"LOS ANGELES - The U.S. government is going ahead with sharply higher catch limits next year for West Coast groundfish, citing a rebound in bottom-dwelling stocks once so depleted by over-fishing that commercial harvests were virtually halted 20 years ago.

The surprisingly swift recovery of groundfish - a classification that includes dozens of species of rockfish, sole, flounder and sablefish - off the U.S. Pacific coast is testament to the success of drastic fishing restrictions imposed in 2000, officials said.

“The fish proved that, given the chance, they could come back in a big way,” said Barry Thom, West Coast fisheries chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."

Steve Gorman reports for Reuters December 16, 2018. [2]