Fishery officials bought time for New England fishermen on Wednesday, asking federal regulators to take an emergency step to avoid ruinous cuts in the Gulf of Maine cod catch this year.
But the move still left fishermen looking at significant catch reductions some said would destroy their businesses.
Members of the New England Fishery Management Council asked federal regulators to adopt an emergency interim rule, which removes the law's requirement to immediately “end” overfishing on Gulf of Maine cod. To do that, fishermen were looking at a 90 percent cut in their catch, which would have wiped out fishing businesses from the tip of Cape Cod to northern Maine.
Now, regulators are instead required to “reduce” overfishing on the cod — a far lower standard than to end it — while they try to better understand what's happening with the prized species, which was thought to be rebounding just months ago.
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