The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote Friday morning, 15 May, on the next round of COVID-19 relief funding, and the USD 3 trillion (EUR 2.8 trillion) Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act does include funding for fisheries that have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
The bill, H.R. 6800, includes USD 100 million (EUR 92.7 million) in fisheries-related relief. That’s on top of the USD 300 million (EUR 278.2 million) set aside in the CARES Act, which White House officials allocated to states last week.
“I’m pleased that this bill includes an additional USD 100 million in federal aid for fishing communities, which will go a long way to help the commercial and charter fishing industries up and down the Jersey Shore,” U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-New Jersey), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a press release. “The increase in funding to SNAP, food banks, and other food and nutrition programs will also help curb the crisis of hunger that families in New Jersey and across the country are facing during this economic crisis.”
However, the funding is a far cry from the amount commercial fishing industry leaders and lawmakers representing fishery states have asked Congress to provide.
Last week, the Seafood Harvesters of America called on Congressional leaders to provide an additional USD 1.5 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) in fishery assistance, USD 500 million (EUR 466 million) in working waterfronts funding, and USD 2 billion (EUR 1.9 billion) more in domestic seafood purchases by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bipartisan groups of House members and Senators penned letters making similar reqeusts.
“While we are extremely grateful for the USD 300 million initially authorized and appropriated for this program, it is quickly becoming clear that as this money is divided among state and federal fisheries and a variety of user groups, it will not go far in addressing the losses we have felt in the commercial fishing industry,” Seafood Harvesters President Robert Dooley and Executive Director Leigh Habegger wrote in their letter.
While the HEROES Act is likely to pass in the Democratic-majority House Friday, Senate Republicans, who have the majority in that chamber, have balked at many of the proposals outlined in the bill.
Photo courtesy of MDOGAN/Shutterstock
