December 26, 2014 — Scientists awaiting a long-anticipated fishery management plan in New England waters are concerned federal regulators won't take aggressive enough steps to protect the habitat.
The New England Fishery Management Council has been working for several years on a habitat management plan for federal waters from Maine to Rhode Island and is considering a host of options to balance conservation with commercial fishing interests.
One goal of the plan is to review and revise which areas are closed to fishing, according to a draft of the plan. Fishermen, who have struggled with declining catches of groundfish species such as cod and haddock, are closely monitoring the plan.
Conservationists are watching, too, and a group of 138 scientists from around the world has sent a letter to the council stating that it is "deeply concerned that this amendment will fall far short" of adequate protection. The letter states that the scientists — a group that includes university professors, biologists and ecologists — are concerned about "opening closed areas to relieve short-term fish shortages at the expense of future ecosystem recovery."
One of the scientists, University of British Columbia fisheries professor Daniel Pauly, said New England's depleted cod stock would be jeopardized by opening up closed fishing areas.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Huffington Post