May 7, 2013 — Fishermen have followed strict quotas so fish stocks could recover, but scientists are seeing ecosystem changes that may be hindering recovery. Warming waters can affect where some of our cold-water fishes are found. We may have to accept that cod and other species could shift into new areas, even out of our region, if the warming we are detecting continues.
With the groundfish fishing season now underway, Northeast fishing communities are facing very tough times.
The Department of Commerce and NOAA are standing with the New England Fishery Management Council, fishermen and local, state and Congressional leaders to help fishing communities transition so that groundfishing continues for generations to come.
A major part of this transition involves focusing on more abundant fish stocks, while we have in place lower catch limits on cod and key stocks that are not rebuilding quickly to healthy levels.
In the May 1 fishing rules, we took steps to provide potential access to some areas that have been closed to fishing, so fishermen can sustainably harvest healthy stocks like Georges Bank haddock and redfish in a way that still protects other vulnerable groundfish stocks, habitat, and protected species.
We also increased quotas on white hake and winter flounder. The winter flounder quota, alone, could generate an estimated $5.4 million in added revenue for fishermen.
We are going to allow fishermen to catch smaller fish, previously thrown overboard dead. We allowed some carryover of unused fish catch from last year. We dug into our budget to cover monitoring costs on fishing trips, so fishermen wouldn’t have to. We made it easier in some areas to fish for marketable monkfish.
Other measures enable groundfish fishermen to more effectively target spiny dogfish, skates and pollock, abundant and delicious species that the U.S. public is just beginning to appreciate. We’ve done all of this to help soften the blow of quota cuts. But more can be done.
Investing in our working waterfronts makes sense, and consumers can help commercial fishermen by asking for locally caught fish in restaurants and supermarkets.
Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times