NOAA has announced that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has allocated USD 65 million (EUR 59 million) to communities in Alaska, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and the Yurok Tribe in California as relief from fishery disasters that occurred in the areas between 2017 and 2019.
The funds, according to a release from NOAA, will be used to help the fishing communities recover from economic hardships that occurred due to the fishery disasters. A fishery disaster determination is made when a commercial fishery is harmed or fails for some reason, such as a hurricane or oil spill, resulting in a loss of livelihood and economic hardship.
“These funds help impacted fisheries recover from recent disasters and make them more resilient to future challenges,” Ross said. “This allocation supports the hard-working American fishing communities suffering from impacts beyond their control.”
The funding will be allocated based on the commercial revenue lost by the respective fisheries, according to NOAA.
“NOAA Fisheries also took into consideration traditional uses that cannot be accounted for in commercial revenue loss alone,” NOAA stated.
Activities the funding can be used for include infrastructure projects, habitat restoration, state-run vessel and fishing permit buybacks, and job retraining.
“The allocated funds can be used to help the fishing community including commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen, charter businesses, shore-side infrastructure, and subsistence users, as well as improve the fishing ecosystem and environment,” NOAA said. “These funds will improve the long term economic and environmental sustainability of the impacted fisheries.”
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