Attorney Stephen Ouellette, an attorney for the cities of New Bedford and Gloucester, said federal regulators’ misinterpretation of federal fishery law has produced rules that keep struggling fishermen from catching even healthy species, and are killing the region’s traditional small boat fleet.

"We are going to see the small boat owner disappear," Ouellette told Judge Rya Zobel during oral arguments in his clients’ federal lawsuit.

The plaintiffs also argued the rules change required approval of fishermen in a vote that never happened.

But attorneys for the Department of Justice argued no vote was needed, and that federal lawmakers are correctly interpreting the law by trying to rebuild stocks as quickly as possible after years of overfishing.

Read the complete story by Jay Lindsay of The AP at The Boston Herald.