Maine Public Radio reported Feb. 1 that the New England Fisheries Management Council has recommended a 15 percent cut in the quota for cod. The report said that would mean a reduction of between 6,700 and 7,500 metric tons of cod that can be harvested annually.
The decision to recommend the cuts to the National Marine Fisheries Service was made at a council meeting at the Sheraton Harborside in Portsmouth, N.H., after preliminary results from the latest Gulf of Maine cod stock assessment indicated the stock is overfished and overfishing is occurring.
The vessels most likely affected will be smaller ones that fish nearshore in the Western Gulf of Maine, the NMFS said in January.
Given the preliminary results and the implications for groundfish fishermen and communities across the region, the NMFS convened a working group consisting of New England Fisheries Management Council members and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration staff “to explore potential management options for reducing disruption to the fishery while responding to the new assessment,” according to the NMFS release.
Read the complete story in The Knox Village Soup