Saving Seafood

Massachusetts: 4 Local Communities Receive State Habitat Improvement Grants

January 4, 2018 — BOSTON — Four local communities have been awarded funding from the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife’s Habitat Management Grant program to protect natural resources.

Barnstable, Mashpee, Nantucket and Yarmouth will receive a total of almost $78,000 towards habitat improvement projects.

Barnstable ($10,000), Mashpee ($24,000) and Yarmouth ($25,000) were awarded funding for prescribed burns to improve pitch pine and oak woodland habitats. Nantucket will use the $18,997 in funds to manage heathlands on the Head of the Plains properties.

Read the full story at CapeCod

 

MASSACHUSETTS: New Bedford Receives Grant to Build Website Promoting Local Seafood

March 21, 2017 — New Bedford’s seafood has already gone worldwide. Now, it’s about to hit the World Wide Web.

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced that $105,500 in grants will be distributed to seven marketing campaigns that are designed to increase awareness and demand for Massachusetts seafood products. The grants were awarded through the Division of Marine Fisheries’ newly-created Seafood Marketing Pilot Grant Program.

As part of the grant, the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission will receive $13,000 to create a New Bedford Seafood website that will offer a central location for local, regional and international buyers, as well as the creation of a “Seafood Throwdown.”

“Let’s face it, we have the most lucrative fishing port in the country, and I will say wiht some bias, the best seafood in the country,” Senator Mark Montigny of New Bedford tells WBSM News. Montigny helped create the program in the state Senate. “It’s great news, with one thing in mind–promoting the industry, and continuing to retain jobs as well as creat new jobs.”

“Years ago, I would have said, ‘Hey, let’s spend this to make the biggest scallop festival in the country in New Bedford, since they use our scallops in other cities and towns for those events,” Montigny said. “But in this new world, (being on the web) is the key. You can have the most, and I feel we do have the best, but if you’re not constantly promoting the product online all over the world, you’re falling behind your competition.”

Read the full story at WBSM