more recreational management stability by setting management measures for two years at a time, accounting for imprecision in recreational catch data while also considering the health of the resource when determining the magnitude and direction of a management change. The process includes a phased in approach where the fisheries would continue to set management based on the harvest limit (Option C) before transitioning to setting measures on a catch limit in 2030 (Option D). This phase in approach is expected to allow time to review the magnitude in change of measures resulting from using catch versus harvest limits.