August 27, 2010 – A fleet of more than 14 fishing boats, mostly from New Bedford, staged a protest in the waters off Vineyard Haven yesterday afternoon to make a statement about fishery restrictions while President Obama is visiting the Vineyard.
“Fishermen have gone through a lot of pain. We support the rebuilding and don’t believe in overfishing. We want an increase in catch limits. We are not asking to catch more than biologically is allowed . . . We are trying to get the attention of the President, that this is an issue of a lack of balance,” declared Jackie Odell, executive director of the Northeast Seafood Coalition.
The coalition, made up principally of Gloucester and New Bedford commercial fishermen, ran a full-page advertisement in the Gazette on Tuesday this week.
“My business is only one of hundreds facing extinction . . . Is this the way to rebuild our storied, centuries-old groundfish fishery?” wrote Capt. Russell Sherman in a letter that was the centerpiece of the advertisement.
Read the complete story from The Vineyard Gazette.