Saving Seafood

Feds in Last-Minute Move OK Fishing Boat Owners for COVID Loans

June 29, 2020 — The Small Business Administration announced Thursday that owners of commercial fishing vessels are now eligible to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans — giving them only three business days to get their paperwork in before the program expires at the end of the month.

The PPP program was designed to let small business owners keep workers on payroll during the COVID-19 pandemic. The loans can be fully forgivable if the recipient uses at least 60 percent of the funding to pay workers.

Advocates for the fisheries on Friday praised the move from the SBA while encouraging fishing boat owners to hustle on down to their local banks to get their applications in. All PPP loans must be approved no later than than June 30.

“We’re hearing that many banks stopped taking PPP loan applications on Friday,” said National Coalition for Fishing Communities Executive Director Robert Vanasse. “With this news from the SBA, we hope that local banks will extend that window until Tuesday.”

Read the full story at WBSM

Statement from Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities Executive Director Robert Vanasse on Changes to the Paycheck Protection Program

June 29, 2020 — The following was released by the National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Our fishing coalition members are grateful for today’s modifications to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which will finally allow most vessel owners to take part in the program and will help save industry jobs. As fishermen deal with the ongoing changes to the industry caused by the COVID-19 crisis, these protections will help support livelihoods and ensure that our fishing communities remain strong.

We would like to thank President Donald Trump and members of his Administration, Secretary Wilbur Ross and the staff of the Department of Commerce, Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the staff of the Department of the Treasury, and Administrator Jovita Carranza and the staff of the Small Business Administration for their efforts in making changes to the program, and for helping to make sure that the PPP is available to as many American businesses as possible.

America’s fishing industry has been a foundation of not just the culture of our coastal communities, but of the US economy as well. Commercial fishing communities span the nation, from Hawaii and the Pacific territories, to Alaska, to the Pacific Northwest, the West Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the East Coast.

The National Coalition for Fishing Communities gives voice to the numerous communities — municipalities, fishermen, shore-side businesses, processors, retailers, and many others — that make up America’s seafood industry. Our members represent tens of thousands of fishermen across the nation.  Neither we nor our members accept financial support  from environmental organizations or their funders.

Environmental groups sue Trump, saying he can’t open marine monument to fishing

June 18, 2020 — Environmental groups are suing President Trump over a decision to open a national marine monument off the coast of southern New England to commercial fishing, arguing the president’s proclamation violates federal law.

The president announced the decision during a June 5 visit to Maine.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., says that under the U.S. Antiquities Act a president can only create protections for national monuments and does not have the right to remove them – only Congress can.

In a statement Wednesday, Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities, a fishing industry advocacy group, noted that the proclamation will still require commercial fishing to be managed under the Magunson-Stevens Act, a federal law governing marine fisheries, and does not modify the monument in any other way.

“(The Conservation Law Foundation) argues that President Trump’s modification of the monument created by President Obama is illegal,” Vanasse said. “But President Obama exercised the power to modify monuments created by his predecessors to expand Pacific marine monuments created by President Bush.

“It would seem that CLF’s position is that it is legal for a president to modify monuments created by a predecessor when CLF agrees with the modification, but illegal when CLF disagrees with the modification.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

NCFC Executive Director Bob Vanasse Responds to CLF Lawsuit Over Restoring Commercial Fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument

June 17, 2020 – The following was written by Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities, in response to CLF’s announcement that it is filing suit over a presidential proclamation restoring commercial fishing in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument:

The creation of an Atlantic Marine monument without appropriate stakeholder consultation has been a centerpiece of the Conservation Law Foundation’s (CLF) political agenda for over five years.

In 2015, a public records request filed by Saving Seafood revealed emails showing that the CLF was working with the Center For American Progress, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Earth Justice, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the National Geographic Society in an attempt to convince President Obama to announce the monument plan at the Our Ocean Conference in Chile in October 2015. In the emails, CLF’s Peter Shelley wrote, “I hope no one is talking about Chile to the outside world. It’s one of the few advantages we may have to know that it could happen sooner rather than later.” The email discussion included Monica Medina, who had served as Principal Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere during President Obama’s first term.

