The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to speed up the delivery of financial relief to fishers and businesses affected by federally recognized fisheries disasters.
Once requests for federal financial relief for fishery disasters are approved by the U.S. Department of Commerce, states, Tribes, or other governments set to receive those funds must submit spending plans on how they plan to distribute the money to eligible individuals and businesses.
Many lawmakers and fishers claim that the process takes far too long, unnecessarily delaying financial relief for struggling fishing communities.
“The state of Florida alone has requested fisheries disaster relief on seven different occasions since 2012; however, on each occasion, over two years has lapsed from the time of approval to when fisheries disaster relief funds were ultimately made available,” U.S. Representative Byron Donalds (R-Florida), the bill’s sponsor, said on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on 3 December. “This is simply unacceptable.”
The FISHES Act would require ...
