With the New England groundfishery now a bona fide federal disaster, fisheries managers are preparing to make drastic cuts to future allotments for cod and yellowtail flounder before the end of the year.
On Dec. 20 the New England Fishery Management Council will meet in Wakefield and is expected to cut up to 80 per cent of fishing allotments for cod and yellowtail flounder for the coming year. If they are approved, the cuts will take effect May 1, 2013.
Fishermen who pursue a variety of important fish on Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine face drastic cuts in catch limits next year because of dwindling groundfish stocks. Cod and yellowtail flounder are in such a dire state that fisheries managers advising the New England Fishery Management Council are calling for catch limit cuts of 70 per cent or higher beginning next May.
Greg Mayhew, captain of the 75-foot dragger Unicorn out of Menemsha, is the last Vineyard fisherman still groundfishing on Georges Bank. And this year might be his last on the legendary fishing ground.
“I don’t know if I’m going to even go next year because it might be better just to lease the days out and get half price for them,” he said.
Secretary of Commerce Proposes Even Stricter Groundfish Rules
By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
Concerned about severe overfishing of key stocks in the waters off New England, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce on Tuesday stepped in to propose strict emergency measures to curtail overfishing this spring. The proposal supersedes measures enacted by the New England Fishery Management Council, the regional regulatory body that has struggled over the last year to meet a federal deadline for developing a sound plan to save the troubled fishery.
On an open sea deck, with the rolling waves of Georges Bank a mere eight feet away, Jon Brodziak cuts, and with tweezers takes a bone from each of
