A recent Fisheries Roundtable discussion at the Portsmouth Public Library highlighted the need to protect cod and winter flounder populations that spawn in the Gulf of Maine.
The New England Fishery Management Council is currently developing Framework 45, part of the multispecies fishery management plan that deals with spawning cod populations.
Speakers weighed in on the results from collaborative research on cod and winter flounder at the Aug. 26 event. The Fisheries Roundtable series is sponsored by N.H. Sea Grant and The Northeast Consortium.
Annie Hawkins, groundfish analyst for the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC), gave a brief overview of some of the management items proposed for Framework 45. Fisheries managers are working to refine the areas where cod spawning occurs and include those areas in seasonal closures that will protect groups of spawning fish, or ‘aggregations,’ in the Gulf of Maine.
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