A good friend recently emailed a couple of old cod photos, offering them up as possible article photos for The Fisherman this season. “With boats heading to the deep for tog, codfish is a good possibility,” he wrote. While it’s true that anglers might stumble into an Atlantic cod or two this season while working over the deepwater wrecks, as I sadly explained to my buddy “No one is heading deep to target Atlantic cod any time soon.”
Federal waters off our coast are now closed to Atlantic cod, and truth be told, I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever be allowed to fish for this iconic species again during my lifetime!
While recreational cod fishing continues on the Gulf of Maine stock with one fish at a 23-inch minimum size from September 1 to October 3 (yellow region noted in the chart), the Southern New England cod stock (area designated in blue) is closed year-round in federal waters from 3 miles to 200 miles in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council was asked by the folks in Massachusetts, and the New England Fishery Management Council in particular, to close down state waters to cod fishing inside of 3 miles to jive with the federal restriction, but thus far they’ve indefinitely tabled that vote. As such, cod fishing is only allowed inside of 3 miles here in New Jersey, for now.
There are perhaps two or three cod at most caught during the season from within New Jersey coastal waters, so at this point – given that it’s essentially a de minimis fishery – the five-fish bag limit and 23-inch minimum size for cod continues within 3 miles through May 31, reopening again only in state waters from September 1 through the end of the year. Expect that to change as early as the May 7th meeting of the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council. Since for-hire captains at the Jersey Shore must obtain permits to fish for federally managed species (fluke, sea bass, porgy, etc.) in the EEZ, they must comply with any and all federal regulations, even when fishing inside of 3 miles within state water. That means if you happen to pull a big steaker cod over the rail of your favorite head boat this spring, it’s going to have to go back.
We received good news in 2026 on black sea bass coastwide, with New Jersey able to finally close the gaps in the spring and fall seasons – an 11-day closure in June and 30 days in September in 2025. While many anglers were hoping to see an increase in the summer bag limit to two fish, a continuous 231-day black sea bass fishery in 2026 as opposed to the 188 days in 2025 is most certainly good news.
More good news on the management side is an increase in the bag limit for bluefish, from three fish last year to five fish for private anglers and surfcasters, increasing from five to seven fish for those anglers aboard for-hire boats. Keep in mind that this discrepancy between “private anglers” and “for-hire anglers” is all about data collection. The same federal requirements restricting “permit holders” in the for-hire community to fishing on federal regulations, even while in state waters, also require these captains and crews to maintain daily catch logs called vessel trip reports or VTRs. The VTR data gives a different catch analysis in the for-hire fishery than what the data shows through the random surveys of private anglers, hence the regulatory differences within our angling community.
Good news and bad news, a fact of life in modern day fisheries management, as is fighting for scraps along every step of the way.
