Tag Archives: Fishermen and seafood processors

MCFA’s Fishermen Feeding Mainers Program has served more than one million meals to families in Maine

In just three years since its inception, Fishermen Feeding Mainers has served more than one million meals to families in communities throughout Maine. The program was launched by the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association (MCFA), a local nonprofit focused on rebuilding the fisheries of the Gulf of Maine and sustaining Maine’s fishing communities for future generations. Since October 2020, the program has supplied fresh local seafood direct from Maine fishermen to more than 250 food banks and over 30 school districts, providing countless Mainers with a healthy, high-quality and free source of protein. More than $2.2 million has been infused back into the Maine economy through the program to date. The program was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to help sustain fishermen and families in Maine. When the food system and restaurants closed, many of Maine’s fishermen, who had already seen declining value in their fleets, were not able to sell the fish they caught, leaving them unable to support their families.   >>click to read<< 18:24

The power to open Bonnet Carré spillway rests 200 miles from ‘struggling’ Gulf Coast

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opens the Bonnet Carré to prevent Mississippi River flooding in New Orleans, but Coast residents on less populated shores of South Mississippi and Louisiana feel the fallout. The fresh, polluted water floods Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi Sound. For the first time in history, the spillway has opened two years in a row — 2018 and 2019 — and two times in one year — 2019.  Dolphins and oysters are dying. Shrimp are disappearing. Fish are covered in lesions. And the oxygen-starved Dead Zone, documented annually in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected this summer to be the size of Massachusetts, which is close to the 2017 record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says. Video, photo’s >click to read<10:23