Always Room for Improvement but 'Blue Economy' Is Anything But Depressed

Second of two parts

Beverly Harbor will be getting a new pier and a new hoist to better serve commercial fishing vessels.

Fairhaven will proceed with the fourth phase of a long-running project to reconstruct a pier that's  critical to a booming New Bedford Harbor, where the value of all the fish landed is greater than in any other U.S. port.

Gloucester will update its 2014 Harbor/Designated Port Area Master Plan to strengthen the city's traditional seafood industry, while exploring new opportunities in marine research, marine development and life sciences.

And Dennis will begin a two-stage project to upgrade a municipal marina at Sesuit Harbor, one of the few spots on the north side of Cape Cod accessible to recreational and commercial fleets, no matter the height or depth of the tide.

These were among nine projects funded in the latest round of grants from the state's Seaport Economic Council, totaling just under $3 million, as announced on Feb. 25 by the Baker-Polito administration.

These grants, the administration asserted, will help advance the mission of the Seaport Economic Development Council "to support working waterfronts, local tourism, coastal resilience, maritime innovation, and the Commonwealth's robust Blue Economy."

Robust indeed.

The Massachusetts fishing and seafood industries combined are a big, multi-billion-dollar-a-year deal.  When you include such things as shoreside support positions, seafood processors, restaurant workers, shippers and the like, there are about 90,000 jobs in fishing and seafood.

The value of the fish landed in one year in New Bedford tops out at $389 million, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

All the ports of Massachusetts collectively land more fish than any other state except Alaska, which is 73 times larger than Massachusetts.

"Our coastal assets are incredibly important to the state's overall economic health," states Governor Charlie Baker.

As an advocate for Fishing Partnership Support Services, a non-profit striving to improve the health, safety and economic security of commercial fishermen, I pay close attention to this stuff because it helps fishermen and their families, and of course the fishing industry itself, on which the original prosperity of Massachusetts was built.

But the other winning projects in these Seaport Economic Council grant contests sometimes fascinate me equally.  Take the grant Salem just got to identify and implement near-term improvements needed to keep the Salem Wharf Deepwater Berth functioning optimally.

This facility was used for years in importing coal to Salem's old, polluting seaside power plant, which was replaced several years ago by a smaller, cleaner plant burning natural gas.  The refurbished coal ship wharf now regularly hosts cruise ships, from which visitors debark to enjoy historic Salem's many attractions, such as the Peabody Essex Museum, the Salem Maritime Historic Site, and the House of Seven Gables, not to mention the city's many fine restaurants.  Cruise ships for coal ships was a good trade for the Witch City.

There are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts.  Of those municipalities, 78 are located on the coast.

Since 2015, the Seaport Economic Council has made grant investments totaling more than $44 million in 42 of those communities that touch the ocean.

Back in the summer of 2017, I was interviewing Senator Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, for a video we were doing on the 20th anniversary of Fishing Partnership Support Services, www.fishingpartnership.org

Montigny's a true son of New Bedford, born and brought up there, and an old-fashioned lunchpail Democrat.  When he was in high school, he and his friends would often find work as day laborers on the busy docks of New Bedford.

We got to talking about how big commercial fishing still is in his city.  "People sometimes tell me we could be another Newport (Rhode Island), with hotels and condos and fancy restaurants and all that, and that that would be great for our economy," Montigny said.

"I always say to them, 'You don't know what you're talking about!  We already have a strong economy.  And it's a better economy, with better jobs for working people, than what you're dreaming up."

For the sake of our fishermen, of the communities they built hundreds of years ago, and of the unique local cultures and traditions they created, we should all hope that New Bedford does not become another Newport.