November 6, 2012 — [Fisheries matters] "aren’t local concerns particular to this state’s two great fishing ports, New Bedford and Gloucester. They are national concerns…"
UMass is not simply involved in marine science here in Gloucester. My trip also took me to New Bedford, to the School for Marine Science and Technology at UMass Dartmouth, and there I heard the same concerns for the future of the fishing industry that I heard in Hodgkins Cove – and witnessed the same commitment by UMass scientists to find answers.
These aren’t local concerns particular to this state’s two great fishing ports, New Bedford and Gloucester. They are national concerns that recently led President Obama to declare the industry here a disaster.
With a possible infusion of millions in disaster aid to New England to help fishing families and to enable us to better understand and mitigate what is happening in our fishery, I am proud that UMass – in Dartmouth and in Gloucester – is at the forefront of finding solutions. Clearly, given the importance of the fishing industry and the alarming rate of fish stock decline, there needs to be more funding to push this important research and work, and UMass is prepared to help put a shoulder to the wheel to be sure those funds are directed where they need to go.
What I saw at the marine station in Gloucester and at UMass Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology bore out a Vermont congressman’s hopes for a public education system dedicated to higher education that furthered both the individual and the public good.
Read the full story in the Gloucester Times