National Fishermen
NF Staff
June 12th, 2024
On Tuesday, June 11, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Ranking Member John Boozman released a Farm Bill framework that includes several provisions advancing significant and meaningful benefits to fishing and seafood businesses and communities.
The first Farm Bill was the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, part of the New Deal, in response to the drop in U.S. crop prices after the First World War. In 2013, the Farm Bill emerged from the U.S. Senate with two amendments to help the fishing industry, introduced by Mass. Senator Cowan. One amendment called for catch insurance similar to crop insurance and low-interest loans available for the fishing industry to cope with the economic disaster, which was declared in 2012 by Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank.
Similarly, in June 2023, Senator Murkowski and Senator King introduced bipartisan legislation called the Fishing Industry Credit Enhancement Act to expand financial support to America’s fishing communities. This bill was another step forward in providing fishing businesses with access to the same loans as agriculture businesses through the Farm Credit System.
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