PORTLAND, Maine — Fishing vessels in the Northeast that catch haddock, cod and other so-called groundfish earned more money during the first nine months of new commercial fishing regulations than the year before, even while their harvest fell, federal fishery officials said Thursday.
Revenues went up because fishermen received higher prices for their catches, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report comparing the first nine months of the 2010-11 fishing season, from May 1 to Dec. 31, with the same period in 2009.
For 2010, groundfish boats in the seven-state region from Maine to New Jersey caught 192.1 million pounds of groundfish and other seafood species, down 7 percent from the 2009 season. The catch of groundfish alone totaled 43.6 million pounds, down about 15 percent.
At the same time, fishing revenues rose nearly $24 million to $226.4 million. Groundfish revenues alone increased from $59.6 million to $62.3 million.
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