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October 12, 2007

Fishing groups petition to ban herring trawlers

Two Maine-based commercial fishing groups yesterday filed a petition with federal regulators to ban herring trawlers from some New England fishing grounds.

The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance in Saco and the Midcoast Fishermen's Association in Port Clyde want to ban the trawlers because they use massive nets with small holes to catch herring in areas that are closed to boats fishing for cod, haddock and other groundfish, according to a press release. The trawlers also indiscriminately capture and kill all forms of sea life they encounter, including fragile groundfish populations, the release says. The petition seeks to ban herring fishermen from the same areas that are off-limits to other fishermen.

Critics are exaggerating the amount of groundfish inadvertently caught in herring nets, Peter Moore, an advocate for herring and mackerel fishermen, told the Portland Press Herald.

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