John Kennedy Archives - Saving Seafood

US Senator John Kennedy introduces bill to boost SIMP audits

January 4, 2024 — U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) has introduced legislation that would provide an additional USD 36 million (EUR 33 million) for audits of imported shrimp and red snapper under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP).

“Big seafood exporters, such as India and Ecuador, are flooding America’s markets with illegal shrimp and selling it for cheaper than quality Gulf shrimp caught right here at home,” Kennedy said. “In order to serve American consumers and protect jobs, the U.S. must conduct better inspections on imports – and that is what my bill would help do.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

$12.3 million available for Louisiana fisheries assistance

March 31, 2021 — Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced Tuesday $12,339,916 in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to assist fisheries across Louisiana. The funding is provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and will support activities that have been authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“Commercial fisheries support one of 70 jobs in Louisiana, and the pandemic hit them hard. Louisiana fishermen are resilient, and these funds will help get our fisheries back on their feet,” said Kennedy.

The funding will directly support coastal states and territories, including Louisiana, whose fisheries have suffered under the pandemic.

Read the full story from WVUE at FOX 8

LOUISIANA: USDA to buy $30 million pounds of domestic shrimp

August 6, 2020 — The federal government will buy $30 million worth of domestic shrimp to distribute as part of its emergency food assistance efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Lawmakers say the action will also benefit Louisiana’s shrimp industry as fishermen struggle with decreased sales amid restaurant closures states have enacted to slow the coronavirus’s spread.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the purchase this week under a law that allows it to provide food assistance to states and food banks nationwide during emergencies.

“This is great news for the U.S. shrimp industry, including Louisiana shrimpers, who tirelessly work to provide their delicious, world-class product,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, whose district includes southern Terrebonne and Lafourche, home to many shrimp fishermen and processors. “This program will support our shrimpers who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while providing U.S. shrimp proudly produced in Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast to the families who need it most.”

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also praised the action.

Read the full story at Houma Today

Safety net proposed for fishermen

July 25, 2019 — Louisiana shrimpers say a bill introduced in the Senate that would provide a safety net for commercial fishermen to help in difficult years like 2019 is a long time coming.

For decades, shrimpers and others in the commercial fishing industry have advocated for the federal government to either move them under the U.S. Department of Agriculture or provide them the same insurance and benefits as farmers.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, joined with Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, to introduce the legislation, which would provide revenue-based relief to producers to assist with losses after natural disasters and changes in water salinity.

This year, all of Louisiana’s fisheries have seen losses due to flooding that lasted for several months and required the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway twice for the first time in its history.

Freshwater inundated the normally brackish waters that support shrimp, causing population decreases by up to 86 percent in some basins.

While commercial fishermen are also looking for immediate aid through a disaster declaration, the bill would establish a relief program that wouldn’t require a declaration for future events.

Read the full story at The Daily Comet

U.S. Sen. Kennedy calls for permanent relief fund for fishing industry

July 24, 2019 — U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, is calling for a permanent taxpayer-supported safety net for the fishing industry.

The Commercial Fishing and Aquaculture Protection Act of 2019, introduced by U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Mississippi, does not carry an explicit price tag. Kennedy’s statement in support of the bill compares the proposal to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “well-established” disaster programs for farmers.

“The shrimp and oyster seasons produced significantly lower yields on average this year due to disastrous freshwater intrusions in the Gulf,” Kennedy said in a prepared statement. “We need to give our fishing industry a break. This legislation will establish a program to help fishermen cope with disaster conditions like these.”

USDA reportedly is preparing an open enrollment for a $3 billion aid package for farmers and ranchers. Enrollment is expected to begin by late August or early September.

“Farmers and ranchers who experience serious losses have access to well-established USDA programs to help them survive down years,” Hyde-Smith said. “Commercial fishermen, including aquaculture operations, do not have that option.”

Read the full story at The Center Square

LOUISIANA: Federal lawmakers join together to seek help for state seafood industry

July 9, 2019 — Our area’s Federal lawmakers in Washington DC are urging Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to help Louisiana’s fishermen.

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) and U.S. Representatives Steve Scalise (R-LA), Garret Graves (R-LA), Cedric Richmond (D-LA), Clay Higgins (R-LA), Ralph Abraham (R-LA) and Mike Johnson (R-LA) collectively urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to begin the process of implementing a federal fisheries disaster declaration in because of the opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway earlier this summer.

By opening the spillway, hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of fresh water are pouring into Lake Pontchartrain every second, which is impacting aquatic life that are vital to our state’s seafood industry.

