With our country engulfed in anger over police brutality towards black Americans — and with COVID-19 infections still raging nationwide — President Donald Trump spent much of his time here in Maine last week continuing his assault on our public lands and waters.
“The president has no authority to do this. The president has the authority under the Antiquities Act to create National Monuments. The only body that has authority to change the boundaries, conditions, the terms that govern a national monument, is the Congress,” says Sean Mahoney, who directs the state of Maine chapter of the Conservation Law Foundation.
“Once again, the president is making cynical use of the national crises he has inflamed to pander to the very few New Englanders who may still have faith in his leadership,” said Bradley Campbell, president of the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, which plans to file a lawsuit challenging Trump’s move. “We call on the New England delegation and the public to fight this attack on our ocean and our future by all means available.”
A key step to saving Atlantic cod is protecting the mother fish that lay exponentially more eggs than their smaller, younger counterparts. Protecting area where these BOFFFFs, or Big Old Fat Fertile Female Fish, live and spawn is crucial to a healthy cod population.
Right now, our regional fishery managers have the opportunity to collect more accurate data by improving the at-sea monitoring program in New England’s groundfish fishery. This management action, called Amendment 23, can help put Atlantic cod on a path to recovery.
“This decision confirms that even the federal government is not above the law,” said Erica Fuller, CLF Senior Attorney. “We must do whatever it takes to ensure right whales are here for future generations, and that starts with obeying the Endangered Species Act. The ruling provides an incentive for fishermen and scientists to forge a new path that protects right whales while also sustaining the lobster industry.”
“This decision confirms that even the federal government is not above the law,” said Erica Fuller, a senior attorney at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation, one of four groups that filed the lawsuit. “We must do whatever it takes to ensure right whales are here for future generations, and that starts with obeying the Endangered Species Act.”
Overfishing and inept management have driven Atlantic cod to the brink. Now climate change looms. Atlantic cod still have a chance at survival, but it’s not going to be easy.
For centuries, Atlantic cod has been essential to New England’s identity. Yet today, you can rarely find locally caught cod in a grocery store or on a menu – because it has been fished to the brink of disaster. Here’s what it’s going to take to save New England’s founding fish.
How do we save Atlantic cod? These five conservation and management measures could help New England’s founding fish recover from its current overfished status.
