Federal report: Most groundfish stocks overfished

By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff

A government report released today by the research arm of the National Marine Fisheries Service painted a discouraging picture of the groundfish stocks that are the bread and butter of the New England fishing industry.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center report will be presented next Wednesday to the New England Fishery Management Council, which will begin to develop a new management plan for groundfish stocks, which include cod, haddock, pollock and flounder.

The report found that in 2007, 13 Northeast groundfish populations were at levels that scientists deem too low, similar to what was found in the last assessment in 2004.

The report also found that 13 of 19 stocks were being depleted too quickly by overfishing, compared with 10 of 18 stocks in the 2004 report.

"There are some success stories, but the overall situation remains grim, with many very depleted fish populations and fishing rates that are unsustainable," said Priscilla Brooks, who directs the ocean conservation program at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group. "It also tells us our current approach to fishery management ... is not working, and we need to overhaul fishery management."

The study found some fish populations bouncing back. Haddock, for example, which in 2004 had a dangerously low population, has rebounded. Gulf of Maine cod, which was recorded as both depleted in 2004 and as being fished too hard, now has seen its population rebound, although it is still listed as being fished too aggressively.

Over the past few years, the number of days fishermen could spend at sea has been slashed, in an effort to give populations a chance to rebound.

The meeting next week is likely to be contentious, Brooks said, as fishermen and management officials begin to debate future regulations.

"The regulations, the management is about as strict as it can be," said Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, an industry group. "If stocks are not appropriately responding to management, then I think the question is from our perspective: what's going on in the environment; what's happening with our ecosystem."