Representing the 4th Plymouth District
Marshfield & Scituate 

Seafood Marketing

Update--State commission convenes first ‘seafood marketing’ session

          Massachusetts has officially begun the business of exploring a long term seafood marketing strategy to bolster one of our Commonwealth’s most storied industries.  

          As readers of the Mariner are aware, I filed the legislation that created a “Seafood Marketing Commission” -- a body of folks comprised of fishermen, restaurant owners, industry & regulatory leaders, and legislators such as me.  On January 31, the Commission held its first session in which the following issue was explored:  How can Massachusetts better market and promote locally caught seafood?

This question is more than an academic exercise, as the seafood industry in Massachusetts is conservatively estimated to employ – directly and indirectly – over 20,000 people and accounts for over $500 million in annual revenue for our economy.  Our seafood industry is being severely challenged, however, as more than 80% of seafood consumed in the United States in imported; a number that may rise as federal regulations further limit the ability of Massachusetts fishermen to harvest seafood in our Atlantic waters.

My colleagues on the Commission include (just to name a few):  Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester, Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Seafood, Eddie Barrett, a Marshfield commercial fishermen and President of the state’s Fisherman’s Partnership, Frank Mirarchi, a Scituate commercial fishermen and member of the New England Fishery Management Council, Bernie Feeney, President of the Scituate-based Massachusetts Lobsterman’s Association, and Paul Diodati, Director of the Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries, whom we elected to Chair the Seafood Commission.

  My comments at last week’s meeting centered on three strategic points which I would like to share with you:

1)   We need to assist the seafood industry in recapturing this 80% market share from imported seafood.  Massachusetts should thus create a “Certified Sustainable” label for Massachusetts harvested seafood that informs consumers that the product is: 

(a) Healthy to eat, as it is fresh and was caught locally.

(b) A sustainable resource, meaning that it was harvested in accordance with laws that mandate our seafood has been safely harvested in the most regulated waters in the world.

The health benefits of eating locally harvested seafood are universally recognized.  (As one colleague joked, his doctor told him to take a fish oil pill every day, and you don’t hear doctors telling people to consume “beef oil” or “chicken oil”!)  As noted by my colleague, Sen. Tarr, “consumers are savvy,” and government can do a better job of aligning its scarce resources in an effort to promote locally caught, freshly harvested seafood.  This “Certified Sustainable” label should be adopted in concert with existing programs with an “eat fresh, eat local” theme that are supported by such organizations on the South Shore such as “Sustainable Marshfield” and “Sustainable Scituate”. 

2)   It’s important to establish state standards for the labeling of seafood.  These standards, which could be used as a national model, should showcase locally harvested seafood and accurately identify the species of fish being sold, no matter where it is purchased, sold or served.  Recognizing that the Boston Globe recently reported a practice of fish mislabeling (disguising one species as another; usually to increase profit); correctly identifying seafood should be a priority.  

3)   This meeting of the Seafood Commission could not have come at more critical cross roads for our fishing industry; as a recently reported decline in the status of the Gulf of Maine cod could, if accurate, mean economic catastrophe for the New England ground fishing industry.   In the face of widely disparate reports of the health of our fish stock our Massachusetts government should support the best available science in order to ensure the most accurate fish counts possible. 

Just this week I am working to pass a midyear spending bill that includes funding for a “sonar study;” technology that could be the key toward establishing more accurate fish counts thereby ensuring responsible sustainability.   This proposal calls for $1.1 million to fund collaborative research with the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.   Widely used in Europe, this sonar technology, according to the line item, would be applied “over a significant surface area of the ocean to assess the biomass of ground fish in the region managed by the New England Fishery Management Council.”  The issue of obtaining an accurate count of fish stock is complex, on which I will devote an entire future article.   

Following our meeting of the Seafood Commission, Paul Diodati,  Director of the Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries, made note of the need to provide a focus on the benefit of consuming Massachusetts harvested seafood and the corresponding plight of our fishermen with a significant announcement:  the Commonwealth has created a “Commercial Fisheries Revolving Loan Fund” to help smaller scale, owner-operator businesses that fish near shore and have less access to capital than larger operations.    This needed relief is a one million dollar fund intended to help our commercial fishermen transition from a days-at-sea ground fish management program to a controversial market-based program that enables fishermen to sell and lease fishing quotas.   According to Diodati, the fund “doesn’t just respond to the immediate crisis fishermen face, but will provide business planning to support small fishing businesses’ long-term sustainability.”  I suspect that the fund, though significant, will on its own be insufficient to assist the entire fleet of small boat commercial fishermen in adjusting to the new model of “sector management”, but I appreciate the focus of our Mass. Division of Marine Fisheries in promoting the seafood industry.

          The myriad issues relating to our seafood industry are complex, to be sure.  I’m confident that these Seafood Commission members, with their wide array of expertise and knowledge of the industry, will succeed in better marketing our locally harvested seafood, which will benefit our general health – and the strength of our local economy. 

House Bill 1179

UPDATE -- PROTECTING THE INTEGRITY OF EMERGENCY 911 AMBULANCE SERVICES

            Readers of the Mariner newspapers are already aware that the communities of Marshfield and Scituate are well served by our public safety professionals.  This fact was underscored this past Wednesday, January 25, as Fire Chiefs Kevin Robinson and Rick Judge came to Beacon Hill to provide leadership and support for legislation that I have filed (House No. 1179) to protect the integrity of emergency ambulance service in Massachusetts. 

            The need for this legislation arose when a recent, unilateral change in policy by two Massachusetts insurance companies threatened to diminish the financial stability of emergency ambulance services -- and the quality of emergency care.   This change in policy was done in what I term a bullying tactic:  municipalities and ambulance companies were told that unless they joined the "network" of the insurance company -- and accepted the rate of pay the for-profit insurer deemed appropriate -- the company would no longer make a prompt payment for service to the ambulance provider, but rather the insurer was to start making payment for the ambulance service directly to the patient.  

            Direct payment to patients of ambulance services has been proven to create a reduction in funding for the emergency service ambulance provider, as patients are often unable to make payment for their ambulance service in a timely manner, if at all.  

            Marshfield Fire Chief Kevin Robinson, who brought this issue to my attention last year when he served as president of the Fire Chiefs’ Association of Massachusetts, provided expert testimony on this issue at a legislative briefing last week attended by over ninety legislators and their staff, as well as representatives of the Mass Municipal Association, Professional Firefighters Association of Massachusetts, and private insurance companies. 

           Scituate Fire Chief Rick Judge attended the briefing in support of the bill, and noted to me that direct payment to patients of ambulance services is projected to result in many more instances of fraud from so called “frequent flyers,” folks who currently decide to call 911 for the excitement of an ambulance run, or, in cities where the policy has been implemented, will provide a “ready fund” for drug addicts who see the new policy as a method of receiving funds to support their addiction.  In fact, where implemented, this new policy has already resulted in an increase in fraudulent calls that are creating an unnecessary stress on an already busy 911 system.