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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2020)
January 3, 2020 T he C olumbia P ress 5 West Coast trawlers score win in new federal spending plan The Columbia Press and news services West Coast trawlers scored a major win in the 2020 fed- eral spending plan signed into law by President Trump at the end of December. The pair of bills set fund- ing for every agency in the federal government, provid- ing many with a significant spending boost. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., proposed the government forgive more than $10 mil- lion in accrued loan inter- est that was forced onto the West Coast groundfishing fleet. “(It’s) a huge victory for our coastal communities in Oregon and up and down the West Coast,” said Merk- ley, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which negotiated the spend- ing bills. He blamed mismanage- ment by the National Marine Fisheries Service for the debt debacle. “It was outrageous that the federal government forced family fishermen to foot the bill because of bureaucrat- ic incompetence,” he said. “This win will lift a huge bur- den off our trawlers’ backs, helping them keep their small businesses afloat and keep our coastal economies humming.” The language added to the bills was co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sens. Patty Murray and Ma- ria Cantwell, both D-Wash.; Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both D-Ca- lif.; and U.S. Reps. Peter De- Fazio, D-Ore.; Greg Walden, R-Ore.; Jaime Herrera Beut- ler, R-Wash.; Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.; Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore.; and Jared Huffman, D-Calif. After the Secretary of Com- merce declared the West Coast groundfish fishery an economic disaster in 2000, the NMFS provided a $36 million buyout loan to retire one-third of the fishing fleet to reduce overcapacity. After providing the loan, however, the NMFS inex- plicably failed for nearly two years to implement a repayment mechanism and refused to allow the owners of the remaining vessels to start paying off the loan. As a result, $4 million in interest accrued before re- payment was even permit- ted to start. The additional interest has grown over time; the industry today owes at least $10 million more than Pam Ackley, Broker it would have if repayment had started immediately as intended. Over the years, this ad- ditional interest has creat- ed an albatross around the Cindy Yingst Commercial boats docked at Warrenton Marina. neck of an industry that al- ready faces significant chal- lenges. “Oregonians working on trawlers along the coast can now enter the new year without this senseless bur- den on the bottom line of their fishing operations,” Wyden said. “Fishing on the Oregon Coast for a living is a key piece of our state’s economy that never should have been a victim of this bureaucratic bungling, and I am glad to have teamed up with fisher- men and my congressional colleagues to get this prob- lem fixed.” S ENDI NG YO U WAR M WI S H ES Happy Holiday s Warm Wishes From our family to yours, wishing you a double dose of health and happiness topped with good for tune. May the joys of the Holiday Season be with you now and throughout the New Year. 2111 Exchange Street, Astoria, Oregon 97103 503.325.4321 | columbiamemorial.org