Estimated allocations of the $300 million in fisheries relief. Final amounts may vary. Click to enlarge.

Today, the Secretary of Commerce is set to announce the allocation of $300 million in fisheries assistance funding earmarked in the CARES Act, to states, Tribes, and territories with coastal and marine fishery participants who have been negatively affected by covid–19.

NMFS will use these allocations to make awards to its partners, the interstate marine fisheries commissions, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands to disburse funds to address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial impacts related to covid-19.
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Fishery participants eligible for funding — including Tribes, commercial fishing businesses, charter/for-hire fishing businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors, and other fishery-related businesses — should work with their state marine fisheries management agencies, territories or Tribe to understand the process for applying for these funds.

More information will be posted on the NMFS Covid-19 Updates page.

We will update this story as it develops.

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Jessica Hathaway is a Fisheries and Seafood Senior Consultant for Ocean Strategies and is a former editor of National Fisherman.

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