“Our New England fishermen have many talents and skills that can be put to good use in a wide variety of marine related jobs,” said Delahunt. “In these difficult times as fish stocks continue to rebuild, we need to create new employment opportunities for our fishermen utilizing their expertise in sustaining the health of our fishing industry and our coastal economy.”
The Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2010 (HR 4914) was introduced last week by U.S. Reps. Pallone (D-NJ), Pingree (D-ME), and Shea-Porter (D-NH) and will establish a Coastal Jobs Creation Grant Program. The program will fund employment opportunities for fishermen to promote sustainable fisheries, waterfront revitalization, and improved ocean management.
Specifically the Coastal Jobs Creation Act of 2010 will:
- Create new cooperative research partnerships between fishermen and scientists to collect data on economic and social impacts of fisheries management, restore habitats, enhance stock assessments, and reduce bycatch.
- Support training and hiring of new fisheries observers.
- Fund revitalization projects at working waterfronts and ports.
- Promote testing and deployment of new weather monitoring technologies that will help small fishing operations.
- Improve recreational fishing data collection and registry programs.
- Preserve and restore the ocean environment, including research within the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the National Marine Sanctuary System and coral reef ecosystems.
- Use fishermen and their boats to reduce, collect and dispose of marine debris.
Nationwide, U.S. commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $185 billion in sales and supported more than two million jobs in 2006, according to an economic report released by NOAA’s Fisheries Service.
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