GLOUCESTER, Mass. — November 12, 2014 — On the cusp of what is effectively a six-month ban on cod fishing, Russell Sherman could have spent Tuesday on the Gulf of Maine trying to catch what he could.
Instead, he never left Jodrey State Pier, opting to work on repairs to the 72-foot fishing vessel he wants to sell, rather than make a final run for cod. And he had harsh words for the federal officials who oversee the fishing industry.
“They say, ‘Oh, we’re so sorry, boys. We got to do this. We got to do it for the fish,’ ” Sherman, 66, said from the Lady Jane. “ ‘Now go out of business quietly, will you.’ ”
The death knell, Sherman and other fishermen said, was sounded Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which announced emergency measures intended to protect cod populations from further decline. The new rules go into effect Thursday.
That left fishermen, the day-boat operators who cannot venture beyond restricted areas, wondering about their futures as they hauled to port what were probably their last cod catches.
Read the full story from The Boston Globe