June 18, 2024 — U.S. fishing groups are praising federal lawmakers for incorporating significant fisheries support into a U.S. Farm Bill framework recently released by Senate Republicans.
The Farm Bill is the main piece of legislation governing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and fishing industry groups have been working to use the forthcoming renewal of the law as an opportunity to raise the profile of seafood within the department.
June 11, 2024 — Last year, Oregon’s seafood industry got a much-needed boost from the federal government. But it continues to struggle and still needs help.
That’s the message from five Democratic members of Congress from Oregon, who’ve written to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to request aid for West Coast seafood fishermen, processors and distributors. U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas asked USDA Administrator Bruce Summers to again include Oregon seafood in its commodity purchases. Summers oversees the agency’s Agricultural Marketing Service, which buys U.S. products for nationwide food assistance programs.
June 11, 2024 — Agroup of U.S. senators and representatives from Oregon are urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to increase government purchases of seafood originating from the West Coast.
The USDA made USD 52 million (EUR 48 million) in seafood purchases from the U.S. West Coast in 2022 at the legislators’ urging but, previous to that, had not requested Pacific Coast seafood in its commodity-purchasing programs, according to a letter sent to USDA Administrator Bruce Summers from U.S. senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and U.S. representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas
May 20, 2024 — Earlier this month the USDA issued a handful of bid invitations for seafood products, including catfish, salmon and walleye, and Alaska pollock. While offer invites for the Alaska pollock products ends today, the USDA has already announced the winners for the catfish, salmon and walleye products.
Looking first at catfish, the bid invitation from the USDA went out on May 2. The bid was for a total of 392,000 lbs of catfish products for use in domestic food distribution programs, including unbreaded raw fillets and breaded oven ready strips. The Purchase Award Description that was released is for the entire 392,000 lbs, which has a value of $2,068,318.68
May 19, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded more than USD 8.8 million (EUR 7.5 million) in U.S. salmon and walleye contracts.
Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.-based Silver Bay Seafoods won the biggest share and will deliver USD 7.35 million (EUR 6.8 million) worth of canned pink salmon to several U.S. cities between July and December of this year as part of the USDA’s Child Nutrition Program and other domestic assistance programs.
May 15, 2024 — Louisiana crawfish producers suffering from drought conditions now have access to emergency financial relief, following requests from state officials and representatives for federal action.
Last year was a difficult one for Southern crawfish producers, with extreme heat and a subsequent freeze causing a sudden decrease in crawfish production. The Louisiana State University’s Agriculture Center estimated the potential losses from the extreme weather to be nearly USD 140 million [EUR 130 million].
April 30, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced new child nutrition standards for school meals that will likely benefit domestic seafood producers.
Under a new final rule published 25 April 2024, the USDA will allow schools to have greater flexibility with menu planning, an enhanced ability to purchase local seafood, and other standards that include reduced sugar and sodium. The standards will be gradually rolled out between the 2025 and 2027 school years.
April 11, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program updated its rules to include more seafood.
The program, which provides nutritious foods to more than six million women, infants, and children who are at risk of not getting enough nutritious food, will add six ounces of canned fish to food packages for all children up to four years of age, up from the previous rule of five ounces for children between two and four years old. The USDA is also now accepting canned light tuna and chub mackerel in addition to salmon, sardines, and Atlantic mackerel.
April 3, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to buy 5.7 million pounds of frozen Alaska pollock nuggets as well as 35,300 pounds of various frozen fish fillets.
The department released the solicitation 1 April 2024 and has set a due date of 15 April for all bids. The government said awards will be announced by 29 April.
February 20, 2024 — The Alaskan Congressional delegation of Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Mary Peltola, announced their support of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that it plans to purchase about $100 million of Alaska pink and sockeye salmon through Section 32 and the Commodity Credit Corporation.
“USDA’s Section 32 purchase announcement is great news for Alaska—almost $100 million of Alaskan seafood for people experiencing food insecurity. This purchase won’t just bolster Alaska’s seafood industry and support our coastal communities, but will help bring the highest-quality and healthiest seafood products in the world to families in need. I am grateful for the USDA’s investment in our fishermen and the health of Americans,” said Senator Murkowski.