NEW BEDFORD, Mass. – 7 March 2012 – After witnessing large fishing vessels from out of state scoop up thousands of tons of herring from its inshore waters, the Rhode Island Legislature is considering measures to restrict one such method of large-scale harvesting.
A bill sponsored by Teresa Tanzi, a state representative from the South Kingstown and Narragansett district, seeks to impose a one-year ban on pair trawling, the practice by which two boats work in tandem to tow a large net between them.
In New Bedford, where the NORPEL plant on Fish Island processes herring, operations manager Eoin Rochford opposes any further fishing bans.
Eliminating boats from a fishery is shortsighted and threatens the processors, he said. "A boat needs an infrastructure to operate commercially," Rochford said. "If there isn't enough supply for the buyers to meet their overheads, the commercial fishery could collapse."
Read the story in the Standard-Times