The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is planning to purchase USD 22 million (EUR 20 million) worth of Pacific rockfish and whiting (hake) from fishermen along the U.S. West Coast.
The USDA will buy USD 14 million (EUR 12 million) in West Coast whiting fillets and USD 8 million (EUR 7 million) in rockfish fillets, U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), along with U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon), U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle (D-Oregon), and U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Oregon), said in a press release.
“In my town halls this year, as well as in years past, up and down the Oregon coast, I’ve heard firsthand from fishing communities and seafood processors just how hard they’ve been slammed by factors out of their control,” Wyden said. “I’m glad the teamwork with all of these Oregonians on the coast and the delegation has delivered this federal purchase of whiting and rockfish to help weather the economic storm and generate jobs in fishing, processing, and distributing.”
The planned purchases follow petitions that both Oregon lawmakers and seafood organizations – including the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA) – made to USDA which urged support for the purchase.
“We greatly appreciate the efforts that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has made to support our [seafood] industry in recent years. These continue to be extremely challenging times, and we cannot overstate the significance of the USDA’s actions to expand procurement programs to include greater quantities of domestically produced seafood,” the Oregon legislators wrote.
The WCSPA, the Midwater Trawlers Cooperative (MTC), and the Fishermen's Marketing Association (FMA) all specifically pushed the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to purchase Pacific rockfish and Pacific hake as Section 32 “bonus buys” that go directly to food assistance programs and American families.
West Coast fishermen and processors have faced many challenges following the Covid-19 pandemic that emerged in 2020, including ...
