December 13, 2012 — The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee today released a $64 billion disaster assistance bill that includes $150 million for the six states in the Northeast groundfishery and three other states.
The bill’s impetus was relief for the superstorm Sandy disaster, but lawmakers have added a variety of other disaster relief measures, including farm drought relief.
After its transformation into a commodity market with trading in catch shares by members of fishing cooperatives in 2010, the groundfishery began disintegrating into economic crisis. The failure was acknowledged by the acting commerce secretary in September, 11 months after Gov. Deval Patrick began petitioning for a disaster declaration.
The groundfisheries of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York were included in the disaster declaration.
The $150 million appropriation covers the impact of superstorm Sandy on the full spectrum of the fisheries of New Jersey and New York, as well as the oyster and blue crab fisheries of Mississippi and the Chinook salmon fishery of Alaska.
Read the full story in the Gloucester Times