The economic growth bill enacted July 31 by the state Legislature includes a seafood marketing program driven by Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, and co-sponsored by Sen Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford.
"The marketing of local seafood will help provide an economic stimulus to an industry that has been decimated by illogical and unfair federal fishing regulations that have crippled our fishing fleet," Montigny said in a news release. "Promotion of locally caught seafood is critically important to the sustainability of an industry that employs thousands of residents and generations of New Bedford families."
The goals of the seafood marketing program include: increasing the public's knowledge about the health benefits of eating seafood and the economic importance of the Commonwealth's fishing industry; educating the public on fisheries resources, management and commercial fishing to build consumer confidence; stabilizing market prices; creating name recognition; and identifying ways to fund program activities.
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