Supporting Rhode Island’s Fishermen and Revitalizing Our Working Waterfront
Rhode Island’s fishing industry is critical to our economy and our communities. Senator Reed has worked to support Rhode Island fishermen and lobstermen, many of whom face significant challenges and risks as they work hard to earn a living.
As a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, which oversees federal spending on the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Reed has secured millions of dollars in federal funding to boost collaborative research between fishermen and researchers to address challenges facing Southern New England fisheries. He also introduced the Rhode Island Fishermen’s Fairness Act to give Rhode Island fishermen a seat at the table of the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC), a government board that establishes fishery management rules for federal waters off the mid-Atlantic coast.
Reed has worked to conserve Rhode Island’s coastal waters so that our families, fishermen, and visitors can continue to enjoy the state’s natural resources. And recognizing the important role the marine economy plays in Rhode Island, Senator Reed continues to support efforts to help grow Rhode Island’s marine workforce and revitalize our boating and fishing industry.
Key Priorities & Accomplishments
- Healthy fish populations depend upon strong, science-based catch limits, and Senator Reed has worked to secure over $6 million in federal funding for collaborative fisheries research to collect more accurate fisheries data along the northeastern United States.
- Reed worked with RIDEM to secure nearly $3 million from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to repair the pier at the Port of Galilee.
- Reed has worked at the federal level to help protect the health of Narragansett Bay by securing over $1 million for researchers to study hypoxia, or “dead-zones,” that have resulted in large fish kills, and by developing strategies to prevent and control the problem.
Read more by visiting Senator Reed's Working for RI page.
