Members are debating floor amendments and could ship the $131 million spending bill to the Senate by the end of the week.

The status of Gulf of Maine cod — the stock on which inshore small boat fishermen depend — has become a matter of uncertainty after a 2011 assessment by a team from the NOAA science center at Woods Hole contradicted a 2008 benchmark assessment showing that the stock was nearly recovered from previous overfishing.

The new assessment concluded that, even if all cod fishing ceased, the stock could not meet its 2014 rebuilding deadline. Amid mounting skepticism about the validity of its science, the government must set catch limits for the 12-month annual fishing cycle that begins May 1 for cod and all groundfish. The conflicting assessments were based on trawl surveys and landings data.

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