The Gulf Coast Seafood Alliance is a diverse group of restaurants, fishermen, and seafood dealers tied to the Gulf’s vast fishing economy. The Alliance was founded in 2017 by a wholesaler and a restaurant owner with the goal of uniting fishermen, fish markets, and restaurants along the Gulf Coast to protect commercial gulf fisheries and ensure access to them by stakeholders that rely on the fisheries. Since its inception, the Alliance has grown to include additional wholesalers and restaurant owners who represent the entire value chain dedicated to serving wild-caught commercially-harvested Gulf seafood.
By joining the Alliance, you will join in our advocacy to protect the livelihoods of Gulf fishermen, restaurateurs, and those that rely on our domestic seafood industry.
The Alliance works with Stove Boat Communications in Washington, DC, which created and operates Saving Seafood, the leading voice for commercial fishermen, their families, and their communities. We are a member of the Saving Seafood Coalition with membership across the nation from New England to Hawaii.
The Alliance provides issue-specific outreach to lawmakers and regulators at both the federal and local levels, as well as education for consumers. Our Alliance members have been featured in industry and general press, as well as inside-the-beltway publications aimed at lawmakers and regulators.
- Our efforts with Saving Seafood were pivotal in working with Congress to roll out COVID relief for fisheries and related industries.
- We worked with the White House and Treasury Department to modify the Paycheck Protection Plan to include fishing vessels whose payrolls to fishermen via Form 1099 were initially excluded.
- We successfully partnered with Florida officials in our ‘Eat ‘Em to Beat ‘Em’ lionfish eradication campaign.
- We participated in NOAA’s annual “Fish Fry” at the Commerce Department in Washington, DC every year until it was suspended due to the pandemic.
- Presently we are tackling the attempt by Gulf Council Amendment 53 to reallocate red grouper from commercial to recreational fisheries.
Our effort in opposition to Amendment 53 is one of our most ambitious projects yet to maintain access to fisheries for the processors, distributors, restaurants and markets of the Gulf Coast. With a significant financial contribution from an existing GCSA member, we have begun undertaking an aggressive response to the Council Amendment.
We assembled a team of well-known experts who analyzed Amendment 53, and found significant problems, from three perspectives:
- Process: flaws in the processes and procedures undertaken by the Council that led to its adoption
- Economic: inadequacies and inaccuracies in the Economic and Environmental studies conducted
- Legal: the legal precedents that would be violated by implementation of the Amendment
We have submitted our analysis as public comments. A significant number of notable industry and environmental organizations have joined us in opposition. Of the 178 public comments, 82% opposed the Amendment and only 10% were in favor of the Amendment.
Next, we will begin to conduct Press, Congressional, Administration, and Agency outreach and will continue until a Secretarial decision is announced.
We will take a four-pronged approach to the overall communications strategy for the opposition to Amendment 53, and in all of these we will note the widespread agreement with our findings:
- Press Coverage
- Outreach to Congress
- Outreach to NOAA/Department of Commerce
- Coalition development and outreach to other opposing groups
To close the gap between what has already been contributed and what we need to finish the work, we are embarking on a Membership Drive. In the near term, funds from additional membership will be used to complete the work on Amendment 53, and in the long term, the larger membership will be used to continue the effort to always hold Gulf Council actions to scientific, procedural, economic and legal scrutiny.
Please read our complete Scope of Work describing the next steps to oppose Amendment 53.
Membership levels are:
$1000 / month… Processors, Fish Houses, Large Restaurant Groups
$750 / month…… Mid-Sized Restaurant Groups (5-10)
$500 / month…… Single Restaurants / Small Restaurant Groups (1-5 locations)
Visit our Membership Sign-Up Page here:
The Gulf feeds America.
Equitable and sustainable access to the fishery must maintained.