March 1, 2013 — A day after the NBC Nightly News highlighted the economic disaster facing small fishing boat businesses in Gloucester, Congressman John Tierney once again called on his colleagues Thursday to support disaster relief legislation for the Northeast groundfishery.
Congress stripped $150 million in disaster assistance from a Senate approved $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill at the end of the 112th Congress. Despite having acknowledged the disaster in a legal finding declared by the Department of Commerce last September, the Obama administration has not advocated publicly for disaster assistance to address the issue.
“As public outcry intensifies, I urge my colleagues to join me in pressing for relief for our fishermen,” said Tierney in a prepared statement. “The fishing industry is one of the oldest and most relied upon in the country, and it is facing near catastrophe. The Department of Commerce has recognized this and designated fisheries disasters in Massachusetts and several other states last year. Yet, sufficient relief for our fishermen still has not been provided.
”Fishermen in my district and across the country deserve better,” Tierney said.
In a letter to his colleagues, Tierney wrote about his bill, identified as H.R. 799
”Each year, the federal government receives funds collected from tariffs on imported fish products,” Tierney wrote. “The Saltonstall-Kennedy Act of 1954 directed that a percentage of these funds go to benefit and improve our domestic fishing industry. Since then, an ever-increasing amount of those monies has been inappropriately redirected to fund the operations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Read the full story at the Gloucester Times