From the Office of Senator Kerry

Tuesday, June 11, 2002

Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I strongly support helping New England fishermen and their communities-and by that I mean helping them now, when they need it, not later this year or next year, but now. And I want to thank our distinguished Chairman of the Appropriations Committee Senator BYRD and the Ranking Member Senator STEVENS for their steadfast support of the New England fishermen and for including provisions to help fishermen and fishing communities in New England recover from the effects of a devastating lawsuit which is already having severe economic consequences in New England.

Mr. President, the entire New England groundfish industry is reeling from a lawsuit that was finally decided on May 23. I would like to point out that the fishing season starts on May 1, so the fishermen and the shore side industry learned the rules by which they must live less than a month into the season. It's hard to plan a fishing season under those circumstances. And the ramifications reach beyond just our fishermen: We have over 1,000 active groundfish boats in New England employing thousands of fishermen, and economists estimate that for each job on a fishing vessel we have four jobs on shore to support the industry.

In addition, Massachusetts Bay, the prime inshore fishing grounds for the small day boats from our North Shore, South Shore and Provincetown fleets have been closed since January 1. The area was scheduled to open in May, but the court order extends that closure. These fishermen and their families are struggling and have barely made it through the winter. Now, when May comes around they are unable to go fishing, earn some money and pay the bills. These families need help now!

I want to be clear, Mr. President. We are not backing away from our obligation to protect New England's fisheries. I know as much as anyone that this is a federal resource. We have an obligation to protect it and preserve it-to ensure that generations of New Englanders have the opportunity to fish and to protect a federal, natural resource that belongs to all Americans. But at the same time, we are seeking some help for the people and communities who bear the brunt of these necessary conservation rules. These people need some financial assistance while we make the transition to sustainable fishing.

I would like to point out that it is not just the New England fishermen who are hurting, Mr. President. As I mentioned earlier, for every job at sea in Massachusetts, economists estimate that we have four shore side jobs to support the industry. This includes net makers, processors, ice dealers and boat maintenance facilities. I should add that part of the court order increased the mesh size from 6 inches to six and ½ inches for all nets used to catch groundfish. This is great for conservation because it reduces the catch of undersized fish, however overnight every fishermen had to replace his nets. That means that all of the net makers with 6 inch mesh were now sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars of worthless inventory. For the typical gillnetter in New England this means they all have to come up with $10,000 before they can go fishing. Remember, these are all small, family-owned businesses and in some cases these are people that have not been working since January 1. These people need some help!

Again I wish to thank Chairman BYRD and Senator STEVENS for their stalwart support of these hardworking fishermen and their families.

Thank you.