WASHINGTON – Pacific whiting and North Atlantic swordfish stocks are rebounding but cod and red snapper populations continue to struggle, according to a report released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Overall, the annual survey, which comes as the Bush administration is considering changing federal rules designed to prevent overfishing, showed that the state of the country’s fisheries is largely unchanged from last year. NOAA Fisheries Service tracks a third of known fish stocks, and it reported 19 percent of those populations are being fished faster than they can reproduce.

“This year’s report show progress for some stocks but also signals we have our work cut out for us,” said Bill Hogarth, who directs NOAA Fisheries.

But marine advocates seized on the new report as fresh evidence that federal authorities have failed to clamp down on commercial overexploitation. In New England, for example, management officials have decided to allow cod overfishing until 2009, even though they are trying to rebuild the sagging species.

“Our fish populations are not recovering, and NOAA is not doing a good job at managing our nation’s fish stocks,” said Matt Rand, who directs the National Environmental Trust’s marine fish campaign.

In June, administration officials proposed changing overfishing guidelines known as National Standard 1, sparking protests from environmentalists. The new rules could provide fishery managers with greater flexibility by allowing them to restore stocks over a longer period of time and adopt rebuilding plans that have a much lower chance of success than the 90 percent goal now outlined by the agency.