John Kerry: “There has been a virtual collapse of groundfish stocks like haddock and cod in much of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The…”

“There has been a virtual collapse of groundfish stocks like haddock and cod in much of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The neighboring Canadian fishery will be shut down completely for at least 5 years. The U.S. Department of Commerce is proposing temporary reductions that will cut the permissible catch from the New England fishery in half. In recent years, the groundfish fishery in New England has provided about $600 million annually and employed about 24,000 people. Coastal communities are just beginning to assess the implications of the disaster, but its effects will be felt immediately. For example, Gloucester expects to see a 33 percent decline in the industry in 1994 alone, with 50-60 vessels going out of business and facing foreclosures. Most lenders require boat owners to provide additional collateral, so many of the fishermen face the loss not only of their livelihood, but their homes as well. Not just for the individuals and their families, but also for the communities in which they live and base their fishing operations, and indeed, for the entire New England region, this fishery disruption is in fact a disaster--both in its effects and according to the definition of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 4107).”