Tag Archives: Herring Wars
In Massachusetts, the Never-Ending Fight over Herring Marches On
On a September day in 1805, Thomas Gifford lugged a cannon onto the village green in Falmouth, Massachusetts. The 27-year-old stuffed the barrel with herring and lit the fuse. Gifford planned to spew bloody bits of fish onto the green in an act of political protest. Instead, the cannon shattered, with mangled chunks of herring and shrapnel shredding Gifford’s body. It took him days to die. Gifford’s death was the culmination of a years-long conflict. The crux of Falmouth’s so-called Herring Wars never really went away. Even after Gifford accidentally dispatched himself, the owners of commercial endeavors, from fishers to cranberry farmers, have continued to clash with herring supporters across New England. This long and tumultuous history got a new chapter in March 2022 when a federal judge overturned a decision by the New England Fishery Management Council. The agency had briefly banned midwater trawlers,,, more, >>click to read<< 13:01
