If you Google an image of a herring midwater trawler, you see a well-equipped large fishing ship. What you may not see are the massive nets that drag behind such ships – meant to capture anything in their path. No wonder local fishermen in Massachusetts are having a hard time competing. Most of their catch is being scooped up by these nets.
Well, today (7/21) Earthjustice scored big—three times over—in the struggle to keep trawling ships from continuing to deplete fisheries of groundfish (including cod, haddock, flounder and sole).
Earthjustice represented fisherman Patrick Paquette in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service which for months refused to release a public video of footage aboard trawl ships. The video is important because it showcases the flaws in NMFS's current monitoring system (but more on that later). On Monday a judge approved a final settlement between Paquette and NMFS and officially released the video.
Read the complete story from Earth Justice.