September 24, 2013 — The entire Congressional delegation from Massachusetts took a unified stance this week in signing a letter sent to the Small Business Administration requesting assistance for the commonwealth's struggling fishing industry and the businesses the workers typically support.
In a letter addressed to the head of disaster assistance at the SBA, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, along with the state's eight U.S. representatives asked for the agency to back the certification made by Governor Deval Patrick, that small businesses in Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Plymouth, Norfolk and Suffolk counties have suffered substantial economic injury as a result of a fishery resource disaster. As part of the acknowledgment, the SBA is requested to develop a plan to provide economic assistance to fishermen through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
“Our fishermen and fishing-related businesses need SBA assistance as they work to adjust to a perfect storm of events that threatens the future one of our nation’s oldest and most storied industries and the coastal communities that depend on it,” the letter states. "The assistance would be used to help ease the economic effects of federal regulations imposed to stop what the Department of Commerce and fishermen anticipate will be dramatic declines in groundfish stocks in the Massachusetts multispecies fishery, while also allowing critical investments to make the industry more sustainable in the long term.”
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