In a subsequent interview with E&E News, Mr. Shelley made clear that the effort was aimed at getting the monument proclaimed before the fishing industry could fully engage in the public process. “The time was pretty short to pull it off. We thought there might be an opportunity we could get them to think about these areas for an announcement in conjunction with the Our Ocean Conference,” Mr. Shelley said. “We were trying to keep that quiet because we didn’t want to give the opposition more of an advantage. The more time they had, the more opportunity they would have to lobby, to fight it, to organize against it.”

The inclusion of prohibitions against commercial fishing was controversial throughout the process of creating the monument. A NOAA internal document in 2015 noted that the Atlantic deep-sea red crab and commercial and recreational pelagic fisheries for highly migratory species “have a substantial portion of their landings from within the proposed area.” The same document noted that “any designation within the jurisdiction of the New England or Mid Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, as well as the Secretary of Commerce as delegated to NMFS/HMS Management Division, that restricts fishing activities will be seen as usurping their authorities. These processes are rigorous and provide for significant public input which this process does not.”

Managing commercial fishing sustainably under the Magnuson-Stevens Act is not controversial. CLF falsely states that President Trump “eliminated critical natural resource protections” in the monument. In fact, the Presidential proclamation explicitly states that commercial fishing inside the monument will be managed under Magnuson-Stevens. The proclamation “does not modify the monument in any other respect.”

On the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of Magnuson-Stevens in 2016, CLF praised fisheries management under the Act, stating that Magnuson-Stevens is “the primary reason why the United States can say that it has the most sustainable fisheries in the world,” and “it has traditionally represented a bipartisan effort toward responsible management of our fishery resources, economically and environmentally.”

CLF was correct in noting that fisheries management has traditionally been bipartisan, and opposition to the prohibition of commercial fishing inside the monument was not a partisan issue. The commercial fishing industry is deeply grateful to Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey for the work he did with the Obama White House to ensure that the offshore lobster industry and the red crab industry – the first Atlantic fishery to be certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council – received a seven-year moratorium before fishing for those species inside the monument would have been prohibited. It is because of Senator Markey’s efforts that those sustainable fisheries have been preserved. Senator Elizabeth Warren has also been a longtime champion of fisheries management under the successful Magnuson-Stevens Act.

CLF argues that President Trump’s modification of the monument created by President Obama is illegal. But President Obama exercised the power to modify monuments created by his predecessors to expand Pacific marine monuments created by President Bush. It would seem that CLF’s position is that it is legal for a president to modify monuments created by a predecessor when CLF agrees with the modification, but illegal when CLF disagrees with the modification.

CLF President Brad Campbell states that President Trump’s action puts “national monuments on the block for the highest political bidder.” The record is clear that the highest political bidder during the Obama years was the environmental community. That is why environmentalists succeeded in including a prohibition against commercial fisheries in President Obama’s monument proclamation, but not against their friends in recreational fishing. If Mr. Campbell is interested in finding the historical “highest political bidder” on the designation of marine monuments, he should look in his own office.

The environmental community had ample opportunity to create a protected area using the Marine Sanctuaries Act, and they have actively worked with both the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the New England Fishery Management Council on actions to protect those areas under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  But, as NOAA noted, those “processes are rigorous and provide for significant public input.” Instead, they chose the politically expedient route, and used their contacts and clout in the Obama administration to circumvent the scientific and public process. What they are now discovering is that what one president might create with the stroke of a pen, another president might take away.

Saving Seafood Coalition Members Applaud Proclamation Restoring Commercial Fishing to Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument

June 5, 2020 — WASHINGTON — Members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities thank President Trump for the presidential proclamation signed today restoring sustainable commercial fishing activities in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. Our members are grateful to elected officials from both parties, White House staff, and fisheries managers who have pushed for our fisheries to be managed under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and who have advocated for commercial fishermen to be fully included in the regulatory processes that shape their livelihoods.

