BBRSDA Asks Congress to Support U.S. Seafood
/BBRSDA has signed onto the following letter urging Congress to provide more support for America’s seafood producers. As one of the America’s biggest commercial fisheries with participants who live across the country, our voice is critical in this effort.
Bristol Bay Fishermen: Please consider adding your business to the list of signers and do not delay. The industry urgently needs your help. You can sign onto the letter HERE.
Note: use boat name or business name in place of organization name. Also, if you live outside of Alaska or Washington, please consider sending copies of this letter or other notes of support to your U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives.
Dear Chairwoman Stabenow, Ranking Member Boozman, Chairman Thompson, and Ranking Member Scott:
We write on behalf of America’s commercial seafood producers, united in our commitment to supplying Americans with sustainable seafood, stewarding our marine resources, and improving the resiliency of seafood supply chains. As you draft the 2023 Farm Bill, we ask that you focus on practical steps that can provide critical support for America’s seafood producers. Specifically, we urge you to: (i) create an Office of Seafood Policy and Program Integration in the USDA Office of the Chief Economist; (ii) promote greater seafood procurement across United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrition programs; and (iii) extend the eligibility for certain USDA grants and loans to U.S. seafood producers and supporting businesses.
The US seafood sector faces challenges similar to those that confront American farmers and ranchers. Crushing market shifts, cost burdens, supply chain vulnerabilities, and foreign market access challenges have caused a crisis throughout the US seafood supply chain. Lost opportunities to participate in programs that support food production and resilient food supply chains harm the entire seafood sector and put U.S. producers at a competitive disadvantage at home and abroad. This has become an especially acute problem in recent years, during the hardships of the pandemic and its aftermath. Inadequate federal policy responses have starkly illustrated the long-standing reality that U.S. seafood producers too often “slip through the cracks” of federal policy support. While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) manages our federal fisheries harvest and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversees seafood labeling and safety, no federal agency has provided clear and consistent leadership for seafood as a priority domestic food commodity. We urgently need USDA to assume that role.
To help advance this objective, the U.S. commercial seafood sector has coalesced around three priority requests for the current Farm Bill, some of which are reflected in bills already introduced in the 118th Congress:
Section 5 of S.2208, Senator Sullivan’s National Seafood Supply Act of 2023, would create an Office of Seafood Policy and Program Integration in the USDA Office of the Chief Economist. This would, for the first time, provide our sector with a point of entry at USDA, and establish a clear point of accountability for integrating seafood and U.S. seafood producers into USDA programs and operations. Such an office would also serve a critical role in coordinating with other agencies that have a role in the seafood supply chain, to ensure that all agencies are collectively working toward common seafood support objectives in domestic and global markets. Importantly, the office would perform these functions for both wild and farmed seafood, recognizing that they are both part of America’s domestic seafood supply chain, food security, and coastal/rural economies.
Language in the 2008 and 2014 Farm Bills that sought to boost whole grain products and pulse crops respectively in USDA nutrition programs[1] should now be adapted and applied to seafood. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study recently found that several significant childhood health benefits could be gained from USDA purchasing more seafood for its National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.[2] The GAO makes clear that reform is an urgent health priority for our Nation’s children: while nutritional guidelines recommend school-aged children receive between four and ten ounces of seafood per week, the National School Lunch Program only delivers roughly three ounces of seafood per year to these students. The study also confirms that program administrators are very receptive to more seafood offerings. In addition to starting to address an urgent nutritional challenge, adding these provisions to the Farm Bill would strengthen the resiliency of the seafood sector and the rural and coastal communities that rely on it for employment and economic security.
Various legislative proposals—including from Senator Murkowski (S.2354, §§ 402 and 405), Senator Sullivan (S.2208, § 7), and Reps. Khanna, Brown, Miller and Molinaro (H.R.4873)—would assist commercial fishermen, processors, and other supporting businesses gain eligibility to vital USDA grant and loan programs. We urgently request that Congress seek to address acute seafood supply chain challenges and strengthen resilience across the domestic seafood industry by clarifying that seafood producers are eligible for key USDA financial support programs available to other domestic food producers. Prime examples of USDA programs that benefit terrestrial food producers but not seafood are the Rural Development Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program and the Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program. These programs if extended and reauthorized could provide a vital lifeline to our industry. They could support seafood processors seeking to expand their capacity, encourage competition and sustainable growth within the seafood processing sector, and improve supply chain resiliency. Similarly, codifying Section 7 of S.2208 and Sections 402 and 405 of S.2354 would extend eligibility for certain USDA loans to commercial fishermen and supporting businesses. Like our land-based counterparts, the U.S. seafood industry faces increasing cost burdens and market challenges. It is critical that the Nation’s commercial seafood producers and associated support businesses have access to these USDA grant and loan programs, and that the economic and food security benefit these producers provide to our Nation are recognized and supported.
We appreciate your consideration of the plight of our industry, and the opportunity that the Farm Bill provides to strengthen resilience across the U.S. seafood sector. We stand ready to provide any additional information or assistance that may be helpful to your offices.
Sincerely,
Andy Wink
Executive Director
Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association
[1] Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, H.R. 2419, 110th Cong. § 4305 (2008); Agricultural Act of 2014, H.R. 2642, 113th Cong. § 4213 (2014): codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 1755a and 1755b.
[2] USDA Could Enhance Assistance to States and Schools in Providing Seafood to Students, United States Government Accountability Office Report GAO-23-105179 (Nov. 2022) (https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-23-105179.pdf).
