November 20, 2014 — When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fishery Service put stricter limits on the amount of cod commercial fishing boats can catch, it was a hammer-blow to an industry that has seen catch allotments dwindle as fish apparently disappeared.
But for the smaller boats, the move to protect cod through rolling closures and zero-possession rules could prove to be a death knell for Maine's party and charter fishing fleet, according to Captain Barry Gibson, chairman of the New England Fishery Management Council Recreational Advisory Board.
Gibson, of East Boothbay, said Wednesday via telephone that the new regulations handed down by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on Nov. 10 would ban fishing from certain areas at certain times; and because NMFS projects that three out of every ten cod caught will die while being released back into the water, that means there will be a no-possession rule for recreational fishing boats.
And no cod means no business, Gibson said.
“Cod has always been the driver for the recreational fishing industry,” he said. “When I came up here in 1968, there were five or six party boats right in town that would take as many as 30 or 40 people to go fishing for cod. There was some really good cod fishing a few miles off Boothbay Harbor and people came from all over the world and all over the country to fish here. People would leave with coolers and coolers full of cod.
“Cod was the impetus for the fishing season. I don't think there will be a lot of people interested in paying $1,200 to $1,400 a day to go fishing and then being told they can't keep one.”
Four years ago, the recreational fleet was dealt a blow when it came to the number of cod allowed to be hooked, and the size of the fish being caught. The new measures go well beyond those original limitations, Gibson said.
Read the full story at the Boothbay Register