Under the proclamation, a revision to President Barack Obama’s executive order designating the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument, the contours of the monument remain unchanged, and potentially destructive oil drilling and exploration remains banned. But commercial fishermen are now allowed to resume fishing in waters they had fished for decades before the monument was created, in areas that President Obama and others called “pristine” even before commercial fishermen were banned from them. It also restores parity with recreational fishermen, who were never prohibited from fishing in the monument area.

Our members believe in robust debate among industry, scientists, regulators and environmentalists to produce the best decisions regarding fisheries management. While it is not perfect, the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing U.S. federal fisheries, has been championed by both industry and environmental advocates for helping to make U.S. fisheries a sustainable model for the world. Today’s revision restores management of fisheries within the monument area to the regional management councils created under the Magnuson-Stevens Act, once again allowing for the robust debate such impactful policy decisions demand.

In April 2010, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum establishing the “America’s Great Outdoors Initiative” to “promote and support innovative community-level efforts to conserve outdoor spaces and to reconnect Americans to the outdoors.” In the ensuing report the administration pledged to implement “a transparent and open approach to new national monument designations tailored to engaging local, state, and national interests.” Unfortunately, the Obama Administration did not uphold President Obama’s pledge in the creation of the Atlantic marine monument, or in the expansion of Pacific marine monuments.

In a 2017 letter to President Trump asking him to restore fishing in marine national monuments, then-Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Representative Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-AS) wrote, “Removal of the fishing prohibitions in the monument proclamations and the return of U.S. fisheries management to the Regional Fishery Management Councils would continue to prevent overfishing and protect the marine environment as required by the MSA and other applicable laws, while allowing our fishing fleet to compete with their foreign competitors. Using the Antiquities Act to close U.S. waters to domestic fisheries is a clear example of federal overreach and regulatory duplication and obstructs well managed, sustainable U.S. fishing industries in favor of their foreign counterparts.”

The nation’s eight regional councils have also repeatedly pushed for management of fishing in marine national monuments to be returned to the council process. Just last week in a letter to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, they wrote, “The ban on commercial fishing within Marine National Monument waters is a regulatory burden on domestic fisheries, requiring many of the affected American fishermen to travel outside U.S. waters with increased operational expenses and higher safety-at-sea risks.” They further stated, “marine National Monument designations in their present form hinder the Councils’ ability to sustainably manage fisheries throughout their range, and they restrict the Councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service from acquiring invaluable knowledge about the stocks and the marine ecosystem made available through catch-and-effort and observer data.”

Mayor Jon Mitchell of New Bedford, Massachusetts, the nation’s top fishing port by value, a Democrat, expressed deep concern about the lack of broad stakeholder consensus in the monument designation, and expressed his preference for the council process. In testimony before Congress in 2017, he said, “The monument designation process has evolved effectively into a parallel, much less robust fishery management apparatus that has been conducted entirely independent of the tried and true fishery management council process. It lacks sufficient amounts of all the ingredients that good policy-making requires: Scientific rigor, direct industry input, transparency, and a deliberate pace that allows adequate time and space for review.”

The council process has led to many conservation successes, such as efforts to preserve coral habitats in the Mid-Atlantic. Most importantly, these conservation successes were achieved through robust debate among all stakeholders. Saving Seafood Coalition members are pleased that today’s proclamation will allow this robust debate to once again guide fisheries management in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument.

Coalition members also continue to believe that there is no difference in principle between the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Monument and other U.S. marine national monuments in the Pacific, and that the council process is the appropriate method for managing fisheries in all U.S. federal waters. The U.S. has the largest exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the world, and the U.S. Pacific is the largest part of the U.S. EEZ, with our Pacific fishermen working hard to provide economic vitality to their communities, and food security to our nation.

