September 18, 2013 — Without freeing up the catch limits, and boosting the quota for some of the industry’s staples, such as cod and yellowtail flounder, there would seem no way for fishermen to generate the level of income they would need to pay back any loans, regardless of rates.
State Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, who has long represented fishermen as an attorney and then helped to lead their fight in the Legislature and beyond, suggested that the feds’ financial assistance come in the form of grants rather than loans.
“Hopefully the governor can get across to the (Obama) administration that, when you take away somebody’s income, it becomes very difficult to come up with the money to pay for low-interest loans,” Ferrante said. And she’s absolutely right.
For weeks now, we’ve heard of how NOAA will be steering perhaps $10 million of Saltonstall-Kennedy Act money into programs aimed at boosting fishing communities’ fleets, with other aid going to more joint research. Now, we hear of SBA “low-interest loans.”
But remember that, by the 1954 Saltonstall-Kennedy Act, up to 30 percent of all seafood import tariff revenue — more than $100 million last year — should be going to boost the industry, yet has been pumped straight into NOAA’s operating budget.
Read the full editorial at the Gloucester Daily Times