NEW BEDFORD — Several months after the Northern Pelagic Group announced it was shuttering its plant on Fish Island, the company is still operating but at only 20 percent of capacity.
"We're waiting for the other shoe to drop," said Eoin Rochford, NORPEL's operations manager. Along with the herring that has come in recently, NORPEL handled some squid, which it processed and froze in July.
The herring and mackerel fish processor declared it was ceasing operations last April, citing overregulation for its demise.
State and city officials hurriedly met with Brady Schofield, president of NORPEL at the time, in an effort to retain the company and save 80 waterfront jobs. NORPEL's trawlers were prevented from landing their entire allocation of herring because of fishery regulations limiting the amount of haddock bycatch the boats can haul in along with the herring catch.
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