February 7, 2014 (Saving Seafood) – On January 30, a diverse group of organizations representing New England fishermen—the Northeast Seafood Coalition, the Associated Fisheries of Maine, and the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance—wrote to 14 New England and Mid-Atlantic Senators thanking them for their work in securing federal disaster assistance for the struggling groundfish fishery. They also brief the Senators on their proposals for allocating the relief funds, which they will present in full at a later date.
The funds result from an economic disaster declaration issued by the Commerce Department in 2012, in response to a dramatic decrease in the allowable catch levels to many important New England groundfish stocks. The letter emphasizes that, because the relief money was appropriated specifically to alleviate the effects of the fishery disaster, the funds “should be strictly applied for that purpose,” rather than to other “ongoing management priorities.”
The letter proposes that the disaster appropriations be divided for two distinct purposes. The first would be for distributing “direct disaster mitigation to affected fishing businesses as quickly as possible.” The other funds would be focused on more long-term solutions aimed at ensuring “the future viability of the fishery.” Specifically, the letter suggested a buyback program for groundfish permits. Ultimately, the letter promises, “to build a consensus industry plan to achieve the dual objectives of mitigating the impacts of this disaster and building a more stable future for the northeast groundfish fishery.”