Dive Brief:

• Federal regulators have imposed a series of restrictions, including a ban on hauls of more than 200 pounds of fish in the western Gulf of Maine, that essentially ban commercial fishing of cod. 
• Regulators said they decided to issue the ban as the stock of the once ubiquitous fish fell to dangerous levels and sustainability of the species became threatened.
• Regulators also said they would double the amount of haddock that fishermen can legally haul, but acknowledged that such an increase will not compensate for the loss of cod. 

Dive Insight:

The move off the Maine coast comes 22 years after the catastrophic events in the North Atlantic known as the collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery.

Here's hoping that the U.S. action, as dramatic as it may be and as difficult at it is for the fishermen, will be enough to prevent a similar disaster.