This article appeared in today's WSJ.
By JENNIFER LEVITZ
Updated Nov. 10, 2014 8:01 p.m. ET
Federal regulators on Monday halted most cod fishing off New England for the next six months and said they are considering cutting the amount of cod fishermen in the region will be allowed to catch by up to 75% next year.
Officials and fishermen are struggling to rebuild the popular species whose population levels have hit an all-time low.
The plans follow an estimate in August by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the number of cod spawning in the Gulf of Maine—which stretches along the Atlantic Coastfrom Cape Cod to Nova Scotia—is only 3% or 4% of the level needed to sustain the fishery.
“This is a stock that is in free fall,” said John Bullard, a regional administrator for NOAA’s fishery arm. The numbers are the worst the agency has seen in 40 years of tracking, he said.
NOAA on Monday announced several interim measures, including rolling closures of one of nation’s best-known cod-fishing areas until April 30.
Regulators had already slashed the 2013 catch limits for Gulf of Maine cod by 77% from the prior year, to 1,550 metric tons. Next year’s catch limit is expected to be less than 400 metric tons, Mr. Bullard said. He said the measures are the region’s best chance of avoiding a collapse of stocks similar to the one that occurred on the east coast of Canada in the 1990s.
Historically overfished, the northeast cod population has been at low levels for more than two decades. Despite efforts to rebuild it, the species has failed to rebound, for reasons that scientists say are unclear.
Even with the lower limits, fishermen didn’t catch all their quota in 2013. Cod has become less of an economic driver as fishermen turn to lobster, herring and other more-robust species. But it is still a mainstay in places such as Gloucester, Mass., a historic fishing port.
Some officials and fishermen question the accuracy of the government’s assessment and worry whether, under the restrictions, the cod industry will survive. They also say the limits hinder their ability to catch healthier groundfish that swim alongside cod. Groundfish can’t be easily caught without scooping up cod.
“The industry is really just hanging on by a thread, and it remains to be seen if they’re going to be able to come out the other side once the green light is given,” said Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk. Northeastern states received $32.8 million in federal relief funds this spring to cope with cod restrictions.
In 2013, commercial fisherman landed 4.9 million pounds of Atlantic cod in New England, down from 17.5 million pounds in 2011, federal data show.