Reinforcing the need to protect vital ocean habitat areas and end overfishing of New England’s severely depleted groundfish, the Conservation Law Foundation and Earthjustice filed a pair of lawsuits in federal district court challenging the shortsighted and damaging groundfish regulations developed by the New England Fishery Management Council and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for the 2013 fishing year.

The first lawsuit challenges NMFS’s plan to open several groundfish conservation areas in New England that have been closed for at least a decade to commercial fishing for cod, haddock, and flounder.

The second suit challenges a plan to boost 2013 catch limits for several New England groundfish stocks beyond the allowable science-based limits by “carrying over” ten percent of the quota from 2012 that fishermen were unable to catch.

The science is clear—cod stocks are in their worst shape ever in the history of New England fishing. Cod on Georges Bank and in the Gulf of Maine are at nine percent of healthy levels, and they aren’t improving. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries’ most recent trawl survey showed the lowest number of cod in the historical record. Many fishermen couldn’t come close to meeting their quotas last year because fish populations are so low. Fisheries scientists say there is no cause for optimism that stocks will rebound any time soon.

Despite this overwhelming evidence, the fishing industry—now enabled with a deeply misguided lawsuit from Attorney General Martha Coakley—has placed growing pressure on regulators to allow fishermen to catch more fish and trawl previously protected habitat. These NMFS actions will allow fishermen to apply for access to 5,000 square miles of previously protected habitat. These vitally important areas, such as Cashes Ledge and the Western Gulf of Maine Closed Area, have been protected from the most damaging fishing gear for well over a decade, but are now at risk to being opened to new fishing pressure. Allowing new bottom trawling would damage critical spawning and nursery areas. Further, despite catch limits that already match or exceed the highest levels recommended by scientists, NOAA will allow fishermen to carry over ten percent of their quota from last year, effectively authorizing even more overfishing.

NOAA’s actions are legally and scientifically wrong, plain and simple. Authorizing continued overfishing won’t create more fish. NMFS’s actions to potentially allow new fishing in protected areas have been implemented through a shoddy process that undercuts responsible development of fishery management plans and ignore the requirement to complete a full environmental impact statement. That’s a clear violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

These suits make a simple request of NMFS—to follow the science and the law. The agency must show leadership in ending overfishing and protecting vital habitat areas like Cashes Ledge, or there is little hope for the future of New England’s iconic fisheries and a healthy ocean.

May 21 - Tom Toles Tackles Fisheries and Climate Change - The great Tom Toles takes on the effects of climate change on fish with this cartoon in the Washington Post.

May 24 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, May 24 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, Eric Schwaab is leaving NOAA; fisheries regulators ask fishermen not to take out frustration on at-sea observers; the ASMFC postpones a decision on the elver fishery; alewife counts in New England rivers are way up this year; a parasite may be affecting yellowtail flounder populations; Michael Conathan writes on fisheries and climate change; a local scientist testifies in a Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization hearing.

May 15 - Nature Study Shows Fish Feeling Heat from Global Warming - A study featured in the current issue of the journal Nature reveals that ocean warming has already affected fisheries around the world over the past four decades as fish populations shift in response to changing sea temperatures. The study is a stark reminder that climate change is a serious challenge in the here and now, not off in the distant future. It’s time for fisheries managers to start acting on that.

May 16 - Setting the Record Straight on Forage Fish - The Thursday, May 9, piece from Saving Seafood, titled “Pew’s recommendations and assumptions in calling for conservation of forage fish questioned,” contained a flat-out falsehood about the peer review of the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force’s findings.

May 17 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, May 17 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, a new study focuses on fisheries and climate change; alewives return to the St. Croix River; stakeholders discuss ecosystem-based fisheries management; Canadian lobstermen again protest low prices; Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization hearings continue; the mayor of Gloucester publishes a plan for responding to the groundfishing crisis; a lucrative elver fishery is a symptom of struggling eel populations.

May 6 - What should the future of fishing look like? - This week in Washington, D.C., a diverse group of people will try to answer this question. The Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries III conference is the first step towards revising the nation’s law governing fisheries management.

May 10 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, May 10 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, stakeholders discuss Magnuson reauthorization at the Managing Our Nation’s Fisheries conference in DC,NOAA releases its 2013 scallop regulations, alewives are historically and ecologically important to Maine; SMAST develops new yellowtail survey methods; John Bullard defends NOAA’s groundfish regulations; the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announces new fisheries grants; two new sensors in the Gulf of Maine will monitor red tide blooms.

