Despite increasing restrictions on where fishermen can go and how often, too many fish are still being caught. Now, as Congress prepares to update federal fishing rules, it aims to solve the problem directly by restricting how many fish can be caught. This is a move in the right direction.

Later this week, the Senate Commerce Committee, of which Olympia Snowe is a member, will consider changes to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs fishing in federal waters. For New England fishermen, a key issue is how to limit the number of fish that are caught so that depleted groundfish stocks, such as cod, can recover. For years the New England Fisheries Management Council has tried to limit catch by reducing the number of days fishermen can spend at sea and by closing areas of the ocean to fishing. Despite these restrictions, the target catch limit is exceeded every year.

The new version of Magnuson-Stevens, which is likely to undergo revisions as it makes its way through Congress, begins to address this problem by moving toward hard catch limits and quotas. It would call for a total allowable catch limit for each fishery and, if the limit is exceeded, the overage would count against the following year’s catch. Such a hard limit, with penalties, is needed to stop overfishing.

The bill, which was last updated in 1996, would also allow for individual and collective quotas. Because of concerns about quotas in New England, the bill would add an extra step for such limits to be implemented here. Two-thirds of current permit holders would have to approve a referendum for individual quotas to be put in place in New England, as the bill is currently written. Although a high hurdle, fishermen may realize that quotas are better than fewer days at sea or larger closed areas.

Another contentious issue is how quota shares are allocated. Such decisions would be made by the New England Fisheries Management Council, but the bill as drafted would set aside shares for small vessels and for cooperatives where groups of fishermen would work together. In a cooperative, fishermen may decide to use just one boat to catch the fish allocated to five fishermen. They would divide up the profit among all the fishermen but would save on operating costs such as fuel. Shares could be transferred and the council could write rules to ensure small vessels are not bought out of the fishery.

Regulating fisheries is complicated because two major issues are at play. One is protecting fish, which are a public resource. The other is protecting jobs. The two are often at odds as tougher regulations aimed at conserving fish often result in less income for fishermen.

Because it includes strict catch limits and moves toward quotas in New England, the revised Magnuson-Stevens Act does a better job of balancing the needs of fish and fishermen than previous versions.