BOSTON โ January 15, 2014 โ Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) released the following statement today, following the inclusion of $75 million in fisheries disaster aid in the Fiscal Year 2014 federal appropriations bill; the House is expected to vote on the bill tomorrow:
โThis overdue funding is critical to help our fishing families and ports survive through a crisis that threatens their existence, and its expected approval is welcome news. Now we must first turn our attention to ensuring that itโs distributed in timely and effective ways, and then to addressing the regulatory issues that make it necessary in the first place. Without meaningful regulatory and statutory changes, we will continue to face the extinction of our commercial fishing industry.โ