June 4, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD — Money to pay for at-sea monitors advanced in the House of Representative, U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass. reported Thursday.
The monitoring costs are viewed as a ticking time bomb for fishermen who are already struggling to make it with sharply reduced catch allowances.
Keating joined in a discussion on the House floor of an amendment to supply the money for the rest of this fishing year and perhaps beyond. The conversation was a procedural way of putting the subject high on the agenda for the House, which will have to determine the appropriate path for the legislation, he said.
Keating was joined by Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
“We were pleased that we took an issue that unites all of the fishing industry and moved it forward,” Keating told The Standard-Times. Both parties, he said, “understand the seriousness” of the matter.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times