Jack Reed Archives - Saving Seafood

Reed renews bid for Rhode Island on MAFMC

April 1, 2025 — U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) has reintroduced legislation to add the state of Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), one of the eight regional fishery councils that manage commercial fishing in the United States.

The Mid-Atlantic Council holds primary management authority over federal waters off the coasts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

Rhode Island currently sits on the New England Fishery Management Council, which governs fishing to the north of the Mid-Atlantic Council area along the United States’ Atlantic coast. However, Reed claims that Rhode Island would be better served by a seat on the MAFMC, since the commercial fisheries Rhode Island fishers are most actively participating in are managed by the MAFMC, not the NEFMC.

“For years now, Rhode Island’s landings of stocks managed by the MAFMC have outpaced the landings of those managed by the New England Fishery Management Council, where Rhode Island is represented,” Reed said on the floor of the U.S. Senate on March 26. “Moreover, Rhode Island has a larger stake in the mid-Atlantic fishery than many of the States that currently hold seats on the MAFMC.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Rhode Island lawmakers continue push for seat on Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council

March 28, 2025 — U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) has reintroduced legislation to add the state of Rhode Island to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), one of the eight regional fishery councils that manages commercial fishing in the United States.

The Mid-Atlantic Council holds primary management authority over federal waters off the coasts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Senators Collins and Reed Introduce Bill to Preserve Vital Working Waterfronts

November 23, 2023 — On November 13, Senators Susan Collins and Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced the Working Waterfront Preservation Act. The bipartisan bill would help preserve access for the nation’s fishermen and maritime workers to the waterfronts in coastal communities, supporting the commercial fishing, aquaculture, boatbuilding, and for-hire recreational fishing industries that are vital to culture, heritage, and economies of coastal towns and cities.

Senator Collins has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine’s longest-serving senator. She has advocated and secured funding for numerous fisheries in the state for over two decades. She has worked on many acts with Maine’s Senator King, who has also actively supported Maine fisheries with bipartisan legislation such as the Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act. Senators King and Collins have worked to help keep the fishing industry alive from coast to coast.

“The hardworking men and women of Maine’s maritime industries continue to lose access to the waterfronts that sustain them. Recent demand for coastal property has only intensified the problem in Maine and nationwide,” said Senator Collins in the news release.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

RHODE ISLAND: Making a Splash: Reed Delivers $500,000 for RI Fisheries Research

October 11, 2023 — The following was released by Jack Reed:

Rhode Island’s commercial fisheries and seafood sectors account for more than 4,300 jobs and drive $420 million in statewide economic impact, according to a joint Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation-University of Rhode Island study.

In an effort to help ensure continued growth and sustainability of Rhode Island’s commercial fishing sector amidst evolving challenges with ocean health, U.S. Senator Jack Reed today delivered a $500,000 federal earmark to finance a deep dive study that will help the Ocean State’s commercial fishermen.

Senator Reed joined David Bethoney, PhD, Executive Director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation (CFRF); local fishermen; and research collaborators at Point Judith’s Superior Trawl facility to celebrate this federal funding that will advance and enhance the organization’s efforts to understand, manage, and develop innovative solutions to challenges faced by commercial fishermen.

“As climate change rapidly alters the coastal landscape and oceans, we’ve got to support our commercial fishermen and help them adapt while also taking good care of our commercial fisheries. The well-being of both our fishermen and fisheries is critical to the Blue Economy and our economic future,” said Senator Reed. “CFRF research is critical to resilient and sustainable fisheries and ensuring commercial fishermen have a voice and a say when it comes to policies that impact their livelihoods. This new funding will deepen our understanding of modern ocean challenges. The data collected by CFRF and their partners will be used to ensure commercial fishermen have appropriate access rights and develop innovative solutions to ensure our commercial fisheries are healthy, resilient, and can thrive.”

“We are excited and grateful for this opportunity to build on initiatives that empower the commercial fishing community to help us understand and address significant change in the ocean environment,” said David Bethoney, PhD, Executive Director of CFRF.

With this federal earmark, CFRF will leverage and grow cooperative research efforts on issues affecting fishermen in Rhode Island and across southern New England. This work will utilize the knowledge of local fishermen to better understand and mitigate challenges facing the fishing sector, like climate change, rapidly warming waters, and plastic pollution. Specifically, CFRF will use these federal funds to:

Modernize its Shelf Research Fleet initiative;
Add juvenile black seabass monitoring to the Black Seabass Research Fleet;
Create an informed implementation strategy for automatic squid jigging, and;
Continue ghost gear removal from Rhode Island waters.

Additionally, CFRF plans to invite more local fishermen to participate in these research initiatives, creating a path for fishermen to supplement and diversify their incomes. For example, the Shelf Research Fleet has included 18 fishermen since the project first started to collect profiles of water temperature and salinity at two-week intervals across the continental shelf. This research effort has already identified an increase in bottom intrusions of warm, salty water that may have gone undetected without their monitoring.

A senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Reed secured this $500,000 earmark in the fiscal year 2023 consolidated appropriations law. The funding will be administered by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Earlier this year, Senator Reed also delivered $2.4 million to build a new shellfish hatchery and research center that will support the Ocean State’s aquaculture and seafood industries. This project is a collaboration between the University of Rhode Island and Matunuck Oyster Farm.

The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation is a nonprofit established by commercial fishermen to conduct collaborative fisheries research and to carry out education projects.

Rhode Island’s fishing industry received support through federal grants

November 24, 2021 — U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse alongside Congressman Jim Langevin and David Cicilline announced Tuesday a designation of fishery failure from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the Rhode Island fishing industry, specifically the Rhode Island’s Atlantic herring fishery.

A 2019 assessment showed that herring population is in a dramatic decline, with 2019 reporting less than a fifth compared to their 2014 harvest. Herring are a key bait fish used in both commercial fishing and lobster industries.

Read the full story at NBC6

Rhode Island Delegation Reintroduces Fishermen’s Fairness Act & Announces Nearly $3M to Help Local Fishermen Impacted by COVID-19

March 31, 2021 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI):

In an effort to give Rhode Island fishermen a voice and voting representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), which manages some of the most important fish stocks for the state’s commercial fishing industry, U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and U.S. Representatives James Langevin and David Cicilline, today announced the reintroduction of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The legislation would add Rhode Island to the list of seven states with voting representation on the MAFMC, a regional management board that establishes fishery management rules for stocks primarily caught in federal waters adjacent to the mid-Atlantic coast.

The delegation also announced $2,967,000 in federal fisheries assistance funding provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This new federal funding goes to the state and will be administered by the Department of Environmental Management. Eligible commercial fishing, processors, charter fishing, and other eligible seafood sector industry members who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic may apply for a share of the funds.

The delegation helped include this funding for Rhode Island as part of a $255 million allocation for fishermen nationwide in the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA), also known as the ‘coronabus’ law, that was signed in December. Previously, the CARES Act provided $300 million to states to distribute to fisheries participants through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries allocations. Nearly $3.3 million of that fishery disaster assistance went to help Rhode Island fishermen impacted by COVID-19.

While the COVID-19 relief funds are critical, the delegation stressed the need for a legislative fix giving Rhode Island fair representation on the MAFMC.

“This is an issue of fairness. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is a key decision making body that determines what happens off the coast of Rhode Island, but our state doesn’t have a seat or say right now. Our fishermen deserve appropriate representation on this council. Mid-Atlantic-regulated stocks now represent the majority of landings for Rhode Island commercial fishermen. It is time that our state has formal representation on this council and this legislation will ensure they get it,” said Senator Reed, who has been pushing this issue since 2005.

“Climate change is warming the oceans, causing fish that were traditionally found in the mid-Atlantic to migrate northward to the waters off southern New England,” said Senator Whitehouse. “Rhode Island fishermen should have a seat at the table when decisions are made about those fish stocks. I’m glad to join Senator Reed in working to get our fishing industry fair representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.”

“This is ultimately an issue about the livelihoods of Rhode Island’s fishermen,” said Congressman Langevin, who is introducing the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. “The majority of Rhode Island landings are Mid-Atlantic regulated stocks, and our fishermen should not be shut out of that regulatory process. All we have to do is look at the addition of North Carolina to the MAFMC to know that there is a precedent for this. It is time that Rhode Island fishermen be included as well.”

“It is imperative that Rhode Island’s fishing industry have a seat at the table on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council,” said Congressman Cicilline. “Rhode Island accounts for more fish landings in waters managed by the MAFMC than almost any state in the Mid-Atlantic region, yet our fisheries still do not have a say in how a significant portion of their industry is managed. I am proud to join my colleagues in the Rhode Island delegation in introducing this commonsense legislation which will fix this oversight.”

According to data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), between 2015 and 2019, Rhode Island accounted for approximately a quarter of the commercial landings from stocks under MAFMC’s sole jurisdiction, both by weight and value. The significance of commercial landings from stocks managed by MAFMC is growing every year for Rhode Island, accounting for 58% of Rhode Island’s federally managed commercial fisheries landings in 2019. In 2019 alone, Rhode Island landed over 5.5 million more pounds of squid than any other state on the East Coast. But, Rhode Island does not have a formal say in how this species is managed because it does not have representation on the MAFMC.

Without representation on the MAFMC, Rhode Island cannot participate fully in development of fishery management plans for Mid-Atlantic stocks, many of which are crucial to the Rhode Island seafood economy.

The Rhode Island Fishermen Fairness Act would add two places for Rhode Island representation to the 21 member Council. One seat would be appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce under recommendations from Rhode Island’s Governor. The second seat would be filled by Rhode Island’s principal state official with marine fishery management responsibility. To accommodate these new members, the MAFMC would increase in size from 21 voting members to 23.

