Steve Bittenbender

A group of 10 West Coast lawmakers have reached out to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to see why fishermen and processors in their region have largely been left out of a program created through COVID-19 relief measures.

Led by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the Senators and House members sent a letter to Vilsack noting that the fishing industry in California, Oregon, and Washington state account for more than USD 500 million

U.S. President Joe Biden has called on Congress to give the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration a more than 25 percent increase in funding for the 2022 fiscal year.

In a letter to Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) on 9 April, Acting Director for the Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young requested USD 6.9 billion (EUR 5.8 billion) for the agency. That’s USD 1.4 billion (EUR 1.2 billion) more than

Later this month, an old U.S. Environmental Protection Agency facility on the waterfront in New Bedford, Massachusetts, will be teeming with seafood industry workers taking the next step toward the industry’s – and the nation’s – recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to nearly USD 4 million (EUR 3.4 million) in funds from the recently enacted American Rescue Plan, the facility will become a COVID-19 vaccination

An additional USD 255 million (EUR 217.3 million) in CARES Act fisheries relief funding has been released to states, territories, and tribal entities to help fisheries impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, once again, questions have been raised about the allocation process.

The move comes nearly a year after USD 300 million (EUR 255.6 million) was allocated to U.S. fisheries in the first round of funding.

NOAA Fisheries Acting Assistant

Conservationists earned a victory on Monday, 22 March, when the U.S. Supreme Court opted against taking a case that questioned the establishment of national marine monuments. However, Chief Justice John Roberts strongly hinted the court may welcome future challenges of a similar ilk.

The Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association had asked the nation’s top court to consider its case against the federal government and its use of the

For the second straight term, the top members of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee have filed a bill seeking to reform the fishery disaster process.

On 17 March, Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) filed the Fishery Resource Disasters Improvement Act. Similar to the Fishery Failures: Urgently Needed Disaster Declarations Act the two filed in 2019, the new bill

Senior officials from NOAA Fisheries speaking at the Seafood Expo North America Reconnect event on Thursday, 18 March, said U.S. President Joe Biden’s emphasis on action on climate change could align well with support for the domestic seafood industry.

The new administration has not even been in office for two month and still have several political appointments waiting to be confirmed. However, NOAA Fisheries Acting Assistant Administrator