Our members look forward to working with the White House to restore the proper regulation of commercial fishing under the Magnuson-Stevens Act in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, and the Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.

Stimulus includes $300 million for fisheries and aquaculture

March 26, 2020 — A $300 million earmark in the Senate’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill passed late Wednesday, March 25, is slated for fisheries and aquaculture. It’s aimed at supporting independent operators who are not otherwise covered by agricultural disaster assistance programs.

The Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (or CARES) Act late Wednesday, March 25. It returns to the House of Representatives for a vote on Thursday, March 26. The bill is designed to stimulate the economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has led to widespread shutdowns intended to slow the spread of the virus.

The National Coalition for Fishing Communities made a statement thanking the industry for uniting in requesting help from federal legislators and also Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) for their quick action in speaking on behalf of the industry in a letter to Senate leaders.

“The speed with which the domestic seafood industry has come together to speak with one voice is unprecedented,” said Bob Vanasse, executive director of Saving Seafood, which organized the coalition. “There are many differences in our nation’s fisheries — geography, species, gear types and management — but today our fisheries are simultaneously diverse and unified. We look forward to working together across traditional industry lines, and with elected officials and administrators, to ensure the aid the federal government is providing will flow fairly and equitably across regions and fisheries.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Coronavirus NJ: Fishing coalition seeks $4B in federal aid to cover lost restaurant sales

March 26, 2020 — Commercial fishing industry members say they’re trying to stay afloat while the demand for fish dwindles as restaurants are reduced to take-out only amidst the coronavirus health crisis.

Saving Seafood, a national coalition of seafood harvesters that includes New Jersey members, is now turning to the federal government for $4 billion in financial help.

“We have to manage our expectations right now. This is a national issue and it’s not going to be solved in a day or two,” said Greg DiDomenico, executive director of the Garden State Seafood Association, a commercial trades group that’s also a part of the Saving Seafood national coalition.

The coalition reports that more than two-thirds of the $102.2 billion that consumers paid for U.S. fishery products in 2017 was spent at food service establishments, as opposed to home consumption.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

NCFC Thanks Senate for Support of American Businesses and Employees, and for $300 Million in Specific Fisheries Assistance

WASHINGTON – March 25, 2020 – The compromise COVID-19 stimulus package, negotiated by the U.S. Senate Republican and Democratic leadership with the White House and passed tonight by the Senate in a 96-0 vote, includes a number of provisions that will aid small business, and provides $300 million in assistance specifically for U.S. fisheries. This assistance will help fishermen around the country struggling due to shrinking demand and disappearing markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Tribal, subsistence, commercial, and charter fishermen, as well as aquaculture farmers, are all eligible for the disaster assistance.

This assistance is vitally needed. In 2017, more than two-thirds of the $102.2 billion spent on fishery products in the U.S. was spent at food service establishments, with less than one-third sold in retail outlets for home consumption. Thus, domestic commercial fisheries have been hit especially hard by the closures in the nation’s restaurant and hospitality industry.

Yesterday, members of Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities (NCFC) and fishing harvesters and processors from around the country made their needs known in letters to the White House and Congress. These needs include the designation of essential employee status for fishermen and processor staff, the promotion of American seafood, and direct and indirect financial relief, among many other suggestions.

“The speed with which the domestic seafood industry has come together to speak with one voice is unprecedented,” said Bob Vanasse, Saving Seafood’s Executive Director. “There are many differences in our nation’s fisheries – geography, species, gear types and management – but today our fisheries are simultaneously diverse and unified. We look forward to working together across traditional industry lines, and with elected officials and administrators, to ensure the aid the Federal Government is providing will flow fairly and equitably across regions and fisheries.”

The NCFC is especially grateful to Senators Ed Markey (D-MA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and their staffs, who previously wrote to Senate leadership calling for urgent support for the U.S. fishing industry. The NCFC would also like to thank Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Murkowski, Sullivan, and Susan Collins (R-ME) for their work on the language included in the bill.

