Sentence Correction

Last week local shrimpers held a news conference to take some credit for the resurgence of the rare Kemp's Ridley turtle, saying that their compliance with laws requiring turtle-excluder devices on shrimp nets is protecting adult sea turtles.

Please advice me on the relationship between bold faces above. is "Saying" describing the verb "held" in the previous clause.

singh181 wrote:Last week local shrimpers held a news conference to take some credit for the resurgence of the rare Kemp's Ridley turtle, saying that their compliance with laws requiring turtle-excluder devices on shrimp nets is protecting adult sea turtles.

Please advice me on the relationship between bold faces above. is "Saying" describing the verb "held" in the previous clause.

1.The words ending in -ing but are adjectives , dont require comma
for eg: falling leaves
racing car

2. The words ending with -ing but are a part of the noun phrase don't require comma
for eg: paying a fine

3. -ing should be followed by comma when the word is a verb
for eg: Reading the appointment letter,she smiled a day long.