November 19, 2014 — The New England Fishery Management Council appears ready to give NOAA what it wants in the 2015 management plan for the Northeast multispecies groundfishery.
In its first vote since NOAA last week implemented stinging area closures to help the beleaguered cod, the council voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slash the annual catch limit for Gulf of Maine cod by about 75 percent to 386 metric tons for all commercial and recreational fishermen in the 2015 fishing season.
That reduction in the cod quota from the current 1,550 metric tons sets the stage for today, when the council will continue assembling the fishery management plan — with the new NOAA cod measures front and center in the day-long session that is expected to be divisive and rancorous.
“It’s going to be a long day,” NEFMC chairman Terry Stockwell said in complete understatement to the council members as he gaveled Tuesday’s proceedings to a close.
The council today will discuss many of the measures instituted last week by NOAA with an eye toward including them in the formal fishery management plan.
The NOAA emergency measures — which run for six months with the potential of rolling over for another six months — include a series of rolling, monthly area closures that fishermen believe will shut down groundfishing in the western Gulf of Maine and all but eliminate cod fishing even in the open areas.
“Our goal is to rebuild cod within the time frame,” said NOAA Regional Administrator John K. Bullard. “That’s a goal worth fighting for.”
With so much on the table today, Tuesday’s session held the ambiance of an opening act. But that’s not to say the passion and frustration weren’t flowing.