Fishing Industry
New Hampshire’s fishing industry has been a steady source of revenue and jobs in our local economy for over 400 years. However, our state’s fishermen and anglers face multiple hurdles – mostly due to the heavy hand of government – which prohibit their ability to put food on their families plates at night, keep a local restaurant stocked with freshly caught codfish and bring tourists rushing to the Hampton Seafood Festival.
At the urging of our state’s recreational fishermen, I sent a letter to Commerce Department Secretary Penny Pritzker this March requesting the Department alleviate the severe reduction in cod catch limits for recreational anglers and charter boats. It brings me great relief to share with you that just this week, a mere few days before the May 1 fishing season begins, the Commerce Department announced it would implement the revised catch limits.
While I’m happy the Commerce Department implemented this vital rule, I know there’s much more that can be done to eliminate the suffocating regulations and rules which continue to burden our state’s vital economic engine.
That’s why, I also introduced the Fisheries Investment and Regulatory Relief Act – a bipartisan bill with Congressman Bill Keating, whose district includes Cape Cod, to increase the stock of our nation’s fisheries by providing grants to research, monitor and manage our state’s fisheries.
This bipartisan legislation ensures that key programs which are critical in managing ocean fish populations - and the fishermen and communities that depend on them - will receive increased and sustainable funding.
I will not stop working on behalf of our state’s fishermen to ensure that our government is helping – not hindering – this industry.
More on Fishing Industry
Dear Granite Stater,
Ray, the Supervisor at Dover's water treatment facility, showed me around this week. I always enjoy a trip to the Seacoast region, especially when I can help Granite Staters overcome economic and regulatory issues that affect our daily lives.
MANCHESTER, NH – Portsmouth Naval Shipyard’s new Commander, Captain David S. Hunt, received a visit today from Congressman Frank Guinta, who toured the submarine repair and modernization facility, employing almost 6,000 in New Hampshire’s First District.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – A project to improve Portsmouth Harbor received long-awaited authorization in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2016, which passed the House of Representatives yesterday.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading advocate for small businesses, yesterday awarded Congressman Frank Guinta (NH-01) with its biennial Guardian of Small Business Award for his outstanding support of America’s small business owners in the 114th Congress.
MANCHESTER, NH – The Environmental Protection Agency’s “MS4” Permit could cost taxpayers in southern New Hampshire hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions, over the next few years. Locations potentially subject to new fees and penalties include 62 from Manchester to Plaistow, Portsmouth and Rochester.
On New Hampshire’s Seacoast, Granite State fishermen tell the tale of an out-of-control federal agency more dangerous than any sea monster.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration severely limits their catch of ground fish, flounder and cod that dwell in the Gulf of Maine. International competitors face fewer rules and supply most U.S. seafood.
Dave Goethel of the Yankee Fishermen’s Cooperative in Seabrook estimates that NOAA, which manages U.S. fisheries and the President’s climate change agenda, has reduced his catch by 95 percent.
Dear Granite Stater,
After months of false starts and delays, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced that the federal agency will charge New England fishermen the cost of monitoring them at sea, a cost the agency has always paid.
But the agency with a nearly $6 billion budget, shifting funds to the President's climate change agenda, is claiming poverty, demanding that the nine remaining boats on New Hampshire's Seacoast pay hundreds of dollars of additional costs each month.
In the last few days, I've introduced bills to protect fishing jobs on the Seacoast and communities there from an unfunded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate that could cost Exeter, Dover and others hundreds of millions of dollars.
The EPA -- which Forbes reveals spent about $92 million over ten years on new furniture -- is forcing them to spend taxpayer money on infrastructure upgrades that city managers say are unnecessary, according to the latest scientific data.