June 19, 2015 — In what many of its members called a compromise, but environmentalists branded as a betrayal, the New England Fishery Management Council on Tuesday voted to reopen vast portions of Georges Bank to fishing.
The close vote — 7-6, with two abstentions and one recusal — opens up about 5,000 square miles of ocean bottom to groundfishing for the first time in more than two decades, leaving about 2,000 square miles of protected areas on Georges Bank. The action still must be approved by the NOAA Fisheries.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times