July 15, 2014 — Massachusetts’ plan for distributing $8.2 million in state-specific fishery assistance grants includes proposals to fund direct assistance to crew members and shoreside businesses, as well as vocational and vessel safety training, cooperative research and local seafood marketing.
Speaking tonight in a meeting at the state Division of Marine Fisheries Annisquam Station in front of about 70 fishermen and stakeholders, state officials filled in some the details of the plan to disburse the $14.5 million headed to Massachusetts.
Those funds come from the $75 million federal package Congress appropriated in January to assist a half-dozen fisheries across the nation where federal government already has declared fishing disasters.
In Massachusetts, the distribution plan calls for $6.3 million to go to direct assistance to 193 “pre-identified active commercial fishermen,” including 53 in Gloucester; and $8.2 million “for consideration of additional assistance strategies in a state program.”
Massachusetts’ $14.5 million was part of the $32.8 million portioned to the five coastal New England states and New York.
As part of an agreement among the state fisheries directors and NOAA, that nearly $33 million is being portioned into three elements: approximately $11 million in direct assistance to 333 eligible permit holders; about $11 million in state-specific grants that are designed to help crew members and eligible shoreside businesses, as well as fund cooperative research.
The final $11 million is being held for a future vessel buyout/buyback program.
Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times