October 14, 2014 — Cod, the fish that has fueled New England seaport economies for nearly four centuries, have all but disappeared from the Gulf of Maine, and recent stock surveys indicate that even with tightened catch limits, their numbers are not rebounding as hoped.
According to a recent peer-reviewed NOAA survey, cod stocks have dwindled to 3 percent of what is required to sustain a healthy population.
Just as troubling, cod numbers are about a quarter of what they were just three years ago when declining stocks prompted a significant reduction in catch limits.
The survey also found fewer young cod, which means that they aren’t reproducing — a fact that is especially concerning for the future of the species.
Now, the New England Fishery Management Council has called for emergency steps, to be determined by NOAA and Northeast Regional Administrator John Bullard, to stem the losses and try to save the fishery. Bullard made it clear in pointed remarks to the council that years of poor decisions are not going to be turned around quickly, or without pain.
There are a variety of reasons for the ongoing decline, not the least of which is a changing marine ecosystem driven by climate change. According to the region’s leading scientists, the Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world’s waters and the rate of increase has accelerated dramatically during the past decade. Between 1982 and 2004, water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine were increasing at about 0.05 degrees per year. Since then, it’s been warming at about a half a degree a year — almost 10 times faster.
This warming has pushed cod north in search of cooler waters. It appears to have affected growth rates, age structure, and possibly the ability to reproduce. And it has also resulted in changes to critical food source for cod, and those predators that feed on cod.
Read the full opinion from the Taunton Daily Gazette