Lax regulation blamed as fish stocks lag

The United States has failed to rebuild its depleted fish stocks because federal regulators over the past decade have continued to allow overfishing, and New England fisheries have fared the worst, according to a University of New Hampshire study to be published next month.

Of the nation's 67 fish stocks identified in 1996 as "overfished," only three have been rebuilt.

Of the eight fishery management regions, New England is at the bottom of the list for recovering ailing fish stocks, according to Andrew Rosenberg, the report's chief author and a professor of natural resources policy and management at the University of New Hampshire.

New England has the most stocks at unhealthy levels, with 18 stocks under rebuilding plans. Only two - haddock and sea scallops - have reached healthy levels or are no longer over- exploited, according to the study.

How convenient that a non-federally funded entity finds results of overfishing drastically different to those reported by NOAA just a few weeks ago (if you scroll down to the bottom of this link, you can see the article)... Read the rest of the new study article here.