Cod conundrum; Survey points to potentially dangerous overfishing.

• Position: EDITORIAL - Editorial

COLUMN: IN OUR OPINION Environmentalist groups may be premature in predicting a collapse of the wild cod population in New England waters. Still, the latest federal survey provides reason for deep concern about the overfishing that could spell the end of the commercial fishing industry in the Northeast. Preventing depletion of cod and other commercially fished species is important to the region and especially Massachusetts, where it provides some 1,200 jobs and pumps more than $250 million into the economy each year. In a survey released this week, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported that adult cod stocks off New England decreased in 2004, despite regulations promulgated in April 2002 intended to stabilize the populations of 19 groundfish, including cod, halibut, haddock and flounder. The population of cod found near Georges Bank, off southern New England...