BOSTON — New England fishermen and federal data reports are telling the same story this year: The catch is way down.
Two-thirds of the way through the 2012 fishing year, which ends April 30, fishermen have caught less than half their allotments on 14 of 16 species of bottom-dwelling groundfish.
For instance, fishermen have caught just a quarter of their allotment of cod on Georges Bank. And they've pulled home a scant 3 percent of the quota of haddock on Georges Bank. The catch on Gulf of Maine cod is down by about half.
