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Georges Bank cod stock on decline
Data may prompt catch-limit cuts
22nd April 2003
By Beth Daley
The Boston Globe
For the first time in seven years, the number of cod in New England's famed Georges Bank fishing ground is showing signs of decline, suggesting that the region's fishing crisis is not over despite some of the harshest restrictions ever placed on fishermen.
Based on preliminary estimates, federal scientists say Georges Bank cod stocks appear to have declined from 29,170 metric tons in 2001 to 26,500 tons in 2002 despite the closure of large areas to fishermen and tight limits on how much they can fish. It marks the first time since 1995 that the Georges Bank cod population has not increased.
The news is likely to increase pressure on regulators to continue to tighten controls on fishing in the bank, located 50 to 150 miles east of Cape Cod. Already, the region's fish council is considering severe restrictions that could mean deep cuts next year for the ''trip'' boats that travel to the bank for days on end to catch thousands of pounds of cod, haddock, and flounder.
''The bottom line is [Georges Bank is] still being over fished,'' says Steve Murawski, a fisheries scientist with National Marine Fisheries Service in Woods Hole.
Georges Banks cod once made fishermen rich. One of the most bountiful fishing grounds in the world, Georges Bank helped drive early New England's economy. The cod was considered so prized that the wealthy carved codfish into banisters and hung images of it in their homes.
But the number of fishermen steadily increased through the years, aided by government loans to build boats and fish-finding technology such as sonar that increased their catches. By the late 1980s, fishermen were catching cod and other groundfish much more rapidly than the fish could reproduce.
The New England Fishery Management Council adopted tough fishing limits in the mid-1990s, but, by then, scientists had warned that cod populations had reached an all-time low and could possibly disappear.
Even today, 6,600 square miles, or 30 percent of Georges Bank, is off-limits to fishermen who catch groundfish. Yet, despite the restrictions, fishermen have never stopped taking more fish than regulators intended, overshooting catch targets as early as the 1996-97 fishing season by more than 300 percent. This year, federal officials say, the total cod catch from Georges Bank was substantially over a proposed target, but there is no penalty for overshooting it.
Today, the number of Georges Bank cod is only about an eighth of what scientists hope it can be rebuilt to one day, although fishermen say that goal is far too ambitious.
''We know the stock is in a difficult situation,'' said Barbara Stevenson, a New England Fishery Council member and an owner of a fishing boat. She, along with other council members, have asked their staffs to investigate the impact of reducing the 2,000-pounds-per-day cod limit fishermen now have.
A complete picture of the crisis won't come until the fall, when more data are gathered on the Georges Bank stock.
But the preliminary results are part of a striking contrast with other fish that feed near the ocean bottom. Georges Bank haddock has increased tenfold since 1995, and the yellowtail flounder population has grown by an equally impressive number. But the cod has made only marginal gains, in part because it had reached such a low population that there weren't enough sexually mature fish.
Yesterday, observers and fishermen said they were aware that the cod stock was not doing as well as others, but they said major reductions in the catch limit would be devastating. Even if they chose not to go after cod, it is often pulled up in their nets anyway when they fish for flounder and haddock.
''Of course it's going to hurt financially,'' said Jim Kendall, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council.
Meanwhile, Cape Cod fishermen who fish on Georges Bank, say the sobering news underscores the need for a new way of managing codfish. The Cape Cod Hook Fishermen's Association wants the New England fish council to set a quota each year and give portions of it to communities to hand out to fishermen.
''This news underscores the serious need to consider new, innovative ways to manage our fish,'' said Paul Parker, association president.
Beth Daley can be reached by email at bdaley@globe.com
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