PORTLAND, Maine — Federal fishery regulators are meeting to consider rules for the badly declined Gulf of Maine cod fishery in 2015.
The New England Fishery Management Council's Groundfish Committee will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Revere, Massachusetts, to consider new regulations. The full council could vote on cod fishing regulations for 2015 at its meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, next week. The 2015 fishing season begins in May.
The meetings come in the wake of a Monday announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that closed commercial and recreational cod fishing in parts of the Gulf of Maine. The six-month emergency restrictions also include a 200-pound limit on how much a fishing vessel can catch during a single trip. Regulators say the Atlantic cod population is at an all-time low.