The cod isn't so sacred in Maine anymore.

The fish-and-chips staple was once a critical piece of the state's fishing industry, but state records say 2016 was historically bad. Fishermen brought less than 170,000 pounds of the fish to land in Maine last year.

Maine's record year for cod was 1991, when fishermen brought more than 21 million pounds of it to the docks.

Fishermen say they're struggling with tight quotas. Scientists say populations have plummeted.

The Sacred Cod is the nickname of a wood carving of the fish that hangs in the Massachusetts Statehouse. That state remains the center of the U.S.'s Atlantic cod fishery, but it is in jeopardy, as well. Catch fell from nearly 100 million pounds in 1980 to less than 3 million in 2015.