NEW BEDFORD, MA (January 14, 2009) — A nascent coalition of politicaland fishing interests came into being yesterday around the notion thatthe VMS tracking or vessel monitoring system used to enforce theregulation of commercial fishermen could be as helpful — and should be— in finding and saving them.
Meeting here less than two weeks after the Coast Guard had trouble working the VMS system for data on the whereabouts of a Gloucester trawler — it sunk with its two-man crew on Jan. 3 — the political leadership of the state’s leading fishing ports joined hands yesterday with congressional and industry forces. The agreement was spontaneous and emotional that the Coast Guard make better use of the VMS system in search and rescue operations. Read the Gloucester Daily Times story in full