Congress considers millions in West Coast fishery disaster relief funds.

August 03, 2017

Congressional appropriation committees are considering whether to provide millions of dollars in disaster relief funds to West Coast fishing fleets as part of the 2018 federal budget.

The amount of funding being considered has ranged from $20 million recommended by the House Appropriations Committee to a failed proposal to allocate $150 million to fishermen, according to officials following the proceedings.

California 2nd District Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said last week that the $20 million proposed won’t make up for the financial losses experienced by the nine declared West Coast fishery disasters in Alaska, California and Washington. The disaster declaration made in January by then-U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker includes California’s Dungeness and rock crab fishery as well as the Yurok Tribe’s Klamath River Chinook salmon fishery.

“But it’s better than nothing and we’ll keep working on it,” Huffman said of the $20 million proposal. “... We’ll have to take a look at just how inadequate whatever comes out of Congress is. If it’s woefully inadequate to meet the needs, we may need to work on supplemental disaster relief. The Senate will have a say in this, too. I think you can look at it as good news that there is some money in the House bill.”

Huffman and other West Coast representatives had introduced a bill last year that called on Congress to appropriate $130 million to aid the West Coast fleets.

Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Noah Oppenheim said Wednesday that there were hopeful signs during the Senate Appropriations Committee budget review in July that the Senate would support disaster relief funds.

Oppenheim said Sens. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in particular advocated for an amendment to the Senate committee’s 2018 budget recommendation that would have added $150 million in relief for the fleets. But Oppenheim said Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) did not support the amendment, and it did not make it into the final recommendations.

“The chairman of the Appropriations Committee [Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)] stated on the record that he was committed to finding the appropriate funding for the fisheries disasters,” Oppenheim said. “... It’s so desperately needed by these coastal communities. It’s two years overdue for crab. It’s a year overdue for salmon. It’s high time that this disaster aid is delivered to the communities that desperately need it.”

Huffman said whether more or less relief funds will be appropriated will be determined in the weeks proceeding the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.

President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget does not include any relief funds for the West Coast fishing fleets. A $1 trillion spending bill passed by Congress on May 1 that funded the government through September also did not include fisheries disaster relief funds.


Source: by Will Houston