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Maine’s cod fishermen have worst year in history

FILE - In this May 1, 2006 file photo, freshly caught cod are stacked on ice waiting for shipment at a fish processing plant in Portland, Maine. State data released in March 2017 show that 2016 was the worst year for the commercial catch of cod in the history of Maine. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, File) FILE - In this May 1, 2006 file photo, freshly caught cod are stacked on ice waiting for shipment at a fish processing plant in Portland, Maine. State data released in March 2017 show that 2016 was the worst year for the commercial catch of cod in the history of Maine. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach, File)

By Associated Press March 24, 2017 1 min read

ROCKPORT, Maine (AP) – The cod isn’t so sacred in Maine anymore.

The fish-and-chips staple was once a critical piece of the state’s fishing industry, but state records show 2016 was historically bad. Fishermen brought less than 170,000 pounds (77,110 kilograms) of the fish to land in Maine last year. That was below the previous record low of 250,000 pounds (113,398 kilograms) a year earlier.

Maine’s record year for cod was 1991, when fishermen brought more than 21 million pounds (9.5 million kilograms) to the docks.

Fishermen say they’re struggling with tight quotas. Scientists say populations have plummeted.

The Sacred Cod is the nickname of a wood carving of the fish that hangs in the Massachusetts Statehouse. That state remains the center of the nation’s Atlantic cod fishery, but it is in jeopardy, as well. Catch fell from nearly 100 million pounds (45.3 million kilograms) in 1980 to less than 3 million (1.36 million kilograms) in 2015.