North Carolina was added to the MAFMC as part of the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996. Like Rhode Island, a significant portion of North Carolina’s landed fish species were managed by the MAFMC, yet the state was not represented on the council.

Senators Push USDA to Buy More Seafood After COVID-19 Decimates Fisheries Sector

December 8, 2020 — Two senators are trying to help U.S. fisheries decimated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., on Friday requested the Government Accountability Office conduct a study to explore ways to ensure that American fisheries receive the expanded economic support they desperately need. The senators are asking for more seafood be purchased through the federal government purchases through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Commodity Procurement Program.

“The seafood industry is critical to local and regional economies across the country and is largely sustained by the sale of fresh product,” the senators’ letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said. “Notably, more than 68 percent of the $102.2 billion that consumers paid for U.S. fishery products in 2017 was spent at food service establishments. Because of the coronavirus, this market evaporated, and the supply chain for fishermen and seafood processors was decimated.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Rhode Island senators want a say in fishery rules

October 30, 2020 — Sens. Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both D-R.I., introduced Senate Bill S.4804, the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the fishing law of this nation, to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states represented on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and eight regional councils manage fisheries in our federal waters.

The Senate bill would give Rhode Island two new voting seats on the council. Many of the fish caught off our coast are regulated by the Mid-Atlantic Council, yet Rhode Island has no representation on the panel.

Spiny dogfish and monkfish are both managed under joint fishery management plans developed by the Mid-Atlantic and New England Council. Many of the Mid-Atlantic Council’s managed fisheries are fished for in state waters, so the council works with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to coordinate management of summer flounder, scup, black sea bass and bluefish. All of these species are important to recreational and commercial fishers in Rhode Island.

Read the full story at The Providence Journal

Senators introduce Fishermen’s Fairness Act

October 29, 2020 — Last week Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse introduced Senate Bill S. 4804, the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would amend the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA), the fishing law of this nation, to add Rhode Island to the list of seven states represented on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The Council is one of eight regional bodies that regulate fishing with NOAA.

Senator Reed said, “The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is a key decision making body that determines what happens off the coast of Rhode Island, but our state doesn’t have a seat on the Council.” Senator Whitehouse, said, “As climate change heats up the oceans, fish that once lived in the warmer mid-Atlantic have migrated north to the waters off New England.”

Representatives Jim Langevin and David Cicilline of Rhode Island are expected to introduce a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Ocean-based Climate Solutions Act to address climate change impacts

Read the full story at The Cranston Herald

To Further the ‘Calamari Comeback,’ Rhode Island Delegation is Angling to Give Ocean State Fishermen a Greater Say on Squid Quotas

October 21, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI):

In an effort to give Rhode Island fisherman a voice and voting representation on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), which manages some of the most important fish stocks for the state’s commercial fishing industry – chief among them squid, U.S. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and U.S. Representatives James Langevin and David Cicilline, today announced the reintroduction of the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act. The bill would add Rhode Island to the list of seven states with voting representation on the MAFMC, a regional management board that establishes fishery management rules for stocks primarily caught in federal waters adjacent to the mid-Atlantic coast.

“This is an issue of fairness. The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council is a key decision making body that determines what happens off the coast of Rhode Island, but our state doesn’t have a seat or say right now. Our fishermen deserve appropriate representation on this council. Mid-Atlantic-regulated stocks now represent the majority of landings for Rhode Island commercial fishermen. It is time that our state has formal representation on this council and this legislation will ensure they get it,” said Senator Reed, who has been pushing this issue since 2005.

“As climate change heats up the oceans, fish that once lived in the warmer mid-Atlantic have migrated north to the waters off New England,” said Senator Whitehouse. “We’re fighting to get Rhode Island fishermen more of a say in the rules for catching fish that are now plentiful off our coast.”

“Rhode Island’s fishermen must have a voice in the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s decisions, which increasingly affect the future of Rhode Island’s fisheries,” said Congressman Langevin, lead author of the House bill. “Our state has a proud history of providing quality seafood for our nation, but climate change and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continue to threaten our fishing industry. As the Mid-Atlantic Council confronts these pressing challenges, we are reintroducing the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act to ensure Rhode Island has a seat at the table.”

“Getting a seat at the MAFMC table would be a major win for Rhode Island’s fishermen,” said Congressman Cicilline. “The loss of restaurant revenue during this pandemic has devastated our commercial fishing and seafood industries. Rhode Island fishermen have worked hard to overcome these challenges this year, and including them on the Council will give them an even better opportunity to succeed.”

The catch of Rhode Island commercial fishermen represents a significant percentage of commercial landings of the Mid-Atlantic fishery, and is greater than most of the states represented on the Council. According to data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), between 2014 and 2018, Rhode Island accounted for approximately a quarter of the commercial landings by value from stocks under the MAFMC’s sole jurisdiction.

According to a 2019 report from NOAA’s commercial landings database: There were 32 million pounds of squid landed by Rhode Island fishermen with a value of $31 million. This represents about 40 percent of the state’s total commercial fisheries landings by pounds and 28 percent of total landings value.