BOSTON — Although fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico have been soaked by the BP oil disaster, Massachusetts's fishing industry is unlikely to see a surge in demand, a state environmental official said Tuesday.
"We're not expecting an economic effect either positive or negative," said Division of Marine Fisheries director Paul Diodati, who said he's heard suggestions that New England could be asked to fill commercial demands once met by states along the gulf. "We're not anticipating filling any major niches that have been caused by this."
Diodati, speaking at a hearing held by the Legislature's Environment Committee, said Massachusetts's shrimp industry has been inactive since early May and that Canada, in any case, would supply the bulk of the world's coldwater shrimp. He added that Massachusetts doesn't have "good substitutions" for other species harmed by the gushing oil. Other gulf states, he noted, have been "absorbing" the market demand for shellfish caused by the closures of oyster beds in Louisiana.
After the hearing, committee co-chairman Rep. William Straus, D-Mattapoisett, dismissed the notion that Massachusetts could gain from the Southeast's woes.
"I wouldn't view it by any means, the tragedy of what's occurring in the gulf, as an opportunity for us that we would want to take advantage of," he said. "I think we do pretty well in marketing the product that we have now, that which is out there commercially that comes in at our ports — New Bedford, Gloucester, Boston — really goes to market pretty well right now. I think seafood demand is pretty high as it is."
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