July 20, 2020 — In a New Bedford campaign stop on Friday U.S. Sen. Ed Markey touted his work to procure coronavirus aid for the fisheries and to secure federal port infrastructure funding for the city’s working waterfront.
He also spoke of upcoming battles on Capitol Hill, blasted Republicans, and hedged when asked by local reporters if he would support construction of a new NOAA Fisheries science center in New Bedford — a federal investment Mayor Jon Mitchell and other local officials have long been pushing for.
Markey, 74, is facing a Democratic primary challenge from 39-year-old U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III of Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District. Kennedy, in visiting New Bedford last week, made NOAA the cornerstone of his stump speech, insisting that the government scientists who conduct stock assessments central to the regulation of the commercial fisheries should share geographic proximity with the industry, and that as such the brand-new lab should be built in the Whaling City.
Fisheries scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have been headquartered in the seaside scientific community of Woods Hole since the 1960s, and plans are afoot to replace their aging lab facility. Mitchell has been a strong advocate for building the center in New Bedford, saying it could help heal the uneasy relationship between commercial fishermen and NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service while bringing economic development and jobs to the city. However, communities on Cape Cod have pushed back, saying NOAA should stay in Barnstable County.