PROVIDENCE – The state will receive an estimated $1.9 million to assist fishermen under a compromise reached by state fishery directors from Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The deal provides a framework for distributing a portion of $32.8 million in federal fishery disaster funding for the Northeast region.
The funds are part of a multimillion dollar pool that the state’s congressional delegation helped secure in the fiscal 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act to respond to six declared fishery disasters throughout the nation.
In 2012, the U.S. secretary of commerce declared a disaster for the Northeast ground-fishery due to sharp reductions in catch limits anticipated for the 2013 fishing year. Earlier this year, an agreement was reached to ensure that Northeast fishermen will be among the beneficiaries of the disaster-relief funding.
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