June 5, 2014 — The idea of targeting Oct. 1 as a release date for the $11 million pegged for direct disaster aid to New England’s and New York’s commercial fishermen may work for the state and federal bureaucracies.
But making fishing permit holders already fighting catastrophic losses in this recognized economic disaster is hardly workable for the fishermen themselves.
And neither is all the rhetoric outlining reasons for the holdup.
Mary Griffin, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, tries to explain that the process for dispersing the direct assistance is not quite that simple. She said it goes beyond simply cutting checks to the 336 fishermen already deemed eligible for the aid, with each permit-holder due $32,463.
“We still have to engage in with NOAA and the other states,” Griffin says. “The states have not even received the funds from NOAA yet.”
But why not? If NOAA and the state marine fisheries divisions have already calculated the number of those receiving the direct aid — and the precise amount each is due to receive — why can’t the states ship checks for the disaster aid within the next few weeks, rather than four months down the road.
Read the full opinion piece at the Gloucester Daily Times