Feds: Fishermen Must Slow Down Red Hake Fishing Until April

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Federal fishing regulators are scaling back the pace at which fishermen can catch red hake, an important food fish on the East Coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it is reducing the amount of northern red hake that commercial fishermen can possess from 3,000 to 400 pounds per trip.

The agency says the new rules are in effect through April 30, 2018. It says the cutback is required because of the pace at which fishermen have run through their quota so far this year.

Fishermen have brought red hake to shore from Maine to Virginia in recent years. Most of the fish came to land in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York in 2015.