Fishery regulators today voted to recommend emergency restrictions on Gulf of Maine cod. A stock assessment released in August estimated that the amount of cod spawning in the Gulf of Maine is only at 3 to 4 percent of its target level for sustainability.
Members of the New England Fishery Management council met in Massachusetts to consider a host of recommendations made a couple of weeks ago by a panel of groundfish experts.
Spokesperson Pat Fiorelli says council members could not reach agreement on the details Wednesday - so they opted just to send a simple, generic request to NOAA - the federal agency overseeing the fishing industry - "to take emergency action to reduce mortality on Gulf of Maine cod stock for fishing year 2014, and that was it," she says.
Fiorelli says the emergency action is only good for about 6 months, and longer-term action will be addressed at a meeting in November.