The U.S. Commerce Department announces the state’s saltwater finfish, oyster, and shrimping industries will receive financial support due to revenue losses caused by the 2020 hurricanes. State Wildlife Fisheries Biologist Jason Froeba says this is good news for the seafood industry.
“The total impact of this declaration is yet to be seen but it means some form of relief for the impact of the storms is on its way.”
How much will be allocated will be determined by NOAA. Froeba says despite waiting two years on federal financial assistance from a 2020 disaster, the determination is another step towards disaster funding.
“The next step is to determine the funding allocation. We expect that to take a few months. And then the state will have to put a plan together for the federal government to approve on how that money’s going to be spent.”
Froeba says shortly after the storms LDWF and LSU Ag Center put together a report on estimated damages and NOAA had a 35% loss requirement to be eligible.
“We looked at strictly revenue losses and that was losses from sale of seafood. Losses totaled almost $30 million. When we looked at losses across the board regardless of NOAA’s requirement it was about $72 million.”
Froeba says the process will help the seafood industry be more resilient to future disasters. Funding recovers losses from 2020 hurricanes Laura, Delta, and Zeta.
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