COURTESY OF THE CAPE COD COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN’S ALLIANCE
PLYMOUTH – A New England Fishery Management Council committee will meet Tuesday in Plymouth to discuss the progress being made to move midwater herring trawlers further offshore.
The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance and local fishermen are looking for regulations which would move the herring trawlers at least 50 miles from the Cape and Islands to protect the ecosystem and small-boat fishing fleet.
“It’s something that we’ve done up in the Gulf of Maine, prohibited these vessels from fishing at certain times of the year so that other fisheries can have a shot or a crack at fishing,” said John Pappalardo, the CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. “And we are trying to do something similar down here.”
The management council will discuss the work being done to address “localized depletion” in the herring fishery, which is a key source of food for whales and larger fish.
“What we are concerned about is the rapid intense fishing over a short period of time that takes the bait out of the inshore waters,” Pappalardo said. “And the fish that we are concerned with on the Cape and Islands, like cod and Pollock and other things will move out of the area because there is nothing to eat.”
Current regulations allow for the midwater trawlers to fish beyond three miles from shore from Provincetown past the Islands.
The meeting, which is open to the public, is at 10 a.m. at Hotel 1620.
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