Aubrey Church, policy director ( far left) Ray Kane, outreach coordinator, Rep. Dylan Fernandes, CEO John Pappalardo, Melissa Sanderson, chief operating officer, Ray Rowell, permit bank director, Holly Buddensee, accounting director.
By Doreen Leggett
With draggers and lobster boats behind him at the Sandwich Marina, the popular Fishermen’s View restaurant and seafood market beside, State Representative Dylan Fernandes presented Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance with $500,000 to continue its work to support the industry.
“Fishing is deeply embedded in the history and identity of the Cape and Islands and supports thousands of jobs within the Blue Economy,” said Fernandes. “This funding helps sustain local commercial fishing and support fishing families across the region.”
Fernandes, D- Falmouth, said working in the House of Representatives he often sees the wooden “sacred cod” hanging over the chamber, installed in 1748, a continual reminder of how important the fishing industry is to Massachusetts.
The cod also serves as a reminder of how much the industry has changed. With cod in short supply and heavily regulated, commercial fishermen on the Cape have adapted by diversifying their catch, exploring new markets and driving science to inform policy.
“Commercial fishing is facing a number of challenges, from climate change to fishermen not being paid a fair price for their catch. This funding helps us continue to meet those challenges,” said John Pappalardo, chief executive officer of Fishermen’s Alliance. “I’d like to thank Rep. Fernandes, once again, for his efforts on behalf of our fishing families who are the backbone, and sentinels, of our coastal communities.”
Days before, Fernandes, with the Association to Preserve Cape Cod and the Fishermen’s Alliance, banded together at a press conference to push back against another looming problem the industry faces.
Seth Rolbein, senior advisor at the Fishermen’s Alliance, stood with Fernandes and Andrew Gottlieb, executive director of APCC, in Plymouth to decry Holtec’s plan to discharge close to 1 million gallons of wastewater from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant into Cape Cod Bay.
Holtec appealed the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s denial of a discharge permit. Led by APCC, more than a dozen concerned groups and individuals, including Fernandes, filed a motion to try to stop the appeal. The presiding officer at the DEP office of dispute resolution allowed the motion to intervene on October 17.
“Dumping wastewater into Cape Cod Bay harms our region’s ability to market itself as a tourist, beach, seafood destination and harms our local fishing industry,” said Fernandes at a press event at Plymouth Rock on Oct. 2.
Rolbein said the stakes were high for the fishing industry.
He said ratepayers contributed to a Decommissioning Trust Fund since the beginning of Pilgrim’s operation to pay for decommissioning the plant. Now Holtec is trying to take “the cheap way out” and keep as much of that money as they can, at great risk to hundreds of small fishing businesses that are collectively worth more than $250 million.
“It’s economic and it’s psychological. We know that smart people may be prone to not eat beautiful fish, lobsters, and oysters if they find that it is coming out of waters treated in the way that Holtec proposes,” Rolbein said.
While the Holtec appeal moves forward (perhaps a two-year process), Fishermen’s Alliance will continue to encourage more people to buy local seafood as well as advocate to develop commonsense fisheries policies at the national level.
Fernandes said this funding, secured as part of a $935,000 package he garnered for the Cape and Islands, builds on earlier success.
Last year, Fernandes was also able to obtain $500,000 for the Fishermen’s Alliance to support the industry as it modernizes to meet the demands of a changing ecosystem. The funding allowed staff at the 35-year-old non-profit to secure an additional $5.8 million in research awards which will improve the understanding of scallop growth rates, the Outer Cape coastal current, monkfish, and help assemble the largest cooperative network of fishing boats with environmental sensors in the United States.
“The continued success of our local fishermen will create a resilient year-round workforce and provide delicious, healthy seafood that can withstand painful shocks and disruptions in the supply chains we saw during COVID,” he added.
The monies also allowed Fishermen’s Alliance to conduct free workforce training to build the next generation of fishermen; seven training graduates have become new fishing crew members with multi-lingual training for 14 Brazilian immigrants.
The organization’s 2023 to 2024 report to the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries also highlighted myriad regulatory and policy meetings that staff attended to advocate at federal, regional, state and local levels. Those efforts will continue.
“Things are changing more rapidly than the system we have to operate in,” Pappalardo said.
Funding will also support Fishermen’s Alliance’s work on the “port profile project,” an audit of ports across the Commonwealth that draws attention to infrastructure needs so fishermen can continue to land seafood in their hometowns and make strong contributions to the economy.
Fernandes talked with staff about successes and concerns, from bright spots in aquaculture to struggles with a lack of processing facilities. He also mentioned his newfound enjoyment of the Fishermen’s Alliance’s Provencal Fish Stew, made with skate and distributed to food banks across the Cape to help people who are food insecure.
“I am honored to get you the funds for jobs and for fishing families,” he said..