February 1, 2015 — The situation is so serious that Federal regulators have imposed emergency fishing restrictions in response to plummeting cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine.
The measures effectively make it impossible for commercial fishermen to target cod, put strict limits on the amount of cod that can be caught as bycatch, and prohibit recreational fishermen from even possessing cod.
It’s not the first time the species has been protected by draconian measures. In Newfoundland, back in 1992, the entire fishery was closed.
“This is a stock that is in free fall,” said NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator John Bullard at a press conference in Gloucester recently. “I can’t overstate the difficulty of the task before us.”
But it’s not just cod that is in danger. Federal regulators have also shut down the commercial fishing season for northern shrimp in the Gulf of Maine for a second straight year, citing concerns about the declining population and warmer ocean temperatures.
Fishermen from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts fish for the tiny pink shrimp, which are prized for their sweet, tender meat, and are a popular item at restaurants.
There’s a lot of things that aren’t known about cod, and why the stock has diminished so badly. It could be overfishing, particularly by large factory ships from Russian and China that troll in international waters.
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