Rhode Island Legislature is considering measures to restrict method of large-scale harvesting and thus limiting herring fishing. 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.
Eoin Rochford, operation manager at NORPEL plant on Fish Island processes herring, said that such fishing ban is not favourbale. He added that eliminating boats from a fishery is shortsighted and threatens the processors. He further said that a boat needs an infrastructure to operate commercially, and if there isn’t enough supply for the buyers to meet their overheads, the commercial fishery could collapse.
The bill passed the Rhode Island House of Representatives by a 66-0 vote last week. Massachusetts limits the size of boats that trawl for herring in state waters, which extend 3 miles from the coast, making pair-trawling difficult. Expert said that each year a fixed quota is established for the herring catch by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Just a few large vessels have gobbled that up this year, and very quickly.
Rich Fuka, president of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance, said his membership favored the ban primarily because the reckless way some pair trawlers were operating presented a hazard to other fishermen.
