Baton Rouge Reporter

Louisiana's fisheries, significantly affected by multiple disasters in 2019, are finally receiving $58 million in federal aid. The funds aim to mitigate the impact of these events on the local fishing community.

In 2020, U.S. Congressman Garret Graves secured this federal assistance for the impacted community. However, despite the initial award of disaster funding in 2020, it took nearly four years for the funds to reach Louisiana's fisheries due to bureaucratic delays.

"There is no excuse for the bureaucracy to take four years for the disaster relief we secured to actually be made available, but these funds will be invaluable," Graves stated. He emphasized his commitment to reforming what he described as a "broken fisheries disaster process" and pledged continued efforts to assist the seafood industry.

The state's seafood industry has faced numerous challenges recently, including Hurricane Ida and other natural disasters, unfair trade practices, inflation, high gas prices, supply chain issues, and repeated openings of the Bonnet Carre Spillway over three consecutive years.

Graves played a crucial role in securing $100 million in federal appropriations through the 2019 Consolidated and Supplemental Appropriations Act. This was intended to address disaster events affecting national fisheries that year. Following congressional approval of these funds, Graves advocated successfully for Louisiana to receive two-thirds of this amount from the Department of Commerce within months.

Despite this allocation decision by the Department of Commerce shortly after congressional approval, Louisiana could not submit a spending plan until December 2021. Resolving outstanding questions from federal agencies about this plan further delayed fund distribution by almost two years.

Graves has criticized both state and federal entities for these delays and continues advocating for more timely declarations of fishery disasters by federal authorities while urging state officials to prioritize completing comprehensive spending plans promptly. As a member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, he remains focused on pushing process reforms related to such issues.