The North Atlantic fishery is slated to go for a makeover as Senate approved a fund of $156 M to boost the industry. It is informed that the funding would include boat buyouts, restructure struggling industry. The bulk of the appropriation, $100 million, would be used as boat buyout money. It is told that the proposal asks for $41.5 million for catch verification technology and staff, and $10 million for job training for the exiting and entering generations of fishermen.
The sponsors, Sens. Edward M. Kennedy and John Kerry, D-Mass., Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and Rhode Island Democrats Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, have been stalwart defenders of the groundfish industry. It is opined that in recent years progressively more restrictive fishing regulations have made it extremely difficult for fishermen to earn a decent living.
It is fact that fishermen today are being paid less than half what they received for their catch just one year ago. According to the senators as the catch volume and days at sea allowed by the National Marine Fishery Service has continued to shrink, large amounts notably of haddock from Canada and pollack from China have flooded the market for prized fresh and low-cost processed fish, often frozen.
It is explained that this plan will wipe out the entire fishery in New Jersey and New York. Stephen Ouellette, a lawyer with a fishing practice, said that it will devastate communities, particularly New Bedford and cause fishing effort to congregate in inshore waters (off Gloucester, now fished almost exclusively by Gloucester day boats).
