The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today released the second Section 12005 CARES Act fisheries assistance draft spend plan for public comment. The draft spend plan provides eligibility criteria for participants in seafood processing, commercial harvesting, sport charter, subsistence, and aquaculture.
On May 7, 2020, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce announced allocations of Section 12005 CARES Act fisheries assistance funding to all costal states and territories. Alaska will receive $50 million of the $300 million available for this assistance program. The spending plan will allocate 100% of available funds as direct payments to fishery participants in eligible sectors. While all sectors have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, available funds will only cover a portion of the losses incurred by affected fishery participants.
The plan will be available to the public for review and comment from November 9, 2020 until 5:00 pm (AKST) November 15, 2020 and can be found on the Department of Fish and Game’s home page www.adfg.alaska.gov or on the Alaska Public Notice System http://notice.alaska.gov/200024. Once the plan is finalized, fishery participants may then apply for assistance.
Please submit written comments to http://notice.alaska.gov/200024 or email dfg.com.caresact@alaska.gov.