Effort To Get Aid For Fishermen Moves Forward

A U.S. Senate subcommittee has included $150 million for fisheries disaster relief in a new bill.

The move is another step toward securing emergency funds for fishermen in the Northeast, Alaska and the Gulf Coast after federal disaster declarations for struggling fisheries there last year.

The money must be approved by the full Senate before being considered in the House.

Last year, the same amount was approved in the Senate. But it was later stripped out by the House.

The office of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said the money would come from seafood import duties generated by the 1954 Saltonstall-Kennedy Act. Warren's office said the money would be used to improve data collection, stock assessments and for cooperative research between scientists and fishermen.

It would also expand the use of fishing vessels to perform stock assessments.