March 29, 2014 — The word that the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange has drawn NOAA’s recommendation to receive a grant of nearly $400,000 under Saltonstall-Kennedy Act certainly represents good news for the seafood auction — and, to an extent, for the city.
The Gloucester inner harbor business has put forth a strong proposal for the future of Gloucester’s and the Northeast’s groundfishery with a project aimed at building a sustainable redfish fishery, and marketing the species, which remains under-utilized, to consumers.
It is a project worth at least the recommended grant investment of $391,670, with a final cost analysis and legal review through NOAA’s grants management office looming as the only potential between CASE and the federal dollars.
Plus, as Gloucester Harbor Planning Director Sarah Garcia noted, the auction has been one of the waterfront businesses hardest hit by the economic disaster that is indeed the Northeast ground fishery. And, given that many fishermen don’t haul in redfish because the price for it is so low, the development of a new market for the fish can indeed help the entire industry make the most of am abundant and sustainable resource.