New Measures in the U.S. Will Help Restore Overfished Atlantic Cod | Oceana

Victory | June 30, 2026

New Measures in the U.S. Will Help Restore Overfished Atlantic Cod

United States’ federal fishery managers implemented two new measures that will help rebuild the historic and chronically overfished New England Atlantic cod fishery. The first is to incorporate new genetic data showing there are four distinct populations of New England cod, rather than just two, allowing managers to assess and manage each population more accurately. The second measure requires every vessel in the New England groundfish fishery to have an observer on board to ensure catch levels and bycatch are accurately counted. This is a considerable improvement given that as recently as five years ago, only two out of every five vessels in the fleet were monitored. Oceana’s campaigning was instrumental in achieving both under an updated management plan for cod.