PORTSMOUTH — The Seacoast's independent groundfishermen are not the only ones concerned with measures that could restrict their ability to catch cod in the Gulf of Maine. Local party and charter boat operators say the regulations could cost them their livelihoods, as well.
"It's going to shut us right down," said Bill Wagner of Captain Bill's Charters, formerly of Portsmouth and now out of Rye Harbor. "We're going to fight for our lives Wednesday."
Wednesday is the second day of a three-day meeting of the New England Fishery Management Council, taking place at the Sheraton Harborside Hotel in the city's downtown. Wednesday's talks will focus on a groundfish committee report that suggests the Gulf of Maine cod stock is in a dire state.
The 2011 preliminary cod stock assessment is vastly different from the 2008 assessment, which suggested the number of fish able to reproduce in 2007 was around 74.9 million pounds and that overfishing was not occurring. The new assessment has the spawning stock biomass at 26.5 million pounds, with a total biomass around 46.3 million pounds, and states overfishing is occurring.
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