Saving Seafood

Biden-Harris Administration invests $3.9 million for Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators through Investing in America agenda

February 24, 2024 — Read the full release at NOAA Fisheries:

The Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerator program will invest in a network of novel business accelerators, which are organizations that support the development of innovative early to mid-stage small businesses through training, resources, mentorship and often seed funding, aimed at bringing products to market. Once operational, these accelerators will support businesses developing ocean observation technologies and information services, such as forecasts and digital apps, to enhance climate resilience.

“The impacts of climate change are visible in communities across America every day,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This ocean-based accelerator program connects the government, the private sector, academia, tribes and stakeholders to innovate and produce new ocean, coastal and Great Lakes technologies at a pace that supports the urgent need for resilience nationwide.”

The program is structured in two phases: design and development. The Phase 1 awards announced today provide approximately $250,000 in development funding to each of the 16 proposed business accelerators, equaling a total investment of $3.9 million.

Alaska

  • Alaska Oceans 2075: Accelerating a Resilient Future, Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation, $249,540.

California

  • Activate Oceans Fellowship, ACTIVATE GLOBAL Inc., $202,431.
  • StartBlue Climate Ocean Resilience Accelerator Launchpad (CORAL), University of California San Diego, $250,000.

Florida

  • Catching the Blue Wave: Accelerating America’s Ocean Economy, Tampa Bay Wave, Inc., $250,000.
  • The Upwell Collaborative Accelerator, Seaworthy Collective, $249,848.

Hawaii

  • HITIDE Studio: Guiding the Commercialization Voyage of Ocean-Based Climate Resilient Technologies, University of Hawaii, $250,000.

Louisiana

  • CLIMATEx Accelerator Program, The Idea Village, Inc., $250,000.

Maine

  • OceanVista: Advancing Ocean Data for Climate Resilience, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, $250,000.

Massachusetts

  • VentureWell Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerator, VentureWell, $249,810.
  • Accelerating Climate & Ocean Resilience with Bluetech Innovation, SeaAhead, Inc., $249,299.
  • Accelerating Resilience: Linking Research, Industry, and the Public Across the Value Chain, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, $225,480.

New York

  • The National Ocean Renewable Power Accelerator – Ocean RePower, National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium, $249,991.

Virginia

  • OpenSeas Data Accelerator, Old Dominion University Research Foundation, $249,816.
  • NOAA Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerator, FedTech, $176,799 (full recommended funding: $249,844).

Washington

  • Washington Maritime Blue Ventures for Ocean-based Climate Solutions, Washington Maritime Blue, $248,403.

Wisconsin

  • Great Lakes Resilience Accelerator, gener8tor Management, LLC, $250,000.

Later this month, all Phase 1 awardees will be invited to apply to Phase 2 of the Ocean-based Climate Resilience Accelerators program, which will award up to a total of $55 million for the implementation of up to five proposed accelerators.

Visit NOAA’s Inflation Reduction Act website to learn about current and future funding opportunities.

 

 

Media contact

Kimberly Rodgers, kim.rodgers@noaa.gov, (771) 233-3988.

Lawmakers press for investigation into forced labor in seafood supply chains

February 20, 2024 — A group of bipartisan lawmakers are asking the Biden administration to investigate forced labor allegations in seafood supply chains in China.

The group is led by California Reps. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and Michelle Steel (R-Calif.).

They wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and acting U.S. Customs and Border Protections Commissioner Troy Miller to urge them to evaluate the supply chain’s alleged force labor ahead of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference next week.

Read the full article at The Hill

US lawmakers call on Biden administration to impose Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese companies

February 16, 2024 — A group of U.S. lawmakers has called on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen to impose Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (GloMag) sanctions on Chinese companies named in the October 2023 Outlaw Ocean Project report on forced labor in Chinese processing facilities.

U.S. representatives Jared Huffman, Mike Gallagher, Raul Grijalva, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Betty McCollum, James Moylan, Josh Gottheimer, Jill Tokuda, Marry Peltola, Julia Brownley, and Delia Ramirez all signed the letter, which urged the executive branch of the federal government to impose sanctions on the Chinese companies.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

100 chefs call on Biden to expand Seafood Import Monitoring Program

January 29, 2024 — More than 100 chefs have signed a letter organized by nonprofit Oceana calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), which imposes traceability requirements on some seafood species to prevent illegal fishing.

