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Article updated: 1/6/2013 11:00 AM

Fishermen hoping for help with Sandy storm losses

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Joe Branin, manager of the Belford Seafood Co-op in Midletown N.J., walks across sand where the commercial fishing port's dock used to be before Superstorm Sandy destroyed it, leaving only rows of support pilings. The port sustained nearly $1 million in damages from the storm, some of which its owners hope to recoup through federal storm aid.

Associated Press

The roof of a destroyed building at the Belford fishing port in Middletown N.J., sits next to a dock.

Associated Press

A fishing boat named "Empty Pockets" seems oddly prophetic as it sits in a parking lot in the Belford fishing port in Middletown, N.J.

Associated Press

Fishing boats lie smashed against one another from Superstorm Sandy at the Belford fishing port in Middletown N.J.

Associated Press

A fishing boat returns to the damaged Belford port in Middletown N.J. The port sustained nearly $1 million in damages from Superstorm Sandy, some of which its owners hope to recoup through federal storm aid.

Associated Press

About this Article

While Superstorm Sandy did highly visible damage to homes, boardwalks and roads, it also walloped the Northeastern fishing industry, whose workers are hoping for a small piece of any future disaster assistance that Congress might approve. The storm did millions of dollars' worth of damage to docks, fish processing plants and restaurants. But it also caused millions more in lost wages to boat employees who couldn't work for two to three weeks, to truck drivers who had nothing to transport, and to other assorted industries that service commercial fishing.