CNHI News Service

GLOUCESTER, Mass. - Commercial fishermen learned Friday codfish stocks apparently are not rebuilding fast enough in the Gulf of Maine to meet a 2014 deadline to sustain the popular seafood.

The dire news was delivered by a member of the federal fishery management team studying the issue. It was based on a preliminary fish management assessment report.

If true, it could dramatically affect the future of the once robust but now shrinking cod fishing industry, and the availability of the choice food on dinner tables and in resturants.

"The stocks can't meet the rebuilding deadline" even if a complete ban were imposed on cod fishing between now and 2014, said Steven Cadrin, a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) regional fishery management council.

Cadrin, an oceanography professor at the University of Massachusetts, said the preliminary finding by NOAA's Science Center team is subject to peer review by other marine scientists before it is final or catch limits are changed.

Cod is the most prized groundfish in the Gulf of Maine, bringing the highest price to fishermen and the best return on their investment in expensive boats and gear. It has been under strict catch limits since 2004.

Critics of NOAA were wary of the codfish assessment report, saying the supply of cod in the Gulf of Maine has become more plentiful since federal catch quotas were imposed more than seven years ago to rebuild the species.

"How can a stock on a rebuilding trajectory now be in collapse," asked Bruce Tarr, a Massachusetts legislator who has questioned the accuracy of federal fishing science. He has called the stuggle between NOAA and the fishermen as "Armageddon."

Richard Burgess, who operates four fishing boats, said if NOAA further restricts cod fishing or imposes a ban on it, "the business of the small boat fleet will come to an end as we know it."
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Details for this story were provided by the Gloucester, Mass., Daily Times.