BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 25, 2021
Fisherman Rob Bichrest of Cundy’s Harbor bent over a huge, black net at the Portland Fish Pier on Monday morning. Using a pair of orange-handled scissors, Bichrest then began cutting the $20,000 piece of fishing gear in half. He had to. Under current Atlantic menhaden fishing regulations, the 870-foot-long purse seine net was too large. It had to be reduced from 120 feet high, to just 48 feet. “I can’t use one that big,” said fisherman, Sonny Rich, who owns the net. “It’s not legal anymore.”