If the commerce secretary makes a determination to declare a fishery disaster, based on a NOAA Fisheries evaluation, Congress will then be allowed to appropriate funds for fishery disaster relief.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser have also contacted Secretary Ross with the same request in recent weeks.

Read the full story at The Houma Times

Trump’s signature gives 26% boost to imported seafood inspections

February 19, 2019 — Don’t be surprised to see more scrutiny by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of imported seafood over the next few months thanks to the inclusion of Senate language in the final fiscal year 2019 appropriations bills signed by president Donald Trump on Friday.

The legislation retains language earlier argued for by Louisiana Republican senators John Kennedy and William Cassidy that requires FDA spend at least $15 million on its inspections of imported seafood during the fiscal year, a $3.1m, or 26%, increase over fiscal 2018.

The US government’s fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, meaning the impact could be felt shortly.

The Senate voted, 83-16, on Thursday afternoon to approve a legislative package that included seven spending measures, and the House followed suit with a 300-128 vote later in the evening. Trump’s signature on Friday ended the months-long budget standoff tied to his efforts to secure funding for a wall on the southern border, though a battle now is expected to begin over his much-reported national emergency declaration.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

US seafood industry, ocean groups in unison against red snapper bill

December 19, 2017 — The National Fisheries Institute and ocean conservation groups don’t always see eye to eye on legislation, but they do with regard to HR 3588, the Red Snapper Act, which has been advanced by the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Natural Resources.

They are both against it.

The bill, which the panel approved by a 22-16 vote following a brief markup hearing on Wednesday, along with two amendments to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, would transfer management of the red snapper recreational fishery in the Gulf of Mexico from a federal fisheries management council to several gulf states, including Louisiana. Representative Garrett Graves, who introduced the bill, represents the Republican districts of northern Terrebonne and Lafourche, in Louisiana.

Graves’ bill must still get to the House floor for a vote. And its companion bill, S. 1686, introduced in August by Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, also a Republican, in the upper chamber’s Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, has just two co-sponsors (Republicans John Kennedy, also from Louisiana, and Luther Strange, from Alabama).

But the recreational fishing industry is excited.

“The need to update our nation’s fisheries management system to ensure the conservation of our public marine resources and reasonable public access to those resources is abundantly clear. We look forward to the full House consideration of the bill,” said Patrick Murray, president of Coastal Conservation Association, one of the nation’s largest sport fishing groups, in a written statement following the vote.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Red snapper proposal attracts allies and foes

August 7, 2017 — Environmental and fishing groups continue to line up for and against Louisiana lawmakers’ proposal to give states more control over red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Among other provisions, the companion measures awaiting action in Congress would give states authority to set seasons up to 25 miles off their coasts or to where waters reach 150 feet in depth, whichever is the greater distance. States already have the authority to manage the red snapper fishery up to nine miles off their coasts.

Companion bills introduced about a week ago are the latest in a years-long battle over how the popular fish is managed. Louisiana’s two Republican senators, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, are sponsoring the Red Snapper Act of 2017 in the Senate. Reps. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge; Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans; and Clay Higgins, R-Port Barre; are among a bipartisan group of Gulf Coast lawmakers who have introduced a companion bill in the House.

Recreational fishermen have for years complained that federal authorities have set overly restrictive catch limits and unnecessarily short seasons for red snapper despite a rebound in the species’ numbers. Environmental and conservation groups have already gone on record opposing the measure, saying it will hamper efforts to help the fish rebound from years of severe overfishing.

Read the full story at the Daily Comet

Bills would open snapper harvest out to at least 25 miles

August 3, 2017 — Louisiana senators and representatives have introduced companion legislation in Congress that would give states management authority of red snapper out to 25 miles or 25 fathoms, whichever is greater, off their coastlines. Currently, states control red snapper out to nine nautical miles.

Both Louisiana senators, Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, introduced the bill in the Senate, while Reps. Garret Graves, Cedric Richmond and Clay Higgins joined seven other representatives to propose the House bill.

The legislation is designed to ensure Gulf of Mexico anglers have broader access to rebounding red snapper stocks during 2018 and beyond. This year, the Commerce Department gave recreational anglers 39 additional days in federal waters after NOAA Fisheries set a three-day recreational season.

That move is being contested in court, and without legislation to address the issue, recreational anglers could be locked out of the fishery in 2018.

Graves said the need for legislation is overdue.

“Something has to change,” he said. “It is time to replace the status quo with a management system that more accurately reflects today’s red snapper private recreational fishery.”

Read the full story at the New Orleans Times-Picayune