Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Pushing Fish Aid in FY’14 State Budget
Posted below is a press
release I sent out to the media today:
Tarr Pushing Fish Aid in FY’14 State
Budget
State Must Assist in Preventing Industry
from Total Collapse
Boston- In
response to the ongoing struggle that groundfishermen have been forced to
endure because of the draconian federal regulations they have to adhere to,
Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) has filed several amendments
to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means FY’14 budget proposal to provide
relief and support to the industry.
“We are now
in the 11th hour in trying to keep fishermen, shoreside businesses, and their
families afloat while federal regulators continue down a path of destruction to
the industry as we know it,” said Senator Tarr. “This state should do
everything in its power to provide the lifeline desperately deserved and needed
to prevent the industry from collapsing forever.”
The
amendments filed by Sen. Tarr would assist fishing ports to develop recovery
and revitalization plans, scientific research studies and testings, and broaden
health insurance benefits to more fishermen and their families. The amendments are:
• Amendment #167 would provide grants
to fishing ports to develop recovery and revitalization plans to increase
economic viability for host communities.
• Amendment #168 would enable the
Division of Marine Fisheries Institute and the School for Marine Science and
Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth to conduct a sonar
groundfish species assessment study in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.
• Amendment #169 would allow for the
development and implementation of a cod species identification sequencing study
to be conducted by the Gloucester Marine Genome Initiative.
• Amendment #190 would allow the Large
Pelagics Research Center at Hodgkins Cove on Giant Atlantic Bluefin Tuna to
conduct research to support that fishery.
• Amendment #519 would create a “Dockside
Testing Trust Fund” to be administered by the Department of Public Health to expand
testing of shellfish harvested on George’s Bank, allowing an expansion of
harvesting opportunities.
• Amendment #621 would allow
individuals who received more than 50% of their income from commercial
groundfishing to potentially become eligible to receive MassHealth benefits.
“Only with sound research can the
state compel the federal government and those who implement these extremely
restrictive regulations with the necessary evidence to prove that both the
industry and groundfish stocks can co-exist,” said Senator Tarr.
Along with sponsoring those
amendments, Senator Tarr is also a co-sponsor to Senator Dan Wolf’s amendment
#36 that would open and regulate Massachusetts dealers of lobster tail to
purchasers within the state as long as the lobster tails weigh at least 3 oz.
and are not egg bearing.
“Our state needs to stand up and
produce the science and factual information to make a compelling case that
current federal regulations will cause disaster for our groundfishing industry
that could be avoided by a more prudent and reasonable course of action. And, we need to support the industry so it
can survive while we make that case.”
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* Click “Read More”
to read the actual text of the language of the amendments that I filed.
ENV 167 Grants for Fishing Port Recovery Plans
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended, in Section 2, in item 2300-0100, by inserting at the end thereof the following:-
; provided, that not less than $300,000 shall be expended for grants to fishing ports to develop recovery and revitalization plans in response to federal groundfish regulations that took effect on May 1, 2013; provided further, that the division shall issue requests for proposals from affected ports not later than 60 days following the passage of this act and shall award such grants in a timely fashion; provided further, that all affected ports may submit individual plans or multiple ports may submit a regional plan; provided further, that all plans so developed shall be submitted to the director of the division, the secretary of the executive office of energy and environmental affairs, the secretary of the executive office of housing and economic development, and the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate not later than 180 days following the passage of this act
ENV 168 FISHERIES RESEARCH
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended, in Section 2, in item 2330-0100, by inserting at the end thereof the following:-
"provided further, that no less than $350,000 be expended for a program of collaborative research by the Division of Marine Fisheries through the Marine Fisheries Institute, in collaboration with the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, that applies innovative sonar and other technology to assess the biomass of groundfish in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, including cod and yellowtail flounder in the region managed by the New England Fishery Management Council; provided further, that to the maximum feasible extent, such program shall involve commercial fish harvesters in the commonwealth; provided, that the university shall report on the status of the research project to the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before December 31, 2013"
ENV 169 GLOUCESTER MARINE GENOME INITIATIVE
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended, in Section 2, in item 2330-0100, by inserting at the end thereof the following:-
"provided further, that no less than $200,000 shall be expended for the development and implementation of a cod species identification sequencing study to be conducted by the Gloucester Marine Genome Initiative; and provided further, that the Gloucester Marine Genome Initiative shall report on the status of the project to the house and senate committees on ways and means on or before June 30, 2014"
ENV 190 LARGE PELAGICS RESEARCH
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended, in Section 2, in item 2310-0200, by inserting after the words “fisheries and wildlife research” the following words:-
“including research performed at the Large Pelagics Research Center at Hodgkins Cove on giant Atlantic Bluefin Tuna and other species”
EHS 519 Dockside Testing Trust Fund
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended by inserting, after section __, the following new section:-
Section 2 of chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following new section:
- Section _____. There shall be established upon the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Dockside Testing Trust Fund to be expended, without prior appropriation, by the department of public health. The fund shall consist of fees collected from harvesters of molluscan shellfish on Georges Bank, in waters that are not monitored for the presence of paralytic shellfish toxin, in the amount of thirty-five thousand dollars per vessel that harvests in said waters. The commissioner shall make necessary expenditures from this account for the administrative costs of the operations and programs of the department related to regulating and monitoring the shellfish harvesters, including the testing of the shellfish as necessary to ensure that they are safe for human consumption. The department may incur expenses, and the comptroller may certify for payment, amounts in anticipation of expected receipts, but no expenditure shall be made from the fund that would cause the fund to be in deficit at the close of a fiscal year. Moneys deposited in the fund that are unexpended at the end of the fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund. The department shall use amounts in said fund for the aforesaid purposes and for no other.
EHS 621 Fishing Family Insurance
Mr. Tarr moved that the bill be amended, in Section 2, in item 4000-1405, by inserting, after the word “basis” in line 10 thereof, the following:-
“provided further that individuals deriving more than 50% of their income from commercial groundfishing and affected by the regulatory changes taking effect on May 1, 2013 may be eligible to receive benefits from this item"
