From the Office of Senator Kerry

Friday, June 11, 1999

WASHINGTON D.C. - Senators John F. Kerry (D-MA) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) today announced Senate approval of funding for a series of federal programs that would help the recovery of the Gulf of Maine fishery. The funds would help provide cooperative research, management and enforcement to the groundfish fishery.

This funding was included the Senate Commerce Justice, State, and Judiciary Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2000 which was approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee today.

"This funding will go a long way to help to foster cooperative research and management programs that address the crisis that our groundfish fishermen are currently facing in Massachusetts," said Kerry. I look forward to working with Senator Kennedy and my colleagues in the House to ensure that this important assistance is included in the final funding bill."

Senator Kennedy said, "This program brings together the fishermen with the scientific community to work on the long term management of the fishery, while at the same time creating a better understanding between the two groups. A similar relationship with loggers and forester has been very successful out in the Northwest, so it's great to be able to bring those practices to the fishing industry."

Specifically, the bill would provide the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) $8 million for cooperative research, management, and enforcement to address the deteriorating state of the Gulf of Maine groundfish fishery. Included in this amount is $2.82 million for a consortium to conduct cooperative research and development of selective gear technologies for initiation of a program to utilize commercial fishing vessels as research platforms.

Also included is $600,000 for a tuna tagging program, and $400,000 for herring and mackerel research.

The appropriations bill must pass the full Senate and the House of Representatives before final approval.