September 30, 2014 — The full New England Fishery Management Council will consider emergency measures for managing Gulf of Maine cod when it meets this week for the first time since the release of the unscheduled and dire stock assessment that showed the state of the species worsening rather than improving.
The council is scheduled to open three days of meetings today in Hyannis, with the discussion on the cod assessment reserved for Wednesday, when the panel zeros in on issues related to groundfish.
NEFMC Executive Director Tom Neis said Monday that the council expects to consider motions on what emergency actions it will recommend the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration enact for the remainder of the 2014 fishing season to deal with dismal information on cod stock size and health that is contained in the controversial assessment results initially released Aug. 1.
“These are actions that would be put in place as soon as possible and be in place between now and May 1 of 2015,” Neis said.
Those proposed emergency measures are likely to include rolling closures of cod fishing grounds and a ban on all recreational and charter fishing for Gulf of Maine cod for the remainder of the 2014 fishing season.
The updated cod stock assessment, a source of unremitting anger and suspicion among commercial fishing advocates such as the Northeast Seafood Coalition because of both the process used to conduct it and the grim results it produced, showed the cod stock worsened in virtually every indicator since the 2012 benchmark species survey that produced the current Draconian cuts in cod quota.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times