The director will be in attendance, and following the film Nantucket filmmaker and journalist John Stanton will moderate a panel discussing both sides of this very important issue. For the last 20 years the New England Groundfish fishermen have seen their fleets of boats and the onshore infrastructure disappear from their communities as the federal regulators kept cutting the quota of fish they could catch. Law suits were filed against the NOAA to provide some relief from the damaging regulations, but these were eventually lost in the courts as nobody seemed to believe what fishermen were saying. Environmentalists and others portrayed fishermen and the fishing industry in a negative light, who only care about catching the last fish in the ocean. The reality is much different. No one cares more about protecting the fish than the fishermen—fish are their livelihood—but there are a lot more fish in the ocean than scientists and managers say. Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker David Wittkower, this compelling film shows audiences the relentless destruction of the New England fishing communities due to poorly considered regulations based on bad science and incomplete data. Told in first person by fishermen and those with close knowledge of the industry, DEAD IN THE WATER tells of the demise of coastal fishing communities and their centuries-old tradition of harvesting the bounty of the ocean. But most importantly, it shows the indomitable spirit of those who risk their lives on the open waters.