Baton Rouge Reporter

WASHINGTON, DC – After U.S. Congressman Garret Graves repeatedly pushed for the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to declare a "Fishery Disaster Determination" due to the impacts of Hurricane Ida in 2021, the agency announced today that they would finally make the disaster declaration more than two years after the storm occurred.

Speaking about the delay in the disaster declaration, Congressman Garret Graves expressed his frustration, saying, "Immediately after Hurricane Ida, we secured $200 million in federal funding for fisheries disaster assistance. Instead of those dollars going to help our fishers recover, these relief funds have been locked in a safe for over two years while DOC decided whether or not to officially declare the event a fisheries disaster. This disaster process is broken – plain and simple. We kept our promise to not stop fighting until we brought relief to our fishery community, but we will continue to actively pursue reforms to make sure this kind of delay never occurs again."

To learn more, click on this link: https://garretgraves.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/fisheries-disaster-declaration-approved-hurricane-idas-impact-louisiana