YORK, Maine — May 1, 2013 — An anonymous donation is supporting a new York Sustainable Fisheries Fund to benefit the health of the local commercial fishing business.
The estimated $40,000 in the fund will help continue work already done in town to support the working waterfront, according to Joey Donnelly, who is among three fiscal agents for the Sustainable Fisheries Fund. The other agents are Jim Smith and Cynthia Hosmer, both of York.
However, it's the York Lobstermen's Association that decides where and how the money is spent, Donnelly said.
The Lobstermen's Association, led by Mike Sinclair, is an organization representing an estimated 40 members, many of them among the 50 licensed lobstermen — 30 of them active — in York. An executive committee of Sinclair, Jeff Donnell, Mark Sewall, Matt Nowell and Jeff White is responsible for recommending how the funds should be spent, Sinclair said.
On April 3, $1,700 in sustainable funds paid for half the cost of cold water survival training through a fishing vessel drill conductor safety course held in York Harbor, Sinclair said. Sixteen local fishermen each paid $100 to participate, while the fund contributed another $100 toward the course.
The state is mandating more such training for fishermen — instruction that costs money for both the course and a motel if it is held out of town, plus the price of a day not spent on the water, according to Donnelly. The Sustainable Fisheries Fund can help foot those bills, he said.
Read the full story at Seacoast Online