Seafood Harvesters applauds passage of the third Senate stimulus package

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Leigh Habegger, (703) 794-5114

 

Seafood Harvesters applauds passage of the third Senate stimulus package

Stimulus package includes funds to help fishing industry thanks to Senators’ efforts

 

WASHINGTON, DC, March 25, 2020 – Early this morning, the Senate passed the CARES Act, which includes a number of important provisions to provide relief to U.S. citizens and small businesses. We applaud the Senate for its work and urge the House to swiftly pass this legislation.

We are grateful for the efforts of Senators Cantwell, Collins, Markey, Murkowski, and Sullivan to champion the needs of the fishing industry in this stimulus package. Their strong work on behalf of our industry will prove immensely helpful in the coming weeks and months as we work to recover from COVID-19 impacts.

Included in this package is language that provides $300 million in fisheries assistance to support the fishing industry. This funding is critical to helping keep commercial fishermen afloat as their businesses are severely impacted by COVID-19.

Additionally, there is language providing more than $350 billion in loans for small businesses, under which commercial fishermen qualify, and we are glad to see funds provided to alleviate COVID-19 related impacts for our businesses, many of which are family run operations.

“This bill provides urgently needed support for the fishing industry and we are grateful for the work by these Senators to champion our industry’s needs,” said Leigh Habegger, Executive Director for Seafood Harvesters of America. “The impacts from COVID-19 are severe and widespread across the seafood industry and we look forward to these disaster funds being quickly disbursed to help offset the financial hits we have experienced and will continue to incur.”

Seafood Harvesters of America represents 18 fishing organizations from the Bering Sea to the Gulf of Mexico to Maine. Find more at www.seafoodharvesters.org

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