WASHINGTON — May 29, 2015 — Maine’s groundfishing industry will be paying close attention next week when the U.S. House of Representatives considers key changes to the law governing fisheries management in federal waters.
Supporters of a Republican-backed bill to re-authorize the Magnuson-Stevens Act say it would give regulators more flexibility in rebuilding fish stocks. But one groundfishing group says the measure would set back efforts to rebuild the severely depleted cod population in the Gulf of Maine.
Cod have been disappearing in the waters off New England for decades. In 2009, fishermen off Maine’s coast caught more than 500 metric tons of the fish. By last year, that total had dropped to less than 130 metric tons. Ben Martens runs the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.