Last Saturday, with the ocean calm, the forecast right and the sun peeking over the horizon, we cruised out to Jeffreys Ledge to fish.

It was a good day 30 miles offshore. The seas were flat, whales were plentiful, the sun shimmered on the water and we caught fish.

The three of us landed 14 cod, 12 haddock, 15 pollock, a cusk and as always – too many dogfish.

In fact, it was our best day for cod in a couple of years. Twelve fish were over 24 inches.

And once the cod were boated, they went right back overboard, with six of the haddock.

New regulations in the Gulf of Maine prohibit the possession of cod. They also limit anglers to three haddock.

The regulations have groundfisherman grumbling, charter captains canceling trips, many boats for sale and businesses on the brink.

“The fact that you can’t keep cod has really crimped their business,” said Captain Barry Gibson of East Boothbay. “Guys have their boats for sale, a lot have already sold them and one fleet out of Salisbury (Massachusetts) says on their website that they are out of business.”

Gibson chairs the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Recreational Advisory Panel.

He is also the New England Regional Director for the Recreational Fishing Alliance, a national nonprofit organization based in New Jersey that represents recreational salt-water fishermen and the sport fishing industry. He was the editor of Salt Water Sportsman for 23 years and is a charter captain of more than 40 years.

The reason trips are canceled, and businesses and boats are closed and for sale? It’s hard to entice someone to open their wallet and get so little in return.

“What ground fisherman do, and they have done this (forever), is that they gauge their cost of their charter against what they are going to bring home to eat,” said Gibson. “And if it’s $80 a day and they can only keep three pounds of haddock fillets, it just doesn’t compute.”

He’s right. Eighty dollars buys many more pounds from your local fish market than it does from a charter boat, and businesses that cater to offshore groundfish anglers are paying the price.

It’s frustrating for many captains and anglers because it seems anglers are catching more cod now with the fishery deemed depleted than they were a couple of years ago when stocks were healthy enough for a 10-cod bag limit.

“We went out to Platts Bank (another 15 miles east of Jeffreys) a week ago and we caught more cod that day than I have out there on any other given day since I started going out there in 2012,” said Gibson.

He’s not alone. Other anglers are experiencing better cod fishing than they have in years.

Gibson received an email from an angling acquaintance in New Jersey that boated a dozen keeper cod, including a 20-pounder, in water that was 80 degrees at the surface. With similar catches up and down the east coast, anglers, captains and others are left shaking their heads.

The NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office has said it will conduct assessments of all groundfish stocks in the Northeast this summer.

It is hoped that a fresh look at the science behind the assessments will show that cod stocks are not depleted.

What can you do? Let those in charge of regulating the fishery know what you are catching. Gibson encourages anglers to email Regional Administrator John Bullard (john.bullard@noaa.gov) at the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. His office will oversee the groundfish assessments and any future change in the regulations.

A simple email noting the number of cod you caught and where, illustrated with a picture, will let let him know that cod stocks are indeed not depleted, and that further assessments are not only warranted but needed before even more businesses are impacted.

Here’s hoping that those who cruise out to Jeffreys Ledge next year will be able to return with cod again.

Mark Latti is a Registered Maine Guide and the outreach coordinator for the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

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