SIMP currently covers just 13 species or species groups, but many fishery observers and lawmakers have called on the program to expand.

Read the full article at the SeafoodSource

Biden administration issues new guidance closing gaps in expanded ban on Russian products

January 21, 2o24 — The U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued new guidance that closes gaps in pollock tariff categories that were left open in a recent Biden administration order expanding a ban on seafood of Russian origin.

On 22 December 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that expanded a U.S. ban on Russian seafood that includes imports of products that originated in Russia and were then processed in third countries, including China. The ban explicitly targets salmon, cod, pollock, and crab harvested by Russia, but prior guidance from the U.S. Department of the Treasury indicated only three pollock HTS category codes for pollock were included in the ban.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden administration announces USD 10 million contract for right whale-protection technology

January 11, 2024 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a USD 10 million (EUR 9.1 million) contract to the Center for Enterprise Modernization to develop technologies that can help protect endangered North Atlantic right whales.

“NOAA and its partners are working to stabilize the North Atlantic right whale population and prevent extinction of this species,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said. “This partnership, made possible by funding from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, will allow us to develop and explore new technologies and tools to address the North Atlantic right whale crisis.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Offshore wind faces more financial turbulence in 2024

January 8, 2024 — The offshore wind industry is hoping for new momentum in 2024 to counter the broken contracts, canceled wind farms and missed targets characterizing its last 18 months.

While experts say the nascent industry is getting back on its feet after being thrashed by inflationary costs and an immature supply chain after the pandemic, the enormous scale of building a new U.S. renewable sector from scratch still poses significant challenges that could stall a key plank of President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

“There is an adjustment going on in the industry that I read very clearly as we’re trying to build an industry for which we have no supply chain,” said Eric Hines, an engineering professor at Tufts University who studies the offshore wind industry. “Our demand has outstripped not only the U.S. supply chain but the global supply chain.”

The obstacles are coming to a head as Biden faces a tough election year and is aiming to prove his climate bona fides to needed voters on the left, some of whom have criticized the administration for not meeting 2020 campaign promises such as ending new oil drilling on public lands.

The Interior Department has 10 months to deliver on other White House offshore wind promises before Election Day, including pledges to approve 16 wind arrays by 2025 and hold lease sales in areas like the Gulf of Maine.

But optimism for the industry is growing as inflation eases and interest rates trend downward. Also, states have boosted enthusiasm by seeking contracts for a whopping 14 gigawatts of offshore wind power despite the harsh economic realities that have pushed up prices to build wind farms.

“I think the headlines are different for 2024,” said Theodore Paradise, an energy attorney at K&L Gates. “We’ve got better contracts, we’ve got better timelines, we’ve got a better sense of the supply chain.”

With the administration and industry set to make decisions in coming months that will drive the industry’s future, here are three issues to watch with offshore wind in 2024:

Read the full article at E&E News

Biden signs Port Infrastructure Development Program revision into law

January 7, 2024 — U.S President Joe Biden has signed into law a clarification of the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) that will ensure projects supporting commercial fishing operations can access funding under that program.

The PIDP is a federal program that provides grants to port authorities, states, and local governments for port-related infrastructure projects; however, vague language left it unclear whether PIDP grants could be awarded to commercial fishing projects.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Biden unveils environmental justice strategy for ocean communities

January 4, 2023 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled an environmental justice strategy focused on communities dependent on the ocean or marine resources during the United Nations’ Conference of Parties in December 2023.

The federal strategy outlines overarching goals for advancing environmental justice for communities relying “on the ocean and Great Lakes for economic, cultural, spiritual, recreational, and food security purposes.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Offshore wind in the U.S. hit headwinds in 2023. Here’s what you need to know

December 27, 2023 — There’s a lot riding on the nascent U.S. offshore wind industry: the ability to tap into a huge source of clean energy and reduce carbon emissions, the opportunity to create thousands of jobs, the unique chance to jumpstart a new domestic manufacturing industry.

For these reasons, President Biden has made the success of the industry a pillar of his climate agenda. His administration has set an ambitious target of getting 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind power flowing into the grid by 2030, which is enough electricity to power 10 million homes.

Read the full article at wbur