Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Jon Mitchell gives Markey credit for $15 million upgrade to Port

May 20, 2019 — Sen. Edward Markey and others talked about the things he’s done for New Bedford Friday and local leaders talked about other things they’d like Markey to do.

It was classic “bring home the bacon” at a SouthCoast Legislative Luncheon at White’s of Wesport, sponsored jointly by the SouthCoast and Bristol County chambers of commerce.

Mayor Jon Mitchell introduced Markey to the gathering, attended by some members of the SouthCoast legislative delegation but not by indicted Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia. Mitchell told of Markey’s role in obtaining a $15.4 million federal transportation grant to improve the Port of New Bedford. The money will be used to extend the bulkhead and remove contaminated materials.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Gov. Baker looks to modernize fishing fleet, fix education funding

October 17, 2018 — Gov. Charlie Baker visited The Standard-Times on Tuesday, three weeks before the Nov. 6 election. He said if he wins a second four-year term, he hopes to change the way charter and low-income schools are funded and invest in new technology for the fishing fleet.

Baker leads Democratic challenger Jay Gonzalez by a substantial margin in the polls, taking 68 percent of likely voters in a WBUR poll in late September and 66 percent in a UMass Lowell-Boston Globe poll this month. Some voters are still undecided, leaving Gonzalez polling in the 20s.

On fishing, Baker said he wants to work with vocational schools on opportunities in the industry, modernize technology used by the fishing fleet, and put state money into public infrastructure used by fish processors — such as state piers — that could increase the state’s processing capacity.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times