The FV-Tuna.com, a rival of Captain Dave Marciano’s Hard Merchandise, sits at dock in Gloucester. Photo by Diane Kilgore for New Boston Post.
By Michael P. Norton
State House News Service
Fisheries regulators on Thursday closed commercial cod fishing inside the Gulf of Maine, saying fishermen had hit 90 percent of the allowable catch.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries said statistical areas 513 and 514 would stay closed to cod fishing for the remainder of Trimester 1, and would reopen on September 1. The areas cover the Massachusetts coastline north of Cape Cod, excluding southeastern Massachusetts, and run north along the New Hampshire and Maine coasts.
“This closure applies to all common pool vessels fishing on a groundfish trip with trawl, sink gillnet, or longline/hook gear, including handgear vessels,” the regulatory agency said, adding that the move is intended “to prevent an overage of the common pool’s quota for this stock.”
“If you have crossed the vessel monitoring system demarcation line and are currently at sea on a groundfish trip, you may complete your trip in all or part of the closed areas. If you have set gillnet gear prior to July 27, 2023, you may complete your trip to retrieve that gear,” the federal agency said.
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The FV-Tuna.com, a rival of Captain Dave Marciano’s Hard Merchandise, sits at dock in Gloucester. Photo by Diane Kilgore for New Boston Post. 