Additionally, the NCFC commends the work of Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and coastal members of the committee, including Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Collins, Murkowski, Jack Reed (D-RI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Kennedy (R-LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

As this legislation moves to the House, NCFC members are encouraged to contact their representatives to support this fisheries assistance and thank their Senators who voted for its passage.

The specific language in the Senate bill passed today is:

ASSISTANCE TO FISHERY PARTICIPANTS
SEC. 12005.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to provide assistance to Tribal, subsistence, commercial, and charter fishery participants affected by the novel coronavirus (COVID–19), which may include direct relief payments.
(b) FISHERY PARTICIPANTS.—For the purposes of this section, ‘‘fishery participants’’ include Tribes, persons, fishing communities, aquaculture businesses not otherwise eligible for assistance under part 1416 of title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations for losses related to COVID–19, processors, or other fishery-related businesses, who have incurred, as a direct or indirect result of the coronavirus pandemic—
(1) economic revenue losses greater than 35 percent as compared to the prior 5-year average revenue; or
(2) any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial fisheries.
(c) ROLLING BASIS.—Funds may be awarded under this section on a rolling basis, and within a fishing season, to ensure rapid delivery of funds during the COVID–19 pandemic.
(d) APPROPRIATIONS.—In addition to funds that are otherwise made available to assist fishery participants under this Act, there are authorized to be appropriated, and there are appropriated, $300,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2021, to carry out this section, of which up to 2 percent may be used for administration and oversight activities.
(e) EMERGENCY REQUIREMENT.—The amount provided by this section is designated by the Congress as being for an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

U.S. Commercial Fishing Interests Describe COVID-19 Challenges; List Top Federal Aid Assistance Proposals

March 24, 2020 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by Saving Seafood’s National Coalition for Fishing Communities:

Late last week, Saving Seafood staff was asked by Congressional offices for comment and input from the Commercial Fishing Industry as to what is being experienced as a result of the disruption resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, and how Federal emergency economic assistance might be able to assist.

Over the weekend, Pacific Seafood took the initiative to work across industry lines to craft letters, which have now been sent to the President, House and Senate Leadership, and Cabinet Members, outlining bold action that can be taken to preserve the operating liquidity of the seafood production employers who provide and support domestic food infrastructure and the millions of jobs they support. An unprecedented outpouring of over 180 companies and organizations throughout the seafood industry participated in this effort. These letters address possible actions in Congress.

To respond to the Congressional requests, Saving Seafood reached out to our extensive network of commercial fishermen and related businesses on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, as well as Hawaii, for input on how COVID-19 has affected their businesses, and for recommendations on what they feel would be the best ways for the government to help. These efforts address possible actions at the local, state, and Federal levels, including both Congressional and Administration/Agency actions.

The fishing and seafood sectors are not homogeneous, and different regions and fisheries are experiencing different challenges; therefore, the forms of assistance described are intended to reflect both immediate pressures where prices have fallen, as well as longer term needs associated with securing future fishing vessel crew-members, and processing workforce.

We would like to express gratitude to Senators Ed Markey, Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan, and Elizabeth Warren and their staffs for communicating the needs and concerns of the seafood industry to Senate leadership. It is our hope that Congress will heed their request, and also recognize and take action to address the reality that our commercial fishing and seafood industries are highly diverse between regions. Additional assistance beyond what is outlined in today’s letters and this release may be needed to address broader near-term critical needs for some seafood producers. Domestic harvesting, production, processing, transportation, and promotion will all need federal assistance to ensure that we can provide a steady supply of healthy domestic seafood to US consumers during this time of crisis.

NOAA’s “Fisheries of the United States 2017” reported that more than 2/3 (68%) of the $102.2 billion that consumers spent on fishery products in 2017 is spent at food service establishments, with less than one-third sold in retail outlets for home consumption. Thus, the necessary closures in the nation’s hospitality and restaurant industry are having an outsized impact on domestic commercial fisheries.

