NOAA will allow fishermen to harvest cod and other high-value species off the Northeast Atlantic coast beginning May 1, averting what could have been a major disruption to one of the East Coast’s most economically important and environmentally threatened fisheries.
NOAA issued “a temporary rule for an emergency action” Tuesday allowing what’s known as the Northeast Multispecies fishery to open on schedule, even though new regulations governing the management of certain species are not yet in place.
“This action ensures the fishery can continue without interruption,” the agency said in a notice.
But conservation groups that have closely followed federal management of the fishery say the emergency measure could come at the expense of highly fragile New England cod stocks that are still recovering from decades of overfishing.
