Photo courtesy of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI)
ASFT
July 9th, 2025
SITKA, AK - This week, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems published “Fish, funding, and food systems: a review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent history of grant funding in support of the seafood sector (2018-2023),” the first empirical study looking at the USDA’s investment in American seafood since President Trump issued Executive Order 14276, “Restoring American Seafood Competitiveness.”
The authors found that of the total $31.2 billion awarded through USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Food and Nutrition Services, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and Rural Development grants between 2018-2023, only 0.5% went to seafood-related projects when compared with other food products. While there is no single explanation for why seafood projects received such a small fraction of the USDA’s grant funding, the authors identified numerous opportunities for increasing the USDA’s investment in American seafood. The research was funded by the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust (ASFT) as part of a larger project to identify potential ways to make USDA grant funding more accessible for the fishing and seafood industry.
“Alaska’s fishermen harvest some of the healthiest and highest quality food on the planet and supply 60% of our country’s seafood production. Yet, our fishing organizations have struggled to secure USDA grant funding for a variety of projects despite being aligned with the USDA’s goals. Seafood is generally a square peg in a round hole when it comes to USDA funding opportunities,” said Linda Behnken, commercial fisherman and Board President of the Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust and Executive Director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.
Read full press release here