Focusing on the Future of the Fishing Industry

Message from City Council President Paul McGeary:

“The City Council and the city’s Fisheries Commission are holding a joint meeting on the current state and future of the fishing industry. The meeting will be held on Friday, Jan. 16, at 1 p.m. in the Kyrouz Auditorium at City Hall. 

Mark Ring, the chair of the Fisheries Commission, and I decided to hold the meeting to provide an opportunity for city, state and federal officials to meet with representatives of the fishing industry–both those who work on the sea and those who work ashore–and the public to assess the current state of the industry and to help identify what steps can be taken to preserve and help prosper this industry that is so important to Gloucester.

The forum will have two focuses:

• Short-term needs of the industry: How do we preserve the infrastructure and help those hurt by recent cutbacks in allowable catch survive the next few years, which are likely to be difficult ones for the industry?
• Long-term future of the industry: What are the options for our fleet and those businesses that depend on it in the long term?

Representatives of government, industry and advocates will be present to share their ideas. It’s a chance for all of us who have busy lives and don’t always have the time to closely follow the events that impact our fishermen and shoreside businesses to hear firsthand from those most affected by the current situation. As well, it’s a forum for people with ideas on how to protect and help grow the fishing industry to air them.

The agenda for the joint meeting can be found here:

https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f5312d0fdb052f7acb9347e08/files/Agenda_for_fisheries_forum.pdf

 I hope you will avail yourselves of this opportunity to hear what is happening in this industry that is so much a part of who we are.”

Paul McGeary Photo