Friday’s planned demonstration in Gloucester against federal regulations of commercial fishing will not be a social gathering.
It will be a deadly serious protest against regulations that, in the name of a "sustainable fishery," are inexorably destroying the livelihood of fishermen. And it is an event that the National Marine Fisheries Service and its parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, must take seriously.
Hundreds of fishermen from this region and beyond are expected to gather outside the NMFS office building at Blackburn Industrial Park. The lead organizer, Amanda Odlin, who with her husband, Chris, owns and operates two trawlers out of Boston, said that "hundreds" are expected from all the Mid-Atlantic states and throughout New England.