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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 36 Number 2
October 2008
DMF begins groundfish aid distribution
BOSTON, MA – On Aug. 29, checks went out to qualified permit holders as the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) completed Phase I of a two-part program to distribute $12.7 million of the $13.4 million in “Framework 42, Massachusetts Groundfish Relief” funds appropriated by Congress.
Exactly how many individuals received checks was difficult to determine since payments were distributed to permit holders and many people hold multiple permits. In the end, DMF issued 514 checks to approximately 450 individuals totaling approximately $11.3 million.
The remaining $1.4 million has been set aside for eligible crewmembers to be distributed as individual subsidy payments and to help pay the cost of medical insurance for fishing families in the state. That money will be apportioned during Phase II of the program, which is now underway.
DMF created an aid distribution plan, which was approved on May 28 by the National Marine Fisheries Service, administrator of the federal grant (see CFN July 2008). The distribution plan relied heavily on comments from industry members, including fishermen who attended public meetings held in Gloucester, New Bedford, and Plymouth in early April.
Payment categories
As outlined in the plan, DMF categorized permit holders into the following four groups. The plan allocated a specific portion of the federal grant money to each category.
Category 1 – Federally permitted limited-access commercial vessels with A-days-at-sea. While the plan initially predicted compensation of around $400 per A-day, after all the eligible permits were accounted for, the figure rose to $532.17 per A-day.
Payment amounts ranged from a low of $1,479 for a permit holder with 2.75 eligible A-days to $372,592.50 to a single individual who owns a number of vessels, most of them based in New Bedford.
For the most part, however, payments ranged from $25,000-$38,000. A number of people with additional permits received upwards of $100,000.
In order to qualify, a fisherman had to have a 2007-2008 Massachusetts landing permit. The number of qualifying days was based on the number of A-days allocated as of May 2007 to the permit holder of record as of March 15, 2008. DMF imposed a cap of 3.5% of the total amount of funds set aside for the category for any single individual and only one person hit the cap.
Category 2 – Federally permitted limited-access permit holders without days-at-sea but with limited-access Handgear A permits. Qualified applicants must have landed at least 10,000 pounds of groundfish in one of the last four years, 2004-2007. Only three fishermen fell into this category and they each received a flat rate payment of $9,992.65.
Category 3 – Nonfederally permitted commercial groundfish vessels with Massachusetts groundfish endorsements (GE) – Qualified applicants must have landed at least 10,000 pounds of groundfish in one of the last four years, 2004-2007. Thirty-four individuals qualified in this category and each received flat rate payments of $9,992.65. And
Category 4 – For-hire charter and head boat groundfish permit holders with both a federal and state for-hire permit/endorsement and a Massachusetts homeport – Applicants had to demonstrate that they made trips to certain statistical areas at certain times. Those who qualified received $1,572.45 per trip. DMF identified 17 individuals who had a total of 197 trips among them.
DMF was reviewing a handful of appeals in mid-September.
Crewmen
The DMF plan sets aside $750,000 from the federal grant for direct payments to eligible crew.
When a vessel owner filled out his application for compensation, he was asked to list the names of all crewmembers who fished on his boat between Jan. 1, 2007 and March 15, 2008.
Vessel owners who received compensation were not eligible to be listed as crewmembers. Eligible crewmembers must have a federal tax form 1099 from the vessel owner for work during the eligibility period.
As of mid-September, DMF had a list of a little more than 1,000 crewmembers provided by vessel owners and was encouraging crewmen to check to make sure their name was on it.
You can find the list on the DMF web site at <www.mass.gov/dfwele/dmf>. Click on “Groundfish Assistance Program” under “Spotlight” on the DMF homepage.
The agency has also enlisted the help of Shore Support, a fishermen’s advocacy group based in New Bedford, and the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, an umbrella organization based in Gloucester of some 18 commercial fishing organizations in the state, to do outreach to make sure that all possibly eligible crewmen apply for the assistance.
Another chunk of federal grant money, probably close to $750,000, will go to help provide health insurance for fishing families. That amount has increased from the original plan because DMF believes it will have money left over from its administration costs budget to contribute to the fund. The details of how that money will be used were still being worked out at press time.
For more information on crew payments, call any of the following: Shore Support at (508) 951-2809; the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership at (978) 282-4847; or DMF at (617) 626-1520.
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