spend on ve ization. This program through 
June 1976 had resulted in the accumulation of $75 
million in deposits. 
There are other sources of Federal assistance to 
encourage the improved economic condition of the 
domestic fishing business. The Small Business Ad- 
ministration makes loans to various components of 
the fishing industry. A compilation of the agency’s 
activity in fiscal year 1975 showed 217 loans totaling 
$6.5 million to “fishermen,” and manufacturers, 
wholesalers, and retailers of fishery products.** 
A recent review in Massachusetts of Federal sup- 
port programs for commercial fishing interests com- 
piled a list of 13 assistance programs for vessel pur- 
chase, a like number for vessel renovation, 11 pro- 
grams for help with onshore facilities, and 6 programs 
for aid to public onshore facilities. (See table 3-6.) 
Given the independent nature of persons in the 
fishing industry and the potentially confusing array 
of Federal assistance programs, there are suggestions 
that assistance needs to be better focused and easier 
to obtain if the programs are to achieve the objective 
of a stronger domestic fishing industry. 
*8 U.S. Comptroller General, op. cit. note 4, p. 58. 
Se 
There i i that 
provi i id. Under 
the Saltonstall-Kennedy program, 30 percent of the 
receipts from_i ts_of fishery products are to be 
applied for these purposes, The amount appropri- 
ated in 1977 was $7.9 million. The idea is to use the 
receipts from imports. to_help_develop_the domestic 
fishing_industry and eventually cut down on the 
amount of fish imported. 
The Department of Commerce’s Economic Devel- 
opment Administration (EDA) has a loan program 
potentially useful for onshore facilities. 
As this brief listing suggests, there is a variety of 
possible sources of direct assistance to the fishery in- 
dustry. There are problems with some of the specific 
programs (the 25 percent requirement for vessel 
modernization assistance is a barrier to some). More 
basic is the highly individualistic nature of the people 
in the fishing industry, their lack of information about 
some of the types of help available, and their unwill- 
ingness to put up with what they view as govern- 
mental red tape even when the information is at 
hand. 
Illustrative of the type of comprehensive project, 
in which members of the fishing industry take part, 
Table 3~6—Federal support programs for commercial fishing interests / 
Vessel purchase 
construction 
Federal Programs 
Eligible Activities 
A. Economic Development Administration 
1. Public Works and Development Facilities 
2. Business Development Loans i x 
3. Title IX x 
B. Small Business Administration 
1. Section 7(a) Loans x 
2. Section 502 (LDC) Loans x 
3. Disaster and Emergency Loans x 
C. National Marine Fisheries Service 
1. Capital Construction Fund x 
2. Fishing Vessel Obligation Guarantee x 
3. Fisheries Loan Program x 
4. Import Duties Fund 
D. Environmental Protection Agency 
1. Section 201 
E. Farmers Home Administration 
1. Guaranteed Business and Industrial Loans X 
F. Farm Credit System 
1. Production Credit Association Loans x 
2. Banks for Cooperatives x 
G. Department of Housing and Urban Development 
1. Community Development Block Grants x 
H. Department of Commerce 
1. Trade Adjustment Assistance x 
Vessel Private onshore Public onshore 
renovation facilities facilities 
x 
xX x 
x x x 
x x 
x x 
x x 
x 
x x 
x 
x 
x x x 
x x 
x x 
x x x 
x x x 
*Source: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, A Report of the 200-Mile Fisheries Work Group, Lt. Govenor Thomas P. O'Neill, 
III, chairperson, no date, page 23. 
IlI-—26 
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