Chef Adam Tortosa places sushi on customers’ plates at Robin in San Francisco in September 2017. Photo credit to San Francisco Chronicle
Congress must act to assist commercial fishing
Saltwater practically runs in the blood of fishermen in California. Commercial fishermen have been an important food producer in the state for centuries, supplying the freshest seafood to restaurants and consumers.
It’s hard to disentangle seafood from the California restaurant culture — one comes to expect the freshest rockfish fillet alongside an outstanding glass of Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
Indeed, each year, fishermen offload millions of pounds of seafood at fishing ports along the California coast and transport to local, independent restaurants, like Robin.
The sushi restaurant, tucked into the heart of Hayes Valley in San Francisco, prides itself on serving fresh, local seafood to locals and tourists alike. In light of COVID-19, Robin is currently open for takeout only, limiting its ability to serve a full house of hungry diners.
Before restaurants shuttered due to COVID-19, nearly 70% of all seafood caught was consumed in restaurants and other food service establishments. But since March, we’ve seen many restaurants’ cash drawers sit at $0 and seafood sales decline by 80%. As restaurants across the Bay Area and the state struggle to reopen, we see these problems persist: With fewer customers, there’s less demand for seafood, and restaurants and fishermen alike struggle.
This new reality for California’s commercial fishermen and independent restaurants was unthinkable back in February. But since COVID-19 began its rampant spread in the U.S., independent restaurants have lost more jobs than any other industry. In addition to the 11 million workers they directly employ, more than 5 million more workers are employed by associated industries up and down the supply chain including fishermen.
In light of these significant impacts to our operations, independent restaurants and fishermen have teamed up to ask Congress for direct aid. Congress is currently considering additional relief measures and we call on them to include critical funding for restaurants and fishermen.
Taking on additional debt, the solution currently proposed in the Senate’s HEALS Act, would not be helpful for Robin. Our business model is not structured for a rainy-day fund. Nearly all revenue that comes in goes back out the door to staff, seafood suppliers, rent, taxes and personal protective equipment.
The reality is restaurants don’t need more short-term loans: They need grants that would help us stay afloat for the entirety of this crisis.
The bipartisan Restaurants Act, introduced in June by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would provide $120 billion in grants to independent restaurants—including the restaurants serving fresh tuna, crab, groundfish and salmon in San Francisco and throughout California. The legislation now has over 160 co-sponsors in the House and 25 co-sponsors in the Senate. A recent economic report by the consulting firm Compass Lexecon projected that such a fund would pay for itself more than twice over, pouring up to $271 billion back into the national economy and reducing unemployment by 2.4%.
Commercial fishermen and the seafood industry have asked for an additional $1.5 billion in direct fisheries assistance and $2 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase seafood—similar to how they provide relief to other food product industries. While Congress has provided some financial relief to fishermen, it’s become clear that additional assistance, through both direct fisheries assistance and USDA seafood purchases, is needed to ensure fishermen can weather this pandemic. Direct assistance through the fisheries assistance program will allow fishermen to pay their bills and boat mortgages, provide for their families, and support our coastal communities despite the significant drop in demand for seafood products. USDA seafood purchases will help get fishermen back to work and provide Americans with safe, sustainable and nutritious forms of protein through the USDA food assistance programs.
Fresh seafood draws tourists and Californians alike to restaurants throughout the state. As restaurants up and down the coast struggle to survive in the midst of the pandemic, iconic restaurants and local watering holes risk shuttering for good. Summer travel along the California coast will lose one of its key draws: fresh, sustainable seafood caught just offshore.
The connection couldn’t be clearer: Without restaurants, many fishermen have nowhere to sell their catch. Without fishermen, many restaurants lose their main appeal. We’re proud to harvest and serve the best-managed, most sustainable seafood in the world. By passing the Restaurants Act and providing additional financial assistance to the commercial fishing industry, Congress would make sure fresh salmon and groundfish, sushi, and Dungeness crab continue to be served to restaurant-goers, returning hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of jobs in the process.
Leigh Habegger is executive director of Seafood Harvesters of America; Adam Tortosa is owner of Robin in San Francisco.