April 3, 2017 — It was billed as a legislative lunch with the likes of U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, but much of a March 24 “legislative luncheon” at Seatrade International was actually about trying to hammer out an agreement on a bill governing the way you can sell lobsters in Massachusetts.
Other topics focused on policies that will govern the growth of the Port of New Bedford.
The luncheon had two parts, one public and one private. And the initial closed-door part, which besides Warren and Markey included the five members of New Bedford’s all Democratic House delegation, began with a heated debate over a lobster bill.
The bill (House Bill 2906) was co-sponsored by 13th Bristol District Rep. Antonio Cabral, who represents the downtown, South End and much of the waterfront. His proposed legislation would allow for the sale, processing and transport of lobster parts, which is already legal in Maine and New Hampshire but not Massachusetts.
“We’ve been trying to resolve this issue for some time,” Cabral said. “There was a bill during the last session, but we’ve made some progress.”
The packet handed to the attendees of the legislative lunch included two letters, one signed by Mayor Jon Mitchell and the other by Ed Anthes-Washburn, the executive director of the Harbor Development Committee. The letters supported two previous lobster bills that failed.
Anthes-Washburn’s letter, addressed to the State House, voiced support for Senate Bill S469 in 2015. After three readings and being passed to be engrossed by the Senate, the House sent it to the Committee on Ways and Means in 2016, where no further action was taken.