Fishery council votes for tougher herring rules

NEWPORT, R.I. – The council that devises fishing rules has voted 9-8 to create tougher restrictions for the herring industry.

Environmentalists and some fishing groups say the huge nets on herring trawlers are scooping up everything in their path, harming struggling groundfish stocks and depleting herring, a key part of the food chain.

They want the New England Fishery Management Council to ban the trawlers from inshore Cape Cod and make the fleet more accountable for what its nets pull up.

The herring industry says stocks are plentiful and there’s no evidence the fleet is causing widespread harm.

Mary Beth Tooley of the Small Pelagic Group, an industry association, said the vote is disappointing, but they’ll fight for fair rules.

Any new rules won’t take effect until at least 2009.