Feds to send team to aid Montauk fishermen

The U.S. Commerce Department has agreed to send an economic development team to Montauk in April as part of a program to help fishing communities navigate difficult economic and regulatory climates.

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said the decision to include Montauk came after pressure he put on the federal agency.

The economic development team, assembled through the Economic Development Administration, will spend two days in Montauk meeting with local businesses, community leaders and fishermen about the "challenges and opportunities they currently face," Schumer's office said Wednesday.

The team is made up of 10 staffers from the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency. It will compile a report identifying "unique challenges" faced by the Long Island fishing industry and help to identify best economic practices for the region.

The group will travel to other eastern fishing ports, including New Bedford and Gloucester, Mass., Port Judith, R.I., Portland, Maine, and Seabrook, N.H.

In a statement, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, "This is a very good step and it appears that Commerce is finally starting to listen. They will get an earful from Long Island's besieged fishing community regarding overly stringent, non-science based regulations that keep them from earning a living, as well as arbitrary, punitive enforcement."

The key, Schumer said, will be to "ensure that the Commerce Department fully reviews the findings that come from the report and then acts upon them to provide our local industry with much needed relief."