Officials back 77% cut to Maine cod catch
The Gulf of Maine cod catch limit will be 77% lower this season following a decision from the New England Fishery Management Council Wednesday.
The Gloucester Times reported that the council also voted to extend similar cuts out to 2014 and 2015, delivering a blow to the industry that John Bullard, the Gloucester-based regional administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said has come to its "day of reckoning" after decades of declining cod populations.
The cut takes the limit for the Gulf of Maine down to 1,550 metric tons for the next three years. The limit on the catch was set at 8,000 metric tons 10 years ago, according to The New York Times.
At the meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., the council also decided to cut the cod allocation for the Georges Bank grounds off the coast of Cape Cod by 66%.
The reductions are expected to cut the size of the industry from $80 million last year to $55 million in the year ahead.
Vito Giacalone, policy director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, told the Gloucester paper that the cuts to Gulf of Maine cod leaves too little to sustain the fishery.
The decision comes on the heels of other bad news for the New England fishery as Congress nixed fishery disaster funding from its $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill approved earlier this week.
The council's recommendation remains subject to federal approval, which is expected by May 1, according to the The New York Times.
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