$50m in fishing sector COVID-19 relief

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WB Staff
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Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:56 am

$50m in fishing sector COVID-19 relief

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State releases plan for $50m in fishing sector COVID-19 relief.jpg
The state has released its plan to divvy up $50 million in federal pandemic payments to Alaska’s fishing industry workers hard hit by COVID-19.

Federal guidance suggested that the state should set aside more than half of the CARES Act funding for processors, about a third for commercial fishermen and 5 percent for sportfishing guides and lodges.

But in a draft released on Oct. 5, the Department of Fish and Game proposes an even split between charter guides, the commercial fleet and seafood processors at 32%.

The state also proposes to set aside small pots of cash for subsistence and aquaculture — at 3% and 1% respectively — for two groups that weren’t included in the federal guidance at all.

The boosts for charter guides, subsistence fishermen and aquaculture have come largely at the expense of seafood processors. Processors command greater revenue but have largely remained operating due to exemptions to travel restrictions for essential workforce. Plants have reported spending millions of dollars trying to keep their facilities free of the coronavirus.
Full story: https://www.ktoo.org/2020/10/06/state-r ... 19-relief/
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