http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/codstocks21.htm
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On Georges Bank, the target catch is approximately two of every 10 adult cod, leaving eight adults behind to spawn. But the latest council figures show fishermen catching 3.6 of every 10 adults.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/11...decline+.shtml
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''The bottom line is [Georges Bank is] still being overfished,'' says Steve Murawski, a fisheries scientist with National Marine Fisheries Service in Woods Hole.
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Even today, 6,600 square miles, or 30 percent of Georges Bank, is off-limits to fishermen who catch groundfish. Yet, despite the restrictions, fishermen have never stopped taking more fish than regulators intended, overshooting catch targets as early as the 1996-97 fishing season by more than 300 percent. This year, federal officials say, the total cod catch from Georges Bank was substantially over a proposed target, but there is no penalty for overshooting it.
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''We know the stock is in a difficult situation,'' said Barbara Stevenson, a New England Fishery Council member and an owner of a fishing boat. She, along with other council members, have asked their staffs to investigate the impact of reducing the 2,000-pounds-per-day cod limit fishermen now have.
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Yesterday, observers and fishermen said they were aware that the cod stock was not doing as well as others, but they said major reductions in the catch limit would be devastating. Even if they chose not to go after cod, it is often pulled up in their nets anyway when they fish for flounder andhaddock.
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