Plankton failure could lead to fewer haddock at Georges Bank

From staff and wire reports

May 07, 2008 05:23 am

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WOODS HOLE — Federal fishery researchers say last fall's plankton bloom failed to develop on the region's prime fish breeding and feeding ground of Georges Bank, which could reduce the amount of haddock there.

The Northeast Fisheries Science Center's Office of Marine Ecosystem Studies issued its spring 2008 advisory this week. This spring's bloom will be reported next fall. The report said the Georges Bank fall blooms have failed about one year in three for the past decade, and it is not clear why. The center's Mike Fogarty says last fall's failure could impact fishing in two years.

The report said long-term warming on some parts of the northeast U.S. Continental Shelf may also have caused some species of fish to drift north.

Georges Bank is home to vast numbers of fish species attracted by plentiful supplies of plankton thriving where warm and cold ocean currents meet in shallow waters rich in sunlight.

Haddock is considered one of the fragile, overfished stocks of the North Atlantic's great groundfish species, which include cod and flatfish, and the catch is highly regulated.

Georges Bank, some 17,000 square miles of ocean bottom, is southeast of Cape Ann, about 100 miles east of Cape Cod. Part of it is in Canadian waters and is off limits to Gloucester fishing vessels.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.