In the 1960s, Galilee fishermen and other New England fishermen faced rising competition from foreign-owned factory trawlers that worked local waters with great efficiency and sharply reduced catches. They joined with fishermen across the nation to win an expansion of U.S. jurisdiction from twelve to two-hundred nautical miles, and in 1976 Congress passed the nation’s first comprehensive fisheries legislation, banning foreign ships and accelerating development of the domestic fleet. The new law sparked a heyday in Galilee during the late 1970s and 1980s, as federal incentives, eager bank lending, and a fisheries training program at the University of Rhode Island helped the fleet expand rapidly with ever larger vessels built to travel farther. Demand for dockage grew so intense that the Department of Environmental Management considered building an island in the pond for more piers. By the 1990s, however, concerns about sustainability were rising and the government shifted from promoting fisheries to imposing long and painful restrictions, a period that included the 1995 closure of the Point Judith Fisherman's Cooperative just short of its fiftieth year.