The movement to establish a national seafood marketing program in the United States to bolster consumer awareness, and potentially consumption, of domestic seafood took a step forward last month. Participants in the National Seafood Marketing Coalition agreed to set up five regional seafood marketing boards at a meeting in Seattle.
The five boards — Western Pacific/Alaska, Pacific, Gulf/Caribbean, Northeast/Great Lakes and Southeast/Mid-Atlantic — would manage and distribute funds within their respective regions through a grant process. That would allow the program to be controlled locally by organizations already marketing seafood. The program would include both wild and farmed seafood.
The establishment of the five boards and a National Seafood Marketing Fund (NSMF) hinges on yet-to-be-introduced legislation in Congress that would institute a long-term source of funding for the NSMF. Among the funding sources being explored include the Saltonstall-Kennedy Act of 1956.
“We’d be happy to see this legislation on congressional stationary tomorrow,” Bruce Schactler, the coalition’s director, told SeafoodSource on Friday.
Schactler said several lawmakers have voiced their support for such legislation, and 46 letters, including one from Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, have been sent to congressional leaders urging them to act on such legislation.
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