State Rep. Ann Margaret Ferrante, D-Gloucester, said the trade wars are hurting not just lobstermen but other sectors of the seafood industry connected to it, such as processors, wholesalers, supermarkets and restaurants.
“The lobster is commodity that feeds a chain of industries,” she said. “You’re talking about a supply chain of about five industries that are going to take a serious hit.”
Ferrante said the state needs to find a way to help the struggling lobster industry weather the impact of the trade war.
“If the bio-tech industry came here today and said, ‘Hey, guess what, people put a 40% tariff on us,’ we would be scrambling in this building to figure out what to do,” she said.