CHATHAM — The cod that once were right on this port's doorstep are gone, replaced with skates and dogfish.
So rather than go 100 miles offshore to Georges Bank where there still are cod, Chatham fisherman Eric Hesse decided a couple of years ago it made sense to travel 30 miles north instead to the Stellwagen Bank area where a 2008 stock assessment by the National Marine Fisheries Service said that the Gulf of Maine cod population was plentiful and growing rapidly.
But a new draft stock assessment released last week showed the 2008 assessment was wildly off base, and that fishermen have been catching five times as many fish as the stock can withstand.
Now, Hesse and other fishermen are faced with possible dramatic cuts to the amount of cod they will be allowed to catch in the coming year and for many years to come.
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