PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — January 31, 2013 — The New England Fishery Management Council late Wednesday afternoon approved drastic cutbacks in quota for Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank cod after facing another storm of criticism from fishermen in the packed audience.
The mood was grim at the council meeting, prior to the vote on sharp reductions in groundfish quotas that could cripple — and will almost certainly hurt — the industry.
The 18-member panel spent more than three hours in the morning reviewing the fish population assessments that are driving the council to drastic action. It spent another two hours in the afternoon hearing testimony from the public — sometimes angry, sometimes stormy.
The final vote cut the available catch of Gulf of Maine cod by 77 percent to 1,506 metric tons in fishing year 2013. This will have the effect of reducing some fishing boats to one day at sea, or even one hour.
Georges Bank cod was cut by 61 percent, to 2,506 metric tons. Many fishermen this year are not catching their quota but these cuts are deeper than any shortfall they are experiencing.
Some members, including John Quinn, of Dartmouth, implored NOAA scientists to get serious about coming up with ways of measuring the effects of freshwater influxes into the ocean, ocean warming and the rise of predators such as seals and dogfish.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Administrator John K. Bullard made a lengthy statement in which he argued that neither the law nor biology gives the council any "wiggle room" to back away from strict limits. He said it is entirely possible that a complete end to fishing might no longer be enough to keep certain stocks, cod in particular, from collapsing permanently.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard Times