Vineyard commercial fishermen scored a key win in the struggle keep them from being squeezed out of the groundfish industry yesterday when the New England Fishery Management Council voted to adopt the sector system, granting the Vineyard its own sector.
The vote came after three days of meeting in Portland, Me. The meeting was attended by a small group of Vineyard fishing activists.
“We got right up at the table,” said Tom Osmers, the West Tisbury shellfish constable and pioneering commercial fisherman who is largely responsible for the Vineyard’s place at the table in the first place.