The National Marine Fisheries Service recently announced a closure of
the recreational cobia fishery in federal waters from Georgia through New
York (the Atlantic stock) to begin at 12:01am on Monday, June 20th, 2016.
The fishery will reopen on January 1st, 2017. Because the Atlantic stock of
cobia is managed by a fishery management plan under the South Atlantic
Fishery Management Council, all of these states are expected to follow
similar measures in their respective state waters. At this time, VMRC staff
are coordinating with staff from the North Carolina Division of Marine
Fisheries as well as NOAA’s Southeast Regional Office to determine whether
or not a change in regulation for Virginia’s waters could help lead to a
later closure of the fishery. Because the closure date of June 20th was
determined using landings data from the years 2013-2015, new regulations
(for example, a higher minimum size limit or modest boat limit or both)
would lead to a reduction in expected 2016 catch and allow the fishery to
remain open longer. VMRC expects the analyses will be complete in April, in
advance of the April 26 Commission meeting.