Government regulators could boost catch limits for New England fisherman through any of a series of measures without imperiling fish stocks, researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth said today.
Their report urged regulators to alter how they estimate the maximum catch of a particular fish. It suggested using a method that directly estimates stocks rather than the current preferred technique that also takes into consideration a species' ability to spawn in sufficient numbers. Doing so would increase fishermen's yields on such fish as yellowtail flounder and cod on Georges Bank and white hake and winter flounder in southern New England waters.
The researchers, who received help from Massachusetts Marine Fisheries, also said a buffer that regulators build into catch limits might be unreasonably large in New England. That buffer — 25 percent here — is used to account for any uncertainty in measuring a fish's stock. Fisheries in other parts of the nation have used significantly smaller buffers, allowing fishermen's catch to closer approach the overfishing limit.
Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.