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Making Waves Fall 2020
Commentary by Barry Gibson, New England Regional Director
Conservation Law Foundation Petitions NMFS to End Atlantic Cod Overfishing
T
he Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation has delivered an 88-page petition to the National Marine Fisheries Service “to compel NMFS to end overfishing of Atlantic cod and rebuild the two stocks (Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank) in this fishery in as short a time as possible as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA).” CLF asserts that the MSA mandates, which include cod, are being violated in New England. The petition calls for the following measures to be implemented: •
A mandate that there be 100% at-sea observer coverage for all commercial groundfishing trips.
that the remedies are based on a two-cod-stock structure theory, and will we continue to use this structure for future management? And can it be scientifically supported? Does it make more sense, at this point and what we know now, to go with a one, two, or three-stock structure? There is thought that rebuilding with the two-stock model, which has been around for many years and may now be obsolete, won’t support a successful rebuilding program under current conditions. This issue is going to need a lot of vetting.
Another concern is the lack of current stock information. Many legs of the 2020 Spring Trawl Survey were canceled, and the Fall Trawl Survey has been canceled in its entirety.
A prohibition on directed commercial and recWe know that the cod stock boundaries have reational cod fishing. changed over time, and this hasn’t been taken • Area closures to protect all identified cod into consideration in the CLF proposal. The range spawning locations and areas of favorable of Atlantic cod has expanded in recent years, parhabitat for juvenile and adult cod. ticularly south of Cape Cod and down into the Mid-Atlantic States. Why is this happening? • Use of modified fishing gear throughout the range of Atlantic cod to reduce incidental There are climate change and habitat questions. catches. What is the effect of the Gulf of Maine warming faster than any other body of ocean water? Has • Additional measures to reduce the mortality of continued trawling and dredging on Georges incidental catch of cod in the recreational fishBank negatively impacted the bottom to the ery. point where it may be hampering cod spawning and/or reducing critical habitat for juvenile cod? The petition, however, has spurred a number of questions and concerns. One of the key issues is •
