Landings of inshore or Gulf of Maine cod, already cut by 22 percent for the 2012 fishing year that ends April 30, could be further reduced by between 76.8 percent and 82.6 percent for each of the next three years, according to an announcement today by NOAA’s New England Regional Fishery Management Council.
Landings of Georges Bank cod were also projected to be reduced by 60 percent for the 2013 fishing year that begins May 1.
Maine fishermen landed slightly more than 800,000 pounds of cod in 2011, a decreased from the 2.9 million pounds landed in Maine in 2001, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
The projected cuts in fishermen’s landing limits for the new season come after a new assessment of Gulf of Maine and Geoges Bank cod stocks, which has not changed NOAA’s scientific opinion of the dire condition of the most essential target of groundfishermen based in New England.
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