Saving Seafood

KENNEDY: COVID-19 PACKAGE MUST PUT ESSENTIAL WORKERS & LOW-INCOME FAMILIES IN MASSACHUSETTS FIRST

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-MA):

Guided by conversations with constituents and local leaders across Massachusetts, Congressman Joe Kennedy III today called on Congressional Leadership to put essential and frontline workers, and low-income families first in the next COVID-19 emergency funding package. In a series of letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader Mitch McConnell, Kennedy demanded the inclusion of specific funding for firefighters, teachers, child care providers, postal workers and fisheries, as well as billions more for programs protecting low-income families, including more than $1.5 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and $2.5 billion for the Legal Services Corporation. Building on his recent calls with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal to guarantee Medicare coverage to all recently unemployed people and direct funding to food insecure and environmental justice areas, Kennedy has continuously led efforts to focus recovery efforts on the most vulnerable communities.

“Working families have been hit hardest by this pandemic. They can’t just be a consideration in our efforts to recover and rebuild, they must be at the heart of the actions we take, policies we write and relief we provide. By intentionally providing funding for firefighters, teachers, child care providers and postal workers, we can support the people on the frontlines of this pandemic with more than just words of gratitude. By offering relief to fisheries, we can support the fishermen and fisherwomen who keep our Commonwealth’s economic lifeblood alive along the coast. By investing in the Legal Services Corporation and LIHEAP, we can help families keep their homes and their heat as we brace for the fall and winter, and the potential of another wave of infections.

“Now is not the time to shy away or to allow hypocritical Republicans to hide behind fake concerns about the debt, we need to be big and bold. Our people deserve nothing less.”

In his series of letters to Congressional leaders, Kennedy called for the inclusion of at least:

Massachusetts Begins Distribution Process of CARES Act Funds to Fishing, Seafood Industries

August 5, 2020 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries announced on Tuesday that they have begun the process of distributing federal disaster relief aid related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The CARES Act was passed in March with $300 million earmarked for the  fisheries assistance fund. However, at the time of the announcement, there had been no agency named to oversee the disbursement of the fund. Frustrated with the situation, fishermen wrote to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asking that the Department of Commerce and NOAA “clearly articulate their distribution process for the $300 million in fisheries assistance funds to ensure it is public and transparent.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Louisiana seafood industry says adequate federal help is needed as the pandemic persists

August 4, 2020 — People working in Louisiana’s seafood industry and their advocates hope Congress treats fishermen better when it passes the latest COVID-19 aid package.

The pandemic is crushing restaurants and by extension the local seafood industry.

Pete Gerica is a longtime commercial fisherman.

“Your in-town sales, your sales out of state and all that, everything is at a standstill basically,” said Gerica.

Because of rising cases of the deadly virus Louisiana restaurants have mandated capacity limits.

“Everything is at a standstill basically with everybody with 25, 45, 50 percent of their sales and all of the wholesalers and retailers that we deal with directly they’re all having a rough go of it just like we are,” Gerica stated.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser works with the seafood industry.

Read the full story at WAFB

ALASKA: Pandemic pushes fishing activists to call for more government support

July 30, 2020 — Before this year’s salmon season, federal disaster funding was mostly unavailable to small-boat fishing businesses. Then, Congress amended the Paycheck Protection Program at the beginning of July so that fishermen could apply. A little later, it extended the program’s application deadline until August 8.

That was a big relief for many fishermen in Alaska.

“My family and I are salmon fishermen,” said Jamie O’Connor, a Bristol Bay set-netter who fishes in Ekuk and serves as the Working Waterfronts director for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. “It was really difficult for us to quantify our impacts before our season had happened, so we were really happy to see that there had been an extension and some alterations to the program to allow us to participate.”

At the peak of this year’s sockeye run, O’Connor’s processor put the fleet on limits — the company, and many others in Bristol Bay, told fishermen not to fish due to freezer and capacity issues.

“We missed probably half to a third of our season in those three days,” O’Connor said. “It was a hard thing to sit through, especially with all of the effort that went into preparing for this season. To have done more on the front end to make sure we could do this safely and then just sit out the run was crushing.”

Read the full story at KTOO

New COVID-19 relief bill could help US seafood suppliers get paid

July 30, 2020 — Proposals for the next U.S. COVID-19 stimulus package are now being workshopped in the U.S. Senate, with food industry groups calling for changes and holding out hope that seafood suppliers will see reimbursement for unpaid invoices from foodservice buyers.

Legislators are negotiating several provisions of the “Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection and Schools (HEALS) Act,” HEALS Act, and the National Fisheries Institute, the U.S. seafood trade lobby, is optimistic that it will end up benefitting the seafood industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Maine lobstermen prepare for uncertain summer season, hoping for further federal relief

July 28, 2020 — More than 1,300 lobstermen in Maine – about 1 in 3 – received forgivable loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), with the majority amounting to roughly $10,900.

It may not be enough to sustain fishermen through an already uncertain summer amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, told the Portland Press Herald.

“A lot of people got very small loans that helped in the short term, at the start of the crisis, but now the crisis is dragging on and lobstering season hasn’t even really started,” Martens said.

New data from the U.S. Small Business Administration shows that altogether, Maine’s lobster industry received roughly $24 million in PPP funding, the most given to any business concern in the state; dine-in restaurants, beauty salons, real estate, and home building received the next highest amounts.

While the bulk of the fishing sector money – nearly $15 million – went to fishermen, some dealers, retailers and processors received loans between $150,000 and $1 million.

Read the full story at The Center Square

PPP loans helped buoy Maine’s lobster industry through the spring

July 22, 2020 — Maine lobster businesses, both large and small, received emergency funding through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program to help them survive the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus’ global spread this spring.

