BOSTON — February 7, 2014 — A marketing program encouraging Bay Staters to buy locally caught seafood is what some Cape lawmakers and the Senate majority leader think will do the trick to turn around Massachusetts' lagging seafood industry.
"It could be transformative," Senate Majority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, said after testifying in support of the program and its accompanying bill at the Statehouse on Thursday. "It could be one of the things that helps to be a lifeline for the survival of the industry."
The proposed marketing program would receive $250,000 a year to fund its efforts, collected from the money raised by commercial harvester and dealer permits under the Division of Marine Fisheries. It would also have a committee staffed by legislators and representatives from all corners of the state's seafood industry that would steer the program.
"The goal of the seafood marketing program is to raise the ex-vessel price, which is what the fishermen are paid ultimately," said Beth Casoni, associate director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. — The program would put money back into fishing communities and boost seafood as a resource, she added.
Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times