BOSTON – While the Bay State fishing fleet’s haul of cod has dropped precipitously, the waters now teem with others species that had not been present in such previously cool waters and several that are not common on American menus.
“The biomass is growing, but it’s not necessarily the most marketable fish,” Laura Foley Ramsden, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council and owner of M.F. Foley Fish Company, told the News Service. She said, “The biomass of species has actually grown since the Sustainable Fisheries Act was enacted. I should be clear, though, because there are certainly people that are hurting, lifelong fishermen that are unable to afford fishing.”
Meanwhile, scientists are developing a new method for measuring fish populations, similar to the photographs used to calculate the number of scallops on Georges Bank, which might one day replace the current system of dragging a net and counting the species that are hauled up by it.
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