Commercial Fishermen of America meet in Gloucester while Regional Councils meet in Boston
The eight regional councils that set fisheries policy governing the national waters opened their annual joint meeting yesterday in Boston to exchange ideas and ponder together.
The board of directors of the Commercial Fishermen of America decided to meet in Gloucester. President of the trade group, Jimmy Ruhle said he hoped attendees at the public meeting of the board would bring about a defining moment.
"Do you want us to remain a seafood producing nation?" was how Ruhle defined the issue he hoped the meeting would wrestle with. "In the ’70s," he said, "imports were less than 30 percent," and now are about 80 percent, as most sets of figures roughly agree. "We’ve lost two-thirds of our infrastructure, boats and men as a result of action (in Congress) designed to preserve and protect the industry," he said.