69 



wrested away from them. This should be a partnership effort involving academics, 

 industry, environmentalists, and regulators. 



Market Development 



1) Examine the feasibility of developing individual display auctions or virtual 

 auctions in Gloucester and New Bedford, and possibly other communities as well. 

 Assess potential for a Regional Fish Exchange which would develop and link display 

 auctions in Portland, Gloucester and New Bedford. 



2) Explore feasibility of developing fishermen's co-ops in those communities that 

 don't have them and strengthen co-ops in those ports which do. 



3) Examine feasibility of developing a "sustainably harvested" Buy New England 

 certification program, modelled alter the forestry certification programs which are 

 currently being developed for domestic and tropical wood products. 



4) Explore creation of a regional fishermen's bank or Marine Resource Fund sup- 

 ported by a general or dedicated tax. 



5) Examine feasibility of developing of economically viable fish waste processing 

 businesses. 



6) Provide seed funding for scoping and feasibility studies to assess the viability 

 of developing new value-added products. 



Policy / Politics 



1) Identify and provide support for a co-ordinated long term effort to change fed- 

 eral policy and fundamentally overhaul federal fisheries management programs. 



2) Support efforts to integrate fisheries management into the priorities of the 

 Gulf of Maine Council and the Collaboration of Community Foundations for the Gulf 

 of Maine. 



3) Support efforts to secure designation of the Georges Bank Marine Bio-sphere 

 Reserve. 



4) Support efforts to evaluate the degree of conflict of interest present in the New 

 Englana and Mid-Atlantic Regional Fisheries Management Councils to improve the 

 management process. 



5) Underwrite production of a report on the Gulf of Maine bio-region and its re- 

 sources, including the fishery, and sponsor a state of the Gulf of Maine Report fo- 

 cused on characteristics and trends. 



Socio-Economic 



1) Explore the development of one or more regional Fishermen's Trusts either as 

 separate stand- alone entities or offshoots of existing organizations to acquire facili- 

 ties, marinas, dockage for communities to protect commercial fishermen's access to 

 the waterfront. 



2) Forge coordination and collaboration between environmental groups — Look at 

 parallels with Pacific NW forests and Northeastern forests campaign. Develop an 

 ongoing communication/information clearinghouse. 



Prepared Statement of Gary Golas, New Bedford, MA 



Thank you Senator Kerry for inviting me to testify at this hearing. On behalf of 

 the Seafood Industry here in New Bedford I would like to welcome you. I also would 

 like to express our gratitude for all of your continued hard work in assisting this 

 industry, particularly in these difiicult times. Thank you. 



My testimony will focus on the issue of economic aid to the fishing industry here 

 in New Bedford. It's a program that all of us are grateful that you nave worked so 

 hard to establish. 



As you may know, I have been directly involved in organizing lobbying efforts to 

 get financial reUef to this industry since January. Presently I also hold a position 

 of recruiting unemployed fishermen to examine their options to get retrained into 

 other jobs as administered by the city's job training agency New Directions. And I 

 have been working with others to host informational workshops to help people bet- 

 ter understand the financial aid options offered by the various federal agencies. It 

 is through my direct involvement and experiences that I speak to you today. 



Although it is too early to provide you with statistical information on now effec- 

 tive the $30 million economic aid package may be in here in New Bedford, I would 

 like to inform you of a number of areas of serious concern as well as areas of opti- 

 mism. 



The various financial aid packages offered to help those in need here in New Bed- 

 ford appears to not be reaching its mark. As I testified to the Director of Sustainable 

 Development, John Bullard during his second town meeting on May 12th, the dif- 



