The ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee took aim Wednesday, 29 July, at Trump administration officials on matters important to the fishing industry.
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) used a committee hearing on developing the U.S. seafood industry to probe on the administration’s decisions to allow the Pebble Mine project to proceed in Alaska. She claimed at the hearing the project will kill salmon and thousands of American jobs as well.
Cantwell asked Paul Doremus, NOAA’s deputy assistant administrator for operations, why the agency has not been able to detail the exact impact the mine will have on the salmon fishery.
“The destruction of this habitat, which is critical to the sockeye salmon for the Northwest, is beyond concerning,” she said.
Doremus said he would get her the answer, which she sought during the confirmation hearing for NOAA Assistant Secretary for Commerce Neil Jacobs two months ago.
Both Cantwell and Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) also expressed concern at how the USD 300 million (EUR 253.7 million) in CARES Act funding for fisheries distressed by the COVID-19 crisis is being handled by NOAA Fisheries.
Cantwell said the agency has yet to release funding to industry officials because of an ineffective bureaucratic process.
“I think the issue you and I are both trying to articulate is we want to see money out the door,” she said. “I mean the money has been appropriated, but is it getting into the hands of fishermen and communities that need the help and support?”
Both lawmakers have also co-written legislation that would make it easier for fishing industry businesses to get disaster funding in a more efficient manner.
“While this bill was written before COVID, it is clear even now … that this is an important aspect of what we need to be doing,” Cantwell said.
While Cantwell also focused on the administration’s handling of Pebble Mine, Wicker used his opening remarks to call for an expansion of domestic aquaculture.
“The United States has the largest exclusive economic zone in the world, and yet we have only a single aquaculture facility in federal waters,” he said in his statement. “I applaud the administration’s efforts to develop a plan to expand sustainable aquaculture.”
Wicker announced his intention to refile the AQUAA Act, a bill he first filed two years ago. The legislation would establish a set of national standards for domestic aquaculture in a fashion like the Magnuson-Stevens Act provides for commercial fisheries.
Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
