Thanks for pointing in that direction. There was no question that shiner perch were not included in the bottomfish limit of 15 (aggregate). The unresolved issue is whether the bottomfish sub-category of "surfperch" included all other species of perch.

Under Definitions the term bottomfish includes a number of fishes to include "surf perches" (plural) which would further support that the Bottomfish sub-category of "Surf Perch" as set forth in each MA's regs is generic for all perch species except shiner perch. In short, your 15 bottomfish limit may include up to 10 perch of any species with the exception that shiner perch have a separate limit of 15.

It would have made it clearer had they included under Definitions the term Surf Perch with further explanatory information.
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