The Ocean State Says Goodbye to Its Beloved ‘Herring Man’
Paul Bettencourt was called a lot of things, most notably “The Herring Man” and “The Baitman.” The latter appears one word into his obituary. His youngest daughter, Paula Bettencourt, called her dad something else — “a special person.” “I remember being 10 or 11 and going to the dam and this whole community of people would be there moving herring over the dam,” the 35-year-old Stoughton, Mass., resident recalled. “Once he knew the fish were running he would gather his community. It took a lot of work and a lot of time. You had to pass the net up over the dam.” Paul and his brother, Joe, started their herring rescue adventures sometime in the late 1960s or early ’70s depending on whose memory you trust. >click to read< 09:10
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