A group of Maine fishermen has asked a federal judge to move quickly in deciding a lawsuit so that diminished groundfish stocks will be protected from midwater herring trawlers that fish out of New Bedford and other Northeast ports.
The Midcoast Fishermen’s Association filed a motion late Monday for summary judgment in a lawsuit the group filed against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the secretary of commerce in December 2007.
The group is seeking to ban herring trawlers from fishing in areas of the ocean that are closed to groundfishing boats for the purpose of rebuilding overfished stocks of cod and other groundfish. The lawsuit alleges that the trawlers are undermining rebuilding efforts by unintentionally catching too many groundfish while chasing herring in so-called "closed areas" of the Gulf of Maine and other Northeast waters.