MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — April 9, 2013 — A new attempt to get Sandy storm damage relief for the fishing industry in New Jersey and New York is being organized by Rep. Frank J. Pallone Jr., D-N.J., this time based on a federal damage assessment that puts the uninsured losses at $198 million.
Commercial fishermen of the Belford Seafood Cooperative have been looking for that help for five months. Co-op president Roy Diehl says Sandy’s storm surge caused $1million in damages to their facilities, including their processing plant, restaurant and infrastructure.
“Half our electric is still out. We’re just trying to get back running,” Diehl said Monday when Pallone met with fishermen here.
“We’re not looking for anything special. We just want to get back to normal. We’re just a bunch of hard working guys trying to survive,” said Capt. Rich Isaksen, a fourth generation commercial fishermen.
“Our main thing is we feed people,” said Isaksen. “Every fish that comes across this dock somebody eats. All we’re asking for is a little help getting back going — that’s all.”
Proposed legislation from Pallone and co-sponsored by Reps. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., and Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., would authorize additional post-storm aid based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s figures from March that reported superstorm Sandy caused up to $121 million in uninsured damages to New Jersey’s fishing industry, and another $77 million to New York’s. The aid package would help both the recreational and commercial fishing industries of the two states. Watch the video above to see Pallone visit the Belford Seafood Cooperative.
NOAA declared Sandy to be a “fisheries disaster” and Congress had a proposal over the winter to fund $150 million in relief, which would have included help for other regions, like New England and Alaska, where environmental and biological factors caused fishery collapses in 2012. That drew fire from conservative factions who decried the package as “pork” unrelated to Sandy, and threw it into January budget battles in the House of Representatives.
Read the full story from the Asbury Park Press