While this effort focused on the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on commercial harvesters and processors, support businesses such as fuel, shipyards, gear manufacturers, etc. are also being impacted by a decline in commercial fishing.

The following is a summary of suggestions made by members of our industry.

  • Essential Employee Status – According to guidelines published by the Department of Homeland Security, those employed in fish harvesting and processing are considered “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” as they provide food to the nation. Fishermen and processor staff must also be designated as essential employees so that they would be able to continue operations during any potential shelter-in-place orders. These businesses must also have free and fast testing deployed locally for these essential workers, as testing is a necessary component of onboarding/crewing protocol to safely serve upcoming fishing and processing seasons.
  • Grant programs or stimulus to cover losses – In order to maintain domestic seafood supply chains and to ensure continued operations, many businesses in the commercial fishing industry need liquidity. These businesses feel that additional borrowing should be a last resort, as the duration of this crisis is unknown and many businesses are already overleveraged in an attempt to keep up with foreign markets, including Asia where their seafood industry is heavily subsidized. Loan forgiveness for loans used to maintain payroll, grants for maintenance to keep vessels in good working order, and low-interest loans to refinance existing debt would help.
  • Payment relief – In addition to direct payments, and forgivable loans, another suggestion that would allow companies to continue operations is the suspension of certain financial obligations such as utilities, real estate tax, and mortgages.
  • Government purchase of seafood – The government could increase seafood purchases for institutional use (i.e. prisons, hospitals, school lunch programs, etc.) as well as for distribution as food assistance. The purchases would provide much needed capital, ensure stable prices, allow companies to move stored inventory, and ensure continued operations. This would also ensure a stable supply of fresh, healthy food for those who are facing food shortages.
  • Payroll and Unemployment Assistance – Many businesses are concerned that when restaurants, hotels, and bars re-open they will face significant lag time before resuming operations if they are forced to lay off staff during this time. This lag would compound the financial difficulties they are already facing. They would like to be able to continue paying staff or assure them that unemployment payments will be available to quickly fill the gap so that their employees don’t seek work elsewhere. Additionally, many vessel crew members are considered self-employed and do not currently qualify for unemployment or paid leave, so relief efforts must also be extended to these workers.
  • Promote American Seafood – On an encouraging note, many businesses are seeing an increase in retail sales of seafood through grocery stores and markets. U.S. fisheries are among the best in the world and this is a perfect opportunity to promote consumption of sustainably caught domestic seafood. A “Buy American” campaign, with simple instructions, could go a long way to helping these businesses move their product and maintain revenue.
  • Visa Expediting – Many businesses rely on temporary, seasonal foreign labor for the harvesting and processing of seafood. Current travel restrictions and bureaucratic delays are limiting the number of essential workers available. When travel restrictions are reduced and retail businesses reopen, fishing operations need to be able to staff up as quickly as possible, including hiring essential workers with valid temporary, seasonal visas.
  • Federal Fisheries Disaster Action– Declaration of a Federal fisheries disaster opens up aid options including direct subsidies for struggling businesses and low interest loans. The Administration should expedite the OMB approval process of stakeholder “spend plans” for fishery disasters already declared and funded by Congress. There are currently plans sitting at OMB awaiting final approval and funding disbursements. The COVID situation has placed a more urgent need in coastal communities for these previously appropriated funds.
  • Supply chain access – Several fishing operations around the country sell their products overseas. They are requesting continued access to and cooperation from officials at ports, rail, and border crossings so that they can maintain their sales.
  • Stability of Fisheries Access – In order that the industry may make a full and speedy recovery, to reduce costs, and to maintain supply, we urge reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens currently in place that are preventing access to and sustainable harvest from fishing grounds.

Read the letter to the President and the Administration here

Read the letter to Congress here