With the commercial fishing fleet struggling under unprecedented restrictions and reportedly facing widespread insolvencies, Gloucester's elected political leaders have called a Friday morning meeting with industry representatives to examine a $150 million emergency economic aid proposal from U.S. senators, led by John Kerry.
Because the aid package includes a buyout component — a one-way ticket out of the commercial fishing business — the proposal is seen by some as helping some individuals while weakening the parent port economy, possibly threatening the survival of essential elements of the infrastructure.
In addition, many advocates of the buyback component in the package — now, merely a political idea rather than legislation or a fleshed out economic plan — privately acknowledge worrying that the initiative suggests surrender to the Obama administration's fisheries leadership.
Read the complete story from The Gloucester Daily Times.