Saving Seafood

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $206K in funding for Puget Sound fishery disaster

April 17, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced today the allocation of $206,000 to address a fishery resource disaster that occurred in the 2020 Squaxin Island Tribe’s Puget Sound fall chum salmon fishery. 

“This funding will help to address the impact of a fishery disaster which has a tremendous impact on the lives and livelihoods of members of the Squaxin Island Tribe and their community,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “With climate change further stressing our fisheries and ecosystems, it is essential that we work together to mitigate the impacts of disasters, restore fisheries and help prevent future disasters.”

Congress provided fishery resource disaster assistance funding in the 2022 and 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. NOAA Fisheries determined that this fishery is eligible to receive a funding allocation from those appropriations. These funds will improve the impacted fisheries’ long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Funds can assist the impacted fishing communities including commercial and recreational fishery participants, charter fishing businesses, and subsistence users.

NOAA Fisheries used commercial revenue loss information to allocate funding to this disaster. The agency also considered the Squaxin Island Tribe’s traditional uses of the fisheries resources that cannot be accounted for in commercial revenue loss alone.

“At NOAA Fisheries, we acknowledge the profound repercussions of this fishery disaster on the Squaxin Island Tribal community, its economy, and vital ceremonial and subsistence practices,” said Janet Coit, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “Our aspiration is that the dedicated resources can effectively bolster the ongoing recovery initiatives.”

In the coming months, NOAA Fisheries will work with the Squaxin Island Tribe to administer these disaster relief funds. Activities that can be considered for funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, vessel and fishing permit buybacks, job retraining, and more. Fishing communities and individuals affected by this disaster should work with the Squaxin Island Tribe, as appropriate. Some fishery-related businesses affected by the fishery disasters may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration.

See a summary of fishery disaster determinations, including this announcement, and learn more about fishery disaster assistance.

Ecuador, India, Vietnam shrimp industries facing higher US countervailing duties

March 27, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) is planning to hit shrimp exporters in Ecuador, India, and Vietnam with higher countervailing duties once it posts its preliminary determinations to the Federal Register.

The DOC released its preliminary determinations on 26 March, finding the three countries, as well as individual companies in those countries, benefited from subsidies that gave them an unfair advantage in the U.S. market between 1 January and 31 December 2022.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates over $20.6M in fishery disaster funding

February 3, 2024 — The following was released by the NOAA Fisheries:

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo announced today the allocation of $20.6 million to address a fishery resource disaster that occurred in the 2023 Sacramento River Fall Chinook and Klamath River Fall Chinook ocean and inland salmon fisheries. NOAA Fisheries used revenue loss information from the commercial, processor and charter sectors to allocate funding for the disaster.

“Fishery disasters have wide-ranging impacts and can affect commercial and recreational fishermen, subsistence users, charter businesses, shore-side infrastructure and the marine environment,” said Secretary Raimondo. “These funds will help affected California communities recover and improve sustainability.”

Congress provided fishery resource disaster assistance funding in the 2022 and 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. A positive determination makes these fisheries eligible to receive a funding allocation from those appropriations. These funds will improve the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the impacted fisheries. Funds can be used to assist the impacted fishing communities including commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter businesses and subsistence users.

“At NOAA Fisheries we can appreciate how this fishery disaster is of great concern for the fishing industry and the people that depend on these fisheries to support their communities,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “We hope this allocation can aid in recovery efforts as quickly as possible.”

Activities that can be considered for funding include fishery-related infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, job retraining and more. Some fishery-related businesses affected by the fishery disaster may also be eligible for assistance from the Small Business Administration.

On December 29, 2022, Congress passed the Fishery Resource Disasters Improvement Act, which amended the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Since the disaster request for these fisheries was received after this date, it was evaluated under the amended statute.

In the coming months, NOAA Fisheries will work with the state of California to administer the disaster relief funds. Fishing communities and individuals affected by the disaster should work with their state or other agencies as identified by the state, as appropriate.

See a summary of fishery disaster determinations, including this announcement, and learn more about fishery disaster assistance.

US sets antidumping tariffs on foreign tin used in canning seafood

January 13, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Commerce has finalized antidumping tariffs for imported tin products used in seafood canning.

The tariffs are largely unchanged from the preliminary rates announced in August 2023, with the department implementing dumping rates of 123 percent for Chinese tin imports, 5 percent for Canadian tin imports, and 7 percent for German tin imports. However, the department also opted to set tariffs on some imported steel from South Korea, despite its preliminary determination to not do so.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NMFS to pay $160,000 legal fees to settle Gulf charter captains’ lawsuit

December 11, 2023 — The National Marine Fisheries Service must pay attorney fees for Gulf of Mexico charter captains who successfully challenged the agency’s requirement for them to pay for vessel monitoring systems.

The settlement approved by the U.S. Fifth District Court of Appeals calls for the U.S. Department of Commerce and NMFS to pay $160,000 for lawyers of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a non-profit legal foundation who represented lead plaintiff Allen Walburn, a Naples, Fla., charter operator and five other Gulf captains.

The appeals court Feb. 23 decision “struck down the VMS monitoring requirement implemented by the Department of Commerce and the other defendants under the Administrative Procedure Act and strongly implied it was prohibited as an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution,” wrote John Vecchione, senior litigation counsel for the NCLA, in a Dec. 8 email to the captains.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

US launches antidumping and countervailing duty investigation of imported shrimp

November 22, 2023 — The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) will investigate whether it ought to impose antidumping duties and countervailing duties on imported shrimp from several countries.

Specifically, the DOC will conduct antidumping duty investigations of frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador and Indonesia and countervailing duty investigations of frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

VIRGINIA: US state of Virginia could reopen its winter blue crab harvest

October 25, 2023 — The U.S. state of Virginia is reportedly considering whether to reopen its winter blue crab harvest – fifteen years after the fishery was closed.

In 2007, Virginia closed its winter blue crab dredge fishery season for the first time to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay’s crab population. The drop in population was enough that in 2008 the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a commercial fishery disaster for the Chesapeake Bay blue crab fishery – the first time the crab fishery had received such a designation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Struggling salmon fishermen getting federal help in Oregon and along West Coast, but it may be too late

October 24, 2023 — The federal government will dole out disaster relief to commercial Chinook salmon fishermen who have weathered a string of poor seasons on the Oregon Coast. But some fishermen say the help won’t be enough to rescue the fast-shrinking industry.

Earlier this month, two years after a request by Oregon’s governor, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a Chinook fishery disaster for 2018, 2019 and 2020, years when local salmon populations plummeted. Fishing regulators blame the drop on poor habitat conditions and climate change near the California-Oregon border, where thousands of Chinook migrate from the ocean up rivers and streams to spawn.

Read the full article at OPB

US Department of Commerce releases export strategy to address seafood trade imbalance

July 6, 2023 — International trade imbalances are hampering America’s seafood industry, but the U.S. government is working to address those issues and promote exports, according to a new export strategy from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Released in late June, the strategy calls for increased coordination across government agencies, using artificial intelligence to process export data, and greater outreach to the seafood industry.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

U.S. Department of Commerce allocates $220 million in fishery disaster funding to AK and WA

May 19, 2023 — U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the allocation of over $220 million in fishery disaster funding, appropriated by Congress in the 2022 and 2023 Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Acts. The funding will address fishery disasters that occurred in multiple Alaska and Washington fisheries between 2019 and 2023.

“Fishery disasters have devastating effects on local communities and our blue economy,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “This disaster funding provides much needed assistance to our fishing industry and we will work with the affected communities to begin the difficult work of helping them recover.”

Read the full article at KINY