Commercial fishermen are happy over the announcement that the fishery panel might increase 78.5 percent, from 20 million pounds to 35.7 million pounds, in the catch of spiny dogfish next year. Although spiny dogfish command a low per-pound market price, the fishery is considered vitally important in New Jersey – which gets 12.5 percent of the East Coast catch – because it takes place in colder months when other fish are not around.
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council has recommended the increase but it needs other approvals, including one from the National Marine Fisheries Service. It also is subject to a public comment period. The council has representatives from a number of East Coast states, but the New Jersey delegation made the proposal after hearing from fishermen from Barnegat Light, Point Pleasant Beach, Cape May and other ports.
Chris Rainone, a Barnegat Light fisherman, said that the stomach contents of the spiny dogfish show they are eating fish the council has been trying to protect, such as butterfish. He added that the shark population is twice as large as it was before people fished for them and a lot of them are young, called puppies.
The fishery took off in the 1990s as foreign markets were discovered. Spiny dogfish were sent to England for fish and chips and to Germany, where their smoked belly flaps are a delicacy. The hides were used for leather products while the liver oil and cartilage went to the supplement industry. Kevin Wark, a gill-net fisherman from Barnegat Light, said a dozen boats out of Viking Village fish for them but that a 4,000-pound limit per trip is needed to make it more profitable.
