February 8, 2012

A powerful instrument designed to give scientists more refined information about Earth’s atmosphere and improve weather and climate forecasts is now active and sending its first data back to Earth from America’s newest polar-orbiting satellite.

NOAA announced today that it is doubling the amount of Gulf of Maine winter flounder commercial fishermen can catch from almost 510,000 pounds to more than 1.1 million pounds for the current fishing season, which ends April 30. New scientific information shows that overfishing is no longer occurring on this important fish stock.