Herring Seminar Kicks Off Fishermen's Forum

February 22, 2007

The Ellsworth American
By Stephen Rappaport

ROCKPORT Over the past 31 years, the Maine Fishermen’s Forum has become the most significant event on the winter calendar for the New England commercial fishing industry. The 32nd annual gathering, scheduled to begin next Thursday, March 1, at the Samoset Resort in Rockport, promises to reinforce the forum’s unique position.

This year, the forum will open with an all-day seminar considering the complex issues involved in the herring fishery in the Gulf of Maine. The seminar is sure to evoke some strong opinions.

As well as filling the tins at Maine’s last remaining sardine cannery, the Stinson plant in Prospect Harbor, herring are an important forage species, providing food for large predator fish such as bluefin tuna. As the most popular bait among lobstermen, herring are also critical to Maine’s lobster industry.

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