Saving Seafood

MAINE: Coronavirus Food Assistance Program 2 Now Available for Aquaculture Operations

September 24, 2020 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources sent a bulletin to all aquaculture facilities in the state yesterday announcing an expansion of USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to include eligible aquaculture producers.

President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced CFP 2 on September 17, 2020. It will provide producers, including eligible aquaculture operations, with financial assistance that gives them the ability to absorb some of the increased marketing costs associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood News

USDA commits to trade aid for lobster industry using coronavirus coffers

August 27, 2020 — The Trump administration is committed to starting an aid program to help the struggling lobster industry, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Wednesday, but the funds to do so will come from the coronavirus stimulus package, not the aid used to bail out farmers after President Trump’s trade war with China.

The lobster industry, like many others during the coronavirus outbreak, has seen losses as markets on cruise ships and restaurants evaporate. But the industry’s real trouble began in 2018 when China retaliated against U.S. trade policies with tariffs that rose as high as 35 percent.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) missed the Aug. 24 deadline set out in an order from Trump that directs the agency to establish an aid program similar to the nearly $30 billion bailout established for farmers last year.

Instead, Perdue said lobstermen and women will soon be able to apply for aid through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), a $19 billion program established for farmers in April in response to COVID-19.

“We are working on and the president is aware we are working on our big CFAP 2 program of which lobster would be included as directed by the memorandum so we’ll be releasing those details shortly,” Perdue said in response to a question from The Hill.

Read the full story at The Hill

USDA expands COVID-19 payments to farmed fish species

August 14, 2020 — The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding financial assistance due to COVID-19 hardships to producers of several varieties of farmed fish.

After receiving public comments and data, the agency expanded its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), and is extending the deadline to apply for the program to 11 September.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Connecticut Lawmakers Want More COVID Relief for Shellfish Farmers

July 27, 2020 — Connecticut’s political leaders want shellfish and aquaculture farmers to be included in the next round of COVID-19 economic relief. In a letter to the leaders of the House and Senate, the state’s representatives asked for $500 million in fisheries assistance.

Specifically, the politicians wanted funding to target producers who did not receive sufficient assistance from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), or from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Section 12005 funds.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NORTH CAROLINA: Hard-Hit Oyster Growers Ineligible For Aid

June 23, 2020 — Oyster sales in North Carolina and other coastal states throughout the country tanked when restaurants halted dine-in service in March as part of the effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“Everyone – East Coast, West Coast – once COVID-19 shut down restaurants pretty much all growers saw their sales drop between 95 and 100%,” said Chris Matteo, East Coast Shellfish Growers Association North Carolina representative. “Restaurants are our primary client. Most high-end and middle-tier restaurants aren’t normally involved in the takeout business. Even the ones that did pivot to takeout, people just generally aren’t comfortable buying or selling raw shellfish for takeout. The market collapsed.”

Oyster farmers are among the ranks of numerous American growers who’ve experienced tremendous crop losses as a result of the pandemic. Yet oysters are not on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of specialty crops, leaving shellfish farmers out of the running to receive federal aid afforded other farmers, including the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, or CFAP.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

Senators Markey and Warren, and Reps. Moulton and Keating Urge USDA to Include East Coast Seafood in Purchase Agreements Established with Coronavirus Recovery Funding

May 1, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Edward Markey (D-MA):

Today, Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Congressmen William Keating (MA-09) and Seth Moulton (MA-06) urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include East Coast seafood in purchasing agreements funded by the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the Section 32 program. On April 17, 2020, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the USDA would be making $19 billion of purchases through the CFAP, $873.3 million in agricultural purchases for food banks through the Section 32 program, and $1.5 billion for food bank administrative costs and purchases. USDA announced that the CFAP would support farmers and ranchers, and maintain the integrity of the food supply chain, but did not clarify whether seafood would be included in these purchases. USDA has included seafood in past procurement programs, and the lawmakers urge it to do so again in its response to the coronavirus crisis. In their letter, the Massachusetts lawmakers ask if there are additional USDA programs that will buy seafood products to provide assistance to producers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and whether the USDA is currently in conversations with seafood producers from the East Coast to purchase seafood. East Coast seafood producers have been devastated by the ongoing effects of the pandemic.

“When USDA begins its purchasing programs intended to assist those whom the pandemic has affected, USDA should include domestic seafood,” write the lawmakers in their letter to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. “East Coast seafood producers can offer a wide variety of seafood that currently does not have a market, and which should be included in purchases made for this program.”
 
A copy of the letter can be found HERE. 
 
On April 3, the lawmakers wrote a letter urging the inclusion of domestic and East Coast seafood companies in the deployment of the $9.5 billion awarded by the Coronavirus Assistance, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for affected agricultural producers.