March 1, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:
The Maine Department of Marine Resources will soon be issuing the third and final payment to thirty-two Maine-homeported commercial Northeast Multispecies (groundfish) permit holders who are eligible to receive direct assistance under federal disaster relief funding.
To be eligible, Maine-homeported groundfish permit holders must have landings of over 5000 pounds in any one Fishing Year from 2010-2013. In addition, permit holders must have landed a minimum of 5000 pounds of groundfish in either Fishing Year 2013 or 2014.
“The intent of these criteria is to focus disaster relief efforts on permit holders who have historical dependence on groundfish and have had continued reliance on the groundfish fishery during the disaster years,” said Maine DMR Deputy Commissioner Meredith Mendelson. “We know that Maine’s groundfish industry has seen declines in many years preceding this disaster declaration. However, the Secretary of Commerce’s declaration was made based on what were, at the time, prospective revenue losses from the major reduction in Gulf of Maine cod quota available for the 2013 fishing year. Accordingly, our allocation of relief funds reflects the impact of that specific reduction.”
The amounts allocated to eligible permit holders were based on a formula developed by the Maine Department of Marine Resources after several outreach meetings with industry. Amounts issued will reflect landings in Fishing Years 2013 and 2014 individually and combined.
Awards under this formula will range from approximately $9,100 to $44,044.
The funds are a portion of the $3.3 million allocated to Maine from the $75 million allocated by U.S. Congress to help with six fishery disasters, including the disaster declared in 2012 by the Secretary of Commerce as a result of significant quota cuts for key New England groundfish stocks.
Of the $75 million, $32.8 million was allocated to the Northeast groundfish industry. The allocation of those funds was negotiated among the state fisheries agency directors and announced in June, 2014.
The agreement split the $32.8 million evenly, allocating a third of the funds to each of three areas. $11 million was paid out as direct aid to permit holders in the northeast who have landed a minimum of 5000 pounds of groundfish stocks in any one fishing year since 2010.
In October, 2014, fifty-two of Maine’s federal groundfish permit holders received $32,500 each. In 2015, the DMR distributed $640,005 to help Maine’s groundfish fleet and related shoreside industries by rebating dealer landings and handling fees.