Kerry Appeals for Federal Aid Made on Behalf of Shellfishing Industry
9 June 2005
The New England coastline has been hit with the worst case of Red Tide since 1972. The average person may not think much about this or even know what Red Tide is, but it is devastating to the Shellfishing industry in New England. In Massachusetts, alone the shellfishing industry has an “annual wholesale value of about $24 million.”
New England Red Tide “is a northern algae” that contaminates “only shellfish, making them unsafe and even fatal for animals and humans to eat.”
About two thirds of Massachusetts shellfishing flats have already been closed, as well as shellfishing flats in New Hampshire and Maine. The toxic Red Tide algae bloom is expected to continue through the peak shellfishing season, over the next few weeks leading up to July 4th.
Mass. Lawmakers Seek Aid for Red Tide - By Jay Lindsay, The Associated Press
A letter written Wednesday by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and also signed by Sen. Edward Kennedy, and U.S. Reps. William Delahunt, Barney Frank, John Tierney and Jim McGovern asks the U.S. Small Business Administration to declare an "economic injury disaster," which would make some of region's sidelined shellfishermen eligible for low interest loans.
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