Saving Seafood

WASHINGTON: Graves Pushes Biden Administration to Get Disaster Aid to Fishermen

February 2, 2022 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Garret Graves:

U.S. Congressman Garret Graves is pushing U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) Secretary Gina Raimondo to expedite “Fishery Disaster Determination” due to major damage related to impacts of Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Zeta, and especially Ida. Graves’ ask comes after a recent economic assessment verifies what we have been saying about the impact to our fishing communities. He is also working to reform the disaster designation process for the fishing community.

Immediately after Hurricane Ida, we worked to secure $200 million in federal funding for fisheries disaster assistance, but this down payment can’t be made available for rebuilding our resources until a fisheries disaster has been determined. Under law, only the U.S. Secretary of Commerce can make this determination.

“The recovery doesn’t just happen overnight and for every additional day that the bureaucratic process drags on, our fishers and associated small businesses can’t get back on their feet to rebuild their livelihood. Our fishermen have taken a pounding over the last several years. Hurricanes, floods, unfair trade practices, inflation, worker shortages and government over-regulation have taken their toll – all of which have been a major blow to our workforce and consumer demand. This report verifies what we have been saying about the hurricane impacts and clearly justifies the fisheries assistance we’ve already funded. We need to get assistance to our fishing communities and it has to happen in a timeframe that will actually provide immediate assistance,” Graves said.

DOC is able to declare the disaster provided by the provisions within the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and Interjurisdictional Fisheries Act. The declared disaster would provide targeted relief to one of the most impacted sectors of Louisiana’s economy. The funds would help both commercial and recreational fishers begin to recover.

Click here to read the letter.

 

‘Desperately needed’: Congress OKs more than $29 million in disaster relief for California fisheries

May 1, 2019 — It’s taken four years but fishermen along California’s North Coast who have seen crab and salmon seasons truncated and even closed altogether will finally see some relief after $29.65 million in federal disaster relief funding was approved by Congress.

It was in the 2015-16 year the Dungeness crab fishery and the Yurok Chinook salmon fishery both collapsed due to poor water quality. Despite $200 million in relief funding made available in 2018, the release of the money was delayed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and it took a letter from U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Jackie Speier to get the ball rolling again last year.

“We’ve been waiting almost two years since these funds were made available by appropriations from Congress,” said Noah Oppenheim, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Association on Monday. “These funds have been desperately needed for a long time and the crab fishermen are already experiencing another severe hardship with whale entanglements and the funds are needed more now than they were before.”

Oppenheim said local crab fishermen will see anywhere from $22,000 to $45,000 depending on the size of their operation and it’s not as if someone has hit the lottery, this is money that will be used on the basics and the bare necessities.

Read the full story at the Santa Cruz Sentinel 

NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office: Strategic Plan 2016-2020

October 13, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office:

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NOAA Fisheries) mission is the science-based stewardship of the nation’s living marine resources and their habitat. The Alaska Region is one of five regional offices that together support marine resource management in all Federal waters of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (US EEZ: 3-200 miles offshore). The Alaska Region is a bureau of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is housed in the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC). The stepped strategic approach (figure 1) of DOC, NOAA, and NMFS informs and reinforces the Region’s science based stewardship mission.

NOAA Fisheries relies on a number of statutory authorities to define its mandate and authorize the execution of its mission. The principal statutes are the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

A study in 2000 reported that NOAA Fisheries is the fourth largest promulgator of regulations in the Federal Government. A proportionally significant amount of this regulatory workload originates from the North Pacific, the overwhelming majority of which are developed under a uniquely participatory management system involving representatives from affected states and stakeholders, including the commercial and recreational fishing sectors. In the case of Alaska, the Region relies on the work of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to ensure sustainable fishery harvest levels, establish conservation measures, and allocate resources among often competing user groups. Fishery management, along with the conservation of marine mammals and habitat, is supported by a robust scientific enterprise led by the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center. It is within this governance and scientific framework that the Region executes its stewardship mission.

Read the full release from NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office