Words to fish by.

HEALTHY. SUSTAINABLE. VIABLE. THRIVING. These are words the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) uses to describe its vision for New England's fisheries. By "fisheries," CLF advocates mean not just the legendary complex of cod, haddock, flounder, and other groundfish populating the Gulf of Maine, but also the scores of New England fishing communities that depend on the catch for their livelihood. For centuries these communities have helped define the region's culture and persona.

PROTECTING THE BIODIVERSITY OF GROUPFISH POPULATIONS IS A major challenge given decades of mismanagement and overfishing. Helping centuries-old fishing communities transition to the 21st century is perhaps even more challenging. But taking on the challenge of accomplishing both at the same time is truly daunting.

For the past fifteen years, CLF has lent its time, expertise, and credentials to achieve this vision. It is a quest that has involved endless hours at regulatory meetings, in-depth studies of a vast marine expanse, and legal assaults on the very agencies charged with safeguarding the health of this public resource.

Words are all well and good, but what does this vision really mean? Can fish stocks be rebuilt while fishermen continue to fish and can fishing communities learn how to thrive in a global marketplace? With the latest amendment to the New England Fisheries Management Council's groundfish management plan (Amendment 13) coming into effect this May, can New England move closer to attaining this long-awaited vision? And what does the first part of the vision--arriving at "healthy and viable" groundfish populations-mean?

For Priscilla Brooks, CLF's Marine Resources Project Director, "healthy and viable" means: "We must rebuild the overfished populations of groundfish as fast as possible and keep them at a level that provides for a biologically sustainable fishery from that point on." Under the Amendment 13 plan, the Fisheries Council has agreed that, to rebuild the fishery, we must bring back the stock, not to an arbitrary figure from five or ten years ago, but rather to a scientifically agreed-upon figure that is sustainable over time--where young, old, small, medium, and large fish are all present within the fishery. By reaching this "biomass" level, scientists and now regulators agree that the danger of a fish stock collapse would finally ease.

To reach and sustain the biomass level for each of the Gulf of Maine's groundfish, the management plan for...