A renewed effort to restrict striped bass to game fish status in Massachusetts is dividing recreational and commercial fishermen.

Legislation was filed on Beacon Hill last month that would ban the commercial sale of wild striped bass in the commonwealth and also place stricter limits on the recreational fishery.

The Vineyard bay scallop season is underway and the news is mostly good for local consumers and commercial fishermen alike. Chilmark is having one of its best seasons in years; Edgartown is having one of its worst. Oak Bluffs and Tisbury are doing fine and on Monday another banner year is set to open in Aquinnah.

The Atlantic codfish, once the most important fish in the waters of southeastern New England, is on the verge of collapse. Conservation measures that have restricted fishermen throughout the Northeast over the last three decades may have only delayed an inevitable long-term death march for the cod, scientists and fisheries managers say.

While fishermen continue to harvest cod, scientists report that cod stocks are so depleted on Georges Bank there may not be enough fish left to bring about recovery, unless drastic measures are taken to protect the female population.