New England Fishery Management Council Sets New Limits On Cod Fishing

NEWPORT, R.I. — The New England Fishery Management Council appears ready to give NOAA what it wants in the 2015 management plan for the Northeast multispecies groundfishery.

In its first vote since NOAA last week implemented stinging area closures to help the beleaguered cod, the council voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to slash the annual catch limit for Gulf of Maine cod by about 75 percent to 386 metric tons for all commercial and recreational fishermen in the 2015 fishing season.

That reduction in the cod quota from the current 1,550 metric tons sets the stage for today, when the council will continue assembling the fishery management plan — with the new NOAA cod measures front and center in the day-long session that is expected to be divisive and rancorous.

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