Responding to an alarming drop in herring populations, the the New England Fishery Management Council on Tuesday passed two measures intended to reduce the harvest of the fish.
The council has tightened commercial fishing limits in hopes of reducing the catch by 31 million pounds over the next three years.
The council also banned industrial midwater trawlers from fishing within 12 miles of shore along most of the coast and 20 miles around Cape Cod. Ships using less destructive gear, including purse seine – a type of net – and small-mesh bottom trawlers, are exempt.
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