May 6, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week decided to include Atlantic seafood in certain government food assistance purchases, and now federal coronavirus funding will support USDA purchases from the East Coast commercial fisheries.
The Agricultural Marketing Service announced yesterday that it will purchase $20 million in Atlantic haddock, pollock, and redfish under the USDA Section 32 program.
It’s good news for a sector hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation said today. U.S. Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Reps. William Keating and Seth Moulton have been pushing the USDA for weeks to include the fisheries in agricultural purchasing funded by the Coronavirus Assistance, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
The Massachusetts lawmakers wrote to the USDA in April and May to urge the inclusion of domestic and East Coast seafood companies in the $9.5 billion awarded by the CARES Act to help affected agricultural producers, and today they sent a celebratory press release.