Federal regulators are imposing emergency fishing restrictions in response to plummeting cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine.
The measures, which will go into effect on Thursday, will effectively make it impossible for commercial fishermen to target cod, put strict limits on the amount of cod that can be caught as bycatch, and prohibit recreational fishermen from possessing cod.
Scientists say that restrictions are necessary because the cod population in the Gulf of Maine is at a record low.
“This is a stock that is in free fall,” said NOAA Fisheries Regional Administrator John Bullard at a press conference in Gloucester. “I can’t overstate the difficulty of the task before us.”
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