January 27, 2025 — New England’s cod industry would benefit if its regulators pay more attention to how their decisions affect fishermen and their communities, a Northeastern University researcher says.
In a presentation at UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology last week, Jonathan Grabowski said management decisions for the cod fishery have been based on trawl surveys to estimate fish populations, plus economic and environmental factors.
Yet federal and regional fisheries management officials have not as readily included the social impacts of their decisions on fishermen and their communities.
Fishermen have experienced high levels of stress and social disruption as the cod industry has declined due to overfishing and ineffective conservation measures. Meanwhile, their distrust in regulators has increased, he said.
Using more social and experiential data from these fishermen could allow regulators to make better management decisions, Grabowski said. That could help the fishery function better, improve outcomes for the industry, conserve environmental resources, and rebuild trust.