Maine, U.S.A.’s cod landings hit an all-time low in 2017, with just 79,816 pounds landed.
The last time landings in the state increased year-over-year was in 2001. The record-low landings come after a similar record-low 2016, when the catch crashed to less than 170,000 pounds, which is still twice as high as 2017.
The low catch is substantially lower than the fishery’s historic high of 21 million pounds in 1991, and follows a trend for most of New England. New Hampshire and Massachusetts’s landings were also at low levels in 2016, the last year data is available for from the New England Fishery Management Council. New Hampshire’s landings were just 55,161 pounds, while Massachusetts were reached a little over 2.7 million pounds.
In contrast, Massachusetts’s landings throughout the early 2000s were almost always upwards of 10 million pounds. The fishery hit a historic high of nearly 100 million pounds in 1980.
That low catch for cod also coincides with a low value for the fishery in Maine. While the price-per-pound for the fish in 2017 – USD 2.72 (EUR 2.34) – was up from USD 2.06 (EUR 1.78), the lower volume kept the overall value down.
According to a report by the Associated Press, one reason for the low landings is low quotas. Having a lower quota makes many fishermen avoid them purposely.
“Cod are in maybe 10 spots in the Gulf of Maine,” said Terry Alexander to the Associated Press. “Nobody fishes them. Everybody avoids them.”
Cod has become a “choke species” for fishermen, as once they hit their low quota for the fish they must stop fishing altogether.
Those quotas were lowered in the wake of the fishery’s collapse over the past decade. Scientists have attributed the collapse to a number of factors, with a 2015 study finding that the rapidly warming waters in the Gulf of Maine likely severely impacted the species. The rapid warming, coupled with quotas that were based on historic numbers, contributed to the collapse, according to the report.
However, quotas for 2018 have been raised. Georges Bank cod had its quota increase 156 percent, and Gulf of Maine cod had its quota increased by 39 percent by the New England Fishery Management Council.
Still, even with the increase the quota remains below four million pounds between the two areas, significantly lower than the historical average. In 2011, for example, the catch limit was more than 18 million pounds.
