Panel Backs Up Dismal Cod Assessment

BOSTON — Scientists have backed a dismal health assessment of Gulf of Maine cod that could have a devastating impact on the local fishing industry.

The Gloucester Daily Times reports (http://bit.ly/txmCT6) that a peer review panel issued its findings Thursday during a meeting at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Science Center in Woods Hole.

The panel upheld an initial finding that even if all fishing on Gulf of Maine cod ended, the species was overfished and can't rebuild by a 2014 federal deadline.

Ending fishing on cod could shut down fishing in the entire Gulf of Maine for other bottom-dwelling groundfish, since such fish swim among cod.

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