What is the Optimum Mesh Size to Harvest Groundfish on Georges Bank; Drawing Conclusions from Cooperative Research

摘要

The New England groundfishing industry has witnessed dramatic change over the decades. Once bountiful historic stocks plummeted, leading to today's tightly regulated fishery. One way that modern regulators have attempted to manage fish stocks is by setting minimum codend mesh size regulations for the trawl fishery. To study the effects those regulations have had, researchers Joseph DeAlteris and David Chosid of the University of Rhode Islands Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture embarked on a cooperative research project with Matt Stommel and Mark Theroux, fishermen from New Bedford, MA. The team set out to determine how past, present and future codend mesh size regulations may affect the rebuilding of stocks of valuable Georges Bank groundfish.