Thursday, January 16, 2014
Statement on federal fisheries disaster aid, DMF public meeting on preserving groundfish industry
Yesterday I released the following statement, regarding
the U.S. House’s passage of $75 million in fisheries disaster aid as part of
the Fiscal Year 2014 federal appropriations bill, and the announcement by the
Division of Marine Fisheries that it will be holding the first of at least three
public meetings on protecting and preserving the groundfish industry at its
Gloucester office on January 27th:
“Now that
funding for the fishing industry is on the fast track in Washington, it’s
critical that we lay the groundwork for its effective use in Massachusetts to
keep the industry alive through this ongoing crisis. The meetings being conducted by DMF will be a
prime opportunity to get that process started by building the consensus that
can only come from focused and candid conversations with the people, businesses
and organizations that are at risk.
I am pleased that DMF is responding
promptly to the request that I have made with Representative Ferrante to get
this discussion underway. We need to
make sure that money is being spent to meet the needs of fishing families and
ports and not any particular bureaucracy or collateral interest.”
