New England Fishery Management Council staff wanted to hear from the public about how to protect beleaguered Atlantic Herring. And they did, but they also heard a lot about time past and time wasted.
Abigail Archer was one of the first to speak at the hearing in Buzzards Bay at the end of March. A member of the Cape Cod Salties sportfishing club, she said every herring run in the state was closed to harvest since 2006 because of low numbers of fish.
“This means we have 18-year-old people … who have not had the opportunity to harvest river herring for food, for bait and to catch other food. That’s a cultural practice that people engaged with parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors and that hasn’t been able to happen,” Archer said.