Management Procedures

The federal National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) and the Maine Department of Fish and Wildlife have jurisdiction over the cod fishery in the Gulf of Maine. Due to the drastic decline in landings in recent history, management procedures have been implemented and are constantly updated in response to the fishery. Regulations take four forms: catch management, gear management, fishing management, and economic management.

Catch Management
Catch management regulations limit the fishers with respect to size, quotas and permits. In the Gulf of Maine cod fishery there exists a minimum size limit of 22 inches.[41] This allows the younger, smaller cod to mature and reach spawning age before they are caught. In other fisheries the managers put a cap on the maximum legal size an individual of the species can be kept. The reasoning behind this measure is that larger individuals produce proportionately more eggs; therefore letting the largest individuals go will result in more offspring and a greater recruitment.[42] Another method of catch management is the use of quotas. Quotas establish a limit on the weight or number of individuals of the species that can be kept for a specific time period. For instance the cod fishery utilizes daily trip limits in addition to seasonal quotas. Commercial fishers are only allowed to catch a certain weight of cod per day. Once they reach this weight they must stop fishing.

Gear Management
Aside from regulating the cod, managers regulate the gear that the fishers use to catch the cod. The most common form of gear regulation is mesh size. Increasing the size of the mesh in the otter trawl allows for juvenile cod (and small bycatch) to escape unharmed. One other form of gear management that has come into place recently concerning cod is the cod grate. Fishers who trawl specifically for flatfish such as flounder often catch cod and other demersals as bycatch. To solve this problem iron grates can be inserted into the trawl. The grates allow for flatfish to pass through the grates into the net while cod and other demersals, who can't fit through the bars, escape through a vent in the top of the mesh. Studies have recently shown that at times there has been 100% escapement of cod while engages in flounder fisheries.

Fishing Management
Fishing management refers to measures taken to regulate the fishing effort itself. "No-Take Zones" are an example of this. Managers establish "No-Take Zones" where both commercial and recreational fishers are prohibited from catching fish. These protected areas can be seasonal or permanent. Currently the North Atlantic cod fishery is regulated by 52 overlapping seasonal "No-Take Zones" which are closed during March, April, May, June, October and November and cover approximately 44,000 square miles and five non-overlapping permanent "No-Take Zones" covering approximately 8,300 square miles in the Gulf of Maine.[43] This allows the fish to grow out in a specified area of the ocean and has shown that fish that develop in protected areas do not remain strictly in the protected areas and help replenish the entire population. Another form of fishing management is entry limits. In this situation new fishers are prohibited from entering the fishery. Only a specific number of permits are issued and those without permits are prevented from fishing. One problem with this method that has yet to be solved is deciding on who gets the permits. Often times permits are issued to fishers who have been in the fishery the longest, though sometimes permits are bought and sold as commodities.[44]

Economic Management
The primary economic tool for managers to use to regulate the fishery is a "Vessel Buyback Program." When this is implemented the managers offer to buy fishers' boats as incentive to keep them from fishing and thereby reducing fishing pressure on the stocks. This method of management has been known to work in the past but one of the major drawbacks occurs when fishers, taking the money they have just received by selling their boats to the government, purchase bigger and better boats more effective at catching fish. [45]

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