Date: March 5, 2025
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Yarmouth Town Hall Community Room, 200 Main St
Town: Yarmouth
The Department of Marine Resources will hold a public hearing on Chapter 34 Groundfish - Halibut measures on March 5, 2025 at 4:00 pm at the Yarmouth Town Hall Community Room, 200 Main St, Yarmouth ME
If this hearing must be cancelled due to inclement weather, an alternate hearing will be held on March 6 at 4:00 pm in DMR’s Conference Room 118, Marquardt Building, 32 Blossom Lane, Augusta ME, and remotely via Microsoft Teams.
BRIEF SUMMARY: This proposed regulation seeks to align expected halibut catch in Maine’s territorial waters with the state waters sub-component established in the New England Fishery Management Council’s Framework 69 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. This regulation proposes to prohibit fishing for Atlantic halibut in Maine’s territorial waters on Wednesdays and Thursdays. It also proposes reducing the number of allowable hooks for commercial vessels from 250 to 200 hooks, and clarifies that individuals fishing for halibut recreationally are limited to 100 hooks both per person and per vessel. Finally, this regulation adds a prohibition on the use of gaffs to land Atlantic halibut.
A link to the proposed regulation is below.