Kerry Provision to Protect Massachusetts Fishermen Included in Senate Bill Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced that his provision to help restore key federal funding to Massachusetts fishermen has been included in a Senate Appropriations bill.
BigNews.Biz - Apr 27,2012 - Kerry Provision to Protect Massachusetts Fishermen Included in Senate Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced that his provision to help restore key federal funding to Massachusetts fishermen has been included in a Senate Appropriations bill.
In March, Kerry and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the Kerry-Snowe Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act of 2012 (S.2184), legislation to restore funding from the Department of Commerce’s Saltonstall-Kennedy fund back to Massachusetts fishermen and communities for whom it was originally intended. Following a series of meetings in April, Kerry wrote to Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, requesting his language to redirect these funds to assist fishermen be included in the FY2013 Appropriations bill.
“I’m deeply grateful to Sen. Mikulski for making this happen, because I wasn’t willing to wait for passage of my Saltonstall-Kennedy bill to achieve its intended results,” said Sen. Kerry. “Using the Saltonstall-Kennedy funds for their intended purpose is a down payment on trust. Now we can start rebuilding trust by investing in fishing science that’s credible and comprehensive and comes from the fishing community itself. This will help preserve our fishermen’s livelihoods, their families' economic security, and help ensure our fishing industry can survive for future generations.”
“I applaud Senator Kerry for his leadership on this issue and for making sure that this funding is used for its intended purpose – to help the fishing industry, not to cover NOAA’s administrative overhead,” said Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. “We are at a critical juncture at which we absolutely must provide more funding for cooperative fisheries science so we can base management policies on sound data, and we should make good use of the world-class institutions in the Bay State, like SMAST, which have special expertise in this area.”
Kerry’s provision was included on Page 26 of the Committee Report for the Senate FY 2013 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill (S. Rept. 112-158):
“Provided further, That in addition, $119,064,000 shall be derived by transfer from the fund entitled `Promote and Develop Fishery Products and Research Pertaining to American Fisheries', which shall only be used for fishery activities related to Cooperative Research, Annual Stock Assessments, Survey and Monitoring Projects, Interjurisdictional Fisheries Grants, and Fish Information Networks.”
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