Local fishermen are suing the National Marine Fisheries Service over deficiencies in the agency’s method of monitoring the industrial Atlantic herring midwater trawlers.
Last Wednesday, December 16, Captain Peter Taylor of Chatham filed suit against NMFS for creating a loophole in a rule that will allow herring trawlers to dump uninspected bycatch in an area that has been closed to protect troubled groundfish stocks. Closed Area 1, located southeast of the Cape and identified as a spawning ground and nursery area for juvenile cod and haddock, is currently off-limits to nearly all other fishing vessels.
In a press release, Taylor stated that herring trawlers should be held to the same standards as other fishermen, “and that means they shouldn’t be allowed to discard fish that the observers haven’t inspected properly. When I am observed, all the fish in my gear is counted, and I still fish with hooks. But herring trawl nets are massive, with way more impact, and to only observe part of their catch just isn’t right.”