The lobstering sector was the top recipient in Maine of forgivable PPP loans of less than USD 150,000 (EUR 130,000), with around USD 14.9 million (EUR 12.9 million) offered to 1,358 Maine lobstermen, according to the Portland Press Herald. But the average loan to lobster fishermen was USD 10,900 (EUR 9,400) each, a total that won’t help many survive the season if low dock prices and weak export markets continue, according to Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

1 in 3 Maine lobstermen lands federal pandemic loan

July 20, 2020 — Maine lobstermen reeled in more small federal emergency loans under the Paycheck Protection Program than members of any other industry in Maine, with about one out of every three commercial lobstermen landing one, but the average loan was barely large enough to cover a month’s worth of bait at the height of the summer fishing season.

About $14.9 million in forgivable Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, loans of less than $150,000 have been handed out to 1,358 Maine lobstermen, according to an analysis of newly released U.S. Small Business Administration data. That puts lobstermen ahead of full-service restaurants, real estate offices, beauty salons and home builders, which rounded out the top five Maine industries receiving small PPP loans.

But the high participation rate didn’t net Maine lobstermen a lot of money, with the average small PPP loan to lobster fishermen working out to be just $10,900 each, data show. By comparison, full-service restaurants got $53,500. Home builders, $30,000. It didn’t get better when the loans got bigger: Only two lobstering companies got large loans of more than $150,000.

“A lot of people got very small loans that helped in the short term, at the start of the crisis, but now the crisis is dragging on and lobstering season hasn’t even really started,” said Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association. “Ten grand is nice if you’re struggling, but not enough if you’re suffering.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

MASSACHUSETTS: Markey touts $15 million he steered to New Bedford’s North Terminal

July 20, 2020 — Senator Ed Markey brought his senatorial campaign to New Bedford Friday afternoon, touting his efforts to secure waterfront infrastructure and fisheries disaster assistance funding for the city.

Markey made the stop in the Whaling City as part of the launch of his statewide bus tour, the “Leads and Delivers Tour,” designed to spotlight the accomplishments the senator says he has made for the state on Capitol Hill. The focus of the stop at City Pier 3 was highlighting the $15.4 million in Department of Transportation funding to improve the New Bedford port’s infrastructure and the $28 million in fisheries disaster assistance from the CARES Act that Markey says he advocated for.

“In the last few months, COVID-19 has transformed our cities and towns across Massachusetts as many of our small businesses have been forced to close or turn to online sales. Usually bustling Main Streets are quiet as our residents choose to safely practice social distancing. Beaches and parks have emptied, and many cities and towns are unrecognizable,” said Markey, who described how the economic impact of COVID-19 has squeezed New Bedford’s fishing industry.

“With restaurants shut down, the fishing community has lost a major consumer. Despite this lack of income, these fishermen must still put food on the table at the end of the day, find a way to cover their boat costs and search for ways to make ends meet,” he said “These brave men and women need to feel like their government has their back, and that’s why I fought so hard in the CARES Act to include a historic $20 million U.S. Department of Agriculture procurement of Atlantic Seafood.”

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Chair Huffman Seeks Answers on NOAA’s Response to COVID-19 Pandemic

July 16, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA):

Today, Representative Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), Chair of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife, sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requesting further information on NOAA’s plans to address COVID-19 impacts on fisheries management, NOAA staff, the fishing industry, and members of the public. The letter was addressed to Dr. Neil Jacobs, the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

“These unprecedented conditions will persist into next year and possibly later, and it is your responsibility to respond and react to the ongoing challenges appropriately,” Rep. Huffman states in the letter. “Now, more than ever, it is critical that our federal agencies are adaptive, transparent, and focused on keeping their workforce safe and addressing the real needs of the public that they serve.”
 
The letter outlines requests for further information on four specific items, including:
  1. Communications and Guidance: the agency has developed guidance to avoid using words related to the pandemic, such as COVID.
    • Who developed the internal guidance and what was the basis of these options, particularly the ‘preferred approach’? Was there input from public health experts and career staff?
    • Even if, as claimed, NOAA developed this guidance to ensure consistency in communications, what is the purpose of limiting references to the ongoing pandemic?
    • Does the agency plan to continue using this internal guidance document?
  2. Fisheries Surveys: due to health risks, several surveys have been cancelled this summer.
    • What was the decision-making process used to cancel these surveys? What public health information is the agency using to evaluate risks to NOAA employees?
    • What additional technologies, staffing models, or new cooperative research could be used to fill this gap in the near term, and if necessary, in future years? What tools does NOAA have at its disposal now, and what would require outyear planning?
    • Is there a way to involve fishermen to collect part of this missing survey data?
    • How will these cancelled surveys impact fisheries management?
  3. Waivers for Observer Requirements: waivers have been granted to regions on a case by case basis, which has required some to accept more health risks than others.
    • What is the justification for extending observer waivers in some regions but not others? Do waivers consider the recent significant increase in cases throughout the country?
    • Does the agency plan to continue using its current guidelines for observer waivers? If the guidelines are updated, will there be opportunities for stakeholder input?
    • Given that regions like the Pacific have a strong pattern of compliance and currently have an experimental electronic monitoring (EM) program, has the agency considered the use of EM when evaluating observer waivers?
    • How does the agency plan to advance the use of EM, which would be especially valuable in these types of circumstances, when human observers pose health risks and are putting themselves at risk due to the limited space onboard fishing vessels?
  4. Status of CARES Act Fisheries Relief Funding: the $300 million appropriated by Congress has yet to reach anyone who has been impacted.
    • What is the status of the relief funding?
    • How long does NOAA expect to take to review and approve state spend plans? How long does NOAA expect to take to distribute funds once plans are approved?
A copy of the full letter can be found here.