Bluefish harvest to stay steady on East Coast in 2019

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Federal fishing managers are looking to keep the quotas for bluefish about the same next year.

Bluefish are a popular sport fish that are also harvested commercially as food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it's looking to implement proposed catch limits for the fish that are mostly status quo with the current year.

Bluefish have been harvested commercially from Maine to Florida over the years. They were once the source of a popular festival in Connecticut in which dozens of the fish were grilled outside as steaks.

The annual catch has been fairly consistent in recent years, with fishermen bringing about 4 or 5 million pounds of bluefish to the docks. The biggest producers in 2016 were North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.