As you may remember, two years ago, President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, which resulted in steeply increased taxes on U.S. seafood headed to China. Find out more here. To mitigate part of the damage to U.S. seafood harvesters, the Administration has rolled out the Seafood Trade Relief Program through the USDA.
Relief will be provided directly to eligible fishermen with a valid federal or state license or permit to catch seafood and sell their catch to a licensed, shore-based party. Funds will be allocated based per pound of eligible species caught in 2019.
For example, Salmon is listed at 0.16 per pound.
The application is open Sept. 14, 2020, to Dec. 14, 2020. Find it here.
The USDA provided a webinar for fishermen on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Find the recording here.
Call the USDA assistance line at 877-508-8364 with questions about the application.
For Alaskans, once you’ve submitted your application to the Palmer office of USDA you will have 60 days to complete the additional forms that they send you. Please note that Alaska has ONE office processing all of the applications for this program and that there is currently a backlog of applications.
Read the FAQ here.
