April 1, 2020 — The U.S. seafood industry received a $300 million assist from the $2 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress on March 27, and a wide coalition of industry stakeholders is hoping for more.
Fishery recipients in the relief bill include tribes, persons, communities, processors, aquaculture and other related businesses. SeafoodNews.com reports that those eligible for relief must have “revenue losses greater than 35 percent as compared to the prior 5-year average revenue, or any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial fisheries.”
The funds will be provided on a rolling basis within a fishing season through Sept. 30, 2021. Two percent can be used for administration and oversight activities.
The package follows a bipartisan letter sent on March 23 to Congress by Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markie of Massachusetts and Alaska’s Republican Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan. They asked, among other things, that fishermen be able to collect unemployment insurance, get help with vessel loan payments and ensure that the global pandemic does not compromise management of U.S. fisheries.