Boston Globe September 19, 2005 NO LONGER HOME OF THE COD? By Priscilla M. Brooks and Roger Fleming By the 18th century, cod had lifted New England from a distant colony of starving settlers to an international commercial power. From "Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World" by Mark Kurlansky Stories of New England's legendary abundance of Atlantic codfish abound, telling of schools of cod so dense one could scoop them up with baskets. In 1895, a 6-foot cod weighing 211 pounds was caught off the Massachusetts coast. Just over 100 years later, we could lose the cod, the fish that contributed so greatly to New England's economic independence and, ultimately, helped give rise to our nation. Last week federal fisheries scientists released their first stock assessment of cod in more than three years. It is filled with bad news. The Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine cod populations have plummeted 25 and 21 percent, respectively, since 2001, and scientists now estimate that they are at only 10 and 23 percent, the minimum for sustainable levels. How could this once abundant fish become so imperiled ? The answer is simple: Fishermen have fished cod at unsustainable levels for over 25 years. The reason this has been allowed to continue is also easy to understand: political pressure applied by the most powerful elements of the fishing industry, supported by a conflict- ridden New England Fishery Management Council. To add insult to injury, only a little more than one year ago fishery managers designed a plan known as Amendment 13 authorizing continued overfishing of Georges Bank cod until 2009. Yet even those excessively high fishing rates were exceeded in 2004 by 14 percent. For Gulf of Maine cod the statistics were just as grim -- fishermen fished at nearly three times the allowable rate. Remarkably, the federal government maintains that these stock declines are part of its grand plan to rebuild cod populations over the next two and a half decades. This reasoning must be from an alternative universe -- a rebuilding plan that drives a fish population to near collapse, and predicts this will fuel a rebound? We have only to look to Canada to see what happens when excessive fishing drives cod to collapse. The Canadian government placed a moratorium on most of its eastern cod fisheries over 10 years ago, resulting in 40,000 lost jobs -- while the cod have yet to return. Moreover, the threat to this legendary resource does not end with Amendment 13. The Bush administration, acting through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), has initiated efforts that would further weaken fishery management laws. Instead of requiring an end to overfishing immediately, proposed rule changes would authorize the "phasing-in" of an end to overfishing (putting off the necessary catch reductions until years later). Further, current guidelines specify that overfished populations must be rebuilt within 10 years unless it is biologically impossible to do so. The proposed changes would eliminate this requirement in favor of a more discretionary time limit, lengthening the rebuilding time frame and increasing the risk that severely depleted populations will be unable to rebuild to healthy levels or collapse altogether. The efforts to undermine our fisheries laws will apparently not stop there. Congress will soon consider the reauthorization of the nation's primary fishery management law -- the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Although the president's Ocean Commission recommended strengthening fisheries law, draft proposals from NOAA Fisheries would weaken the requirement to end overfishing and delay stock rebuilding. Further, the changes would exempt fisheries management decisions from the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires government agencies to disclose and assess the environmental effects of proposals. For centuries, cod has been the backbone of the New England fishing community. It possesses great vitality due to its size, strength, and ability to feed on just about anything. It inhabits one of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world -- the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. But, as Mark Kurlansky writes in his book "Cod": "If ever there were a fish made to endure, it is the Atlantic cod -- the common fish. But it has among its predators man, an openmouthed species greedier than cod." What we need are stronger, not weaker, laws. We also need to reform our fishery management councils who, together with regulators at NOAA Fisheries, must demonstrate the strength necessary to draft fishery management plans that restore and protect the health of the ecosystem, the fish it supports, and the fishermen whose livelihoods depend on it. Priscilla M. Brooks is director of the Conservation Law Foundation's marine conservation program. Roger Fleming is the foundation's senior attorney. Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company