June 22, 2018 — Geoff Diehl made his second visit to New Bedford this week to speak with fishermen.
The state representative and candidate running for U.S. Senate against Elizabeth Warren spoke to about five people within the fishing industry at Pier 3 on Thursday. It came just days after he attended a fishing roundtable discussion at the Whaling Museum, which discussed the groundfishing ban affecting the industry.
This second trip of the week was to unveil a set of guidelines he plans to follow to help fishermen if elected.
They involved repealing the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument Status, keeping Carlos Rafael’s fishing licenses in New Bedford and reducing the regulatory burden.
Diehl suggested establishing a NOAA headquarters in New Bedford to better facilitate discussions between the agency and fishermen in the nation’s most valuable seaport.
“They should at least have a satellite if not maybe move their main offices here,” Diehl said. “I think that would make a lot of sense to have them interact with the actual fishermen.”