April 24 - Squelching the People’s Voice - So despite a confusing public process and a paltry 15-day comment period, enough people to fill Fenway Park twice over took time out to participate in the public process. And by a ratio of 12 thousand to one they told NOAA to keep the closed areas closed. But you wouldn’t know this from visiting the official public record for the proposal on the internet.

April 26 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 26 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, NOAA repeats its refusal of interim measures after a request from Governor Patrick; NEFMC meets and discusses climate change; a bill to allow Maine fishermen to sell lobsterbycatch fails; NMFS authorizes smaller mesh size for redfish; a bill to reintroduce alewives to the St. Croix River comes into effect; federal budget cuts mean NOAA furloughs.

April 10 - 70,000 Citizens, 100 Scientists Want New England’s Waters Protected - More than a hundred prominent scientists are urging federal officials to prevent the return of damaging, bottom trawl fishing to waters that have protected fish habitat and spawning areas in New England for nearly two decades. The scientists aren’t the only ones speaking up. More than 70 thousand people sent comments opposing the proposal.

April 12 - Top Ten Reasons to Protect New England’s Closed Areas - Why should NOAA reject the plan to expand commercial fishing in 5,000 square miles of protected waters? Let us count the ways.

April 12 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 12 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, communities react to the start of spring herring runs; Maine’s legislature approves a bill to open fishways on the St. Croix to alewives; other Maine bills would help out large vessels and allow groundfishermen to sell lobster bycatch; the elver fishery continues to draw crime and controversy; New Bedford processors diversify; healthy menhaden stocks support smallmouth bass; the disastrous Gulf of Maine shrimp season ends; debate on closed areas continues.

April 3 – For Cod’s Sake - In this video, CLF’s Peter Shelley explains the dramatic decline of cod stocks in New England and the action that must be taken to prevent the loss of this region’s most iconic fishery. Atlantic cod populations are at an all-time historic low. The cod fishery, which for generations has supported a way of life in New England’s coastal communities, may be in complete collapse. Click through to see the video.

April 5 - Help Count River Herring (Because They Count, Too) - Somewhere out there on our coast, out where rivers hit salt water, thousands of small fish are gathering, getting ready for an epic voyage inland. The annual run of river herring is about to start. Hundreds of people are getting ready, too. They’re the volunteers who will gather at bridges, fish ladders and riverbanks to count the passing herring—an important exercise in citizen science that can help to conserve these imperiled fish.

April 5 – Fish Talk in the News – Friday, April 5 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, two Senators push for fisheries disaster aid; NEFMC will discuss raising the catch limit for white hake; a bill to open the St. Croix to alewives gains traction; Gov. LePage threatens reprisals against Passamaquoddy Tribe over elver fishery; acoustic monitoring may help locate spawning cod aggregations; Senator Jack Reed pushes for Rhode Island membership on Mid-Atlantic Council.

March 29 - On Cod, Climate, and Closed Areas - It’s good to know NOAA has a solid plan for helping fish adapt to climate change. Now, if only someone would tell NOAA. You see, while NOAA’s right hand says protect habitat to help fish adapt to climate change, the left hand has proposed to end protection for about 5,000 sq. miles of seabed habitat.

March 29 - Fish Talk in the News – Friday, March 29 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, NOAA releases a draft rule setting 2013 catch limits; a symposium discusses the Cape’s gray seal problem; CNN talks trawling and climate change; Omega Protein charged with polluting coastal waters; the Maine legislature hears arguments on alewife restoration bills; the Obama administration releases its wildlife climate adaptation strategy; Magnuson-Stevens reauthorization hearings focus on implementation.

March 18 – The Broken System - The present politically based implementation of the Magnuson Act guarantees the death of commercial fishing on the east coast of the U.S. Allowing fishermen a major voice in the councils has led to the current scarcity of cod and haddock in New England.  Every single piece of stock assessment data indicates that stocks of these two species are in dire straits, yet fishermen complain that NMFS is destroying their living  by not letting them catch more of these fish.

March 22 – Fish Talk in the News – Friday, March 22 - In this week’s Fish Talk in the News, NOAA releases the proposed rule for Framework 48, right whales make a comeback, Maine lobstermen seek to unionize, minimum catch size limits may be forcing fish to mature at a smaller size, Senator Cowan raises concerns over use of Saltonstall-Kennedy funds; Maine legislators debate alewife bills.