Tag Archives: fishing disaster aid

Fishing disaster aid – direct assistance to keep the industry going has been minimized and replaced with permit buybacks

Frank Mirarchi, a retired commercial fisherman from Scituate, said the direct assistance will go to fishermen who have a 5,000-pound qualifying history. He said it will work out to about $32,000 per commercial boat. Ed Barrett of Marshfield, president of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, said he feels the direct assistance to keep the industry going has been minimized and replaced with permit buybacks. “That’s suicide. Here’s your disaster relief: a firing squad,” he said. “We’re communities with 400 years of fishing tradition, and I don’t think that because we didn’t have the quotas, because we were struggling, that we shouldn’t give help to those who need it most.” Read more here 16:14

Where’s the fishing disaster aid going? N.J., N.Y. get $3.8 million; New England banks majority Pallone is HOT!

Rep. Frank Pallone@FrankPallone 39m Unacceptable that @NOAA is only allocating $3mil to NJ/NY fisheries out of $75mil w/ the extent of #Sandy devastation http://1.usa.gov/Ny1vDp

Industry advocates in New Jersey blamed the latest allocation on John Bullard, NOAA’s Northeast regional fisheries director based in Massachusetts — ground zero of the near-meltdown in New England’s fishing fleet for cod and other groundfish. “That $33 million goes to groundfish, which largely helps New Bedford, where he was the former mayor,” said Thomas P. Fote, legislative chairman for the Jersey Coast Anglers Association and a New Jersey representative to interstate fishery management groups. Read more here app.com  21:24