April 23, 2014 — Responding to what it described as the over-fishing of Gulf of Maine cod and haddock in 2013, NOAA is dropping the hammer on recreational anglers in 2014 by shortening the length of retention seasons for both species and instituting a daily bag limit for haddock.
NOAA said the new interim measures are being instituted because of the substantial recreational overages in 2013 and to “ensure the recreational fishery does not exceed its catch limit again in FY 2014,” NOAA said in an announcement made Tuesday.
The new measures exceed the recommendations of the New England Fishery Management Council and its Recreational Advisory Panel.
“We are implementing measures that are more restrictive than either group’s recommendations because we have to ensure that measures have at least a 50 percent chance of reducing catch to the FY 2014 recreational catch limits,” the NOAA statement said. “Neither group’s recommendations would have achieved this level of probability.”
Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times