LAST year, commercial fishermen caught just £2million pounds of cod in the Gulf of Maine, which stretches from Nova Scotia to Cape Cod (£13.1m in 2009).
Two decades ago, fishermen hauled in 30.5 million pounds.
Some fishing regulations have been put in place over the decades to prevent overfishing, but recently, fishermen couldn't even reach the annual limit of £14 million pounds.
This month, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wrote that their new analysis "presents a grim picture for the potential recovery of the iconic fish stock." The amount of fish big enough to spawn off the Gulf of Maine is at 3 per cent to 4 per cent of normal levels, the scientists said.
Many of the fishermen blame the National Marine Fisheries Service. They say that big trawlers were allowed to decimate the cod population and that the cod fishery was badly managed.