May 16, 2012 – A new report on the status of U.S. fisheries contains some good news for New England fishermen and others with an interest in the health of fish stocks in and around Long Island Sound. But the good news shares a net with a host of challenges.
In a year in which a record six previously-threatened fish populations were declared rebuilt to healthy levels nationwide, New England had the highest number of fish species that are considered over-fished, the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service says.
Of the 45 fish stocks identified as over-fished, 13 are New England ground fish, the report found.
Maggie Mooney-Seus, spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries’ Sustainable Fisheries Division New England office in Gloucester, Mass., said those 13 over-fished stocks are out of a total of 20 ground fish stocks in the region. She also said the finding wasn’t unusual, given how long fishing has gone on in New England.
The good news on a national level is that a record six stocks were declared fully rebuilt to healthy levels in 2011: Bering Sea snow crab, Atlantic coast summer flounder — fluke — Gulf of Maine haddock, northern California coast Chinook salmon, Washington coast coho salmon, and Pacific coast widow rockfish.
Read the full story at the New Haven Register.