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A little fish that New Englanders have sought since the Colonial era is at the center of a battle over how to manage massive boats that trawl swaths of ocean off the East Coast.

The catch for the Atlantic herring, which travels in groups sometimes numbering in the billions, is in the midst of a massive boom. Last year fishermen caught more than 95,000 metric tons of the fish for the first time since 2009, federal statistics show.

In this Wednesday, herring are unloaded from a fishing boat in Rockland, Maine. New England fishermen are catching staggering amounts of herring, signaling the rebounding of a fishery that collapsed in the early 2000s. But some conservationists and rival fishermen say the fishery, which is important for both food and bait for tuna and lobsters, is wiping out other fisheries with its massive pelagic trawlers.

In this Wednesday, herring are unloaded from a fishing boat in Rockland, Maine. New England fishermen are catching staggering amounts of herring, signaling the rebounding of a fishery that collapsed in the early 2000s. But some conservationists and rival fishermen say the fishery, which is important for both food and bait for tuna and lobsters, is wiping out other fisheries with its massive pelagic trawlers.

Now rival fishermen are raising concerns about the high catches, and regulators are starting to consider whether the big haul is adversely impacting the environment, marine mammals or other fisheries.

Herring trawlers have the ability to deplete localized areas of other fish, in part because the hulking boats leave pieces of ocean bereft of the herring other species they rely on to eat, some fishermen of species such as cod and tuna complain.

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