Bunker’s Harbor in Gouldsboro represents the best of Maine’s fishing culture, enduring through economic and social volatility. Fishermen’s Voice photo.
Fishery Losses Due to Pandemic “Just the Beginning”
by Laurie Schreiber
ciation (MCFA) Executive Director Ben Martens was one of three speakers invited to testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on the impacts of COVID-19 on the fisheries and seafood supply.
The Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee hosted the May 18 roundtable, held via videoconference.
“The pandemic has illuminated the cracks in our national food systems,” Martens told the subcommittee.
Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association is a Brunswick-based nonprofit that advocates for the needs of community-based fishermen and the environmental restoration of the Gulf of Maine. MCFA is also a founding member of the Fishing Communities Coalition. Based in Washington, D.C., the coalition is an association of community-based, small-boat commercial fishing groups, representing more than 1,000 independent fishermen and business owners from Maine to the Gulf Coast to Alaska who share a commitment to the sustainable management of America’s fishery resources, according to its website.
