US Department of Commerce to assist fishing communities and fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico

The US Department of Commerce is providing $26 million dollars in federal disaster relief money to three projects designed to assist the recovery of fishing communities and fisheries from the economic and ecological effects of the BP/ Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The money will fund a $15 million strategic marketing plan and health and safety assurance program for Gulf Coast seafood, $10 million for expanded stock assessments for Gulf fish species, and a $1 million study by the National Academies of Sciences on the long-term effects of the oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.
The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission will receive $15 million to develop a 5 year outreach and marketing program to raise public awareness of the quality and safety of Gulf seafood.
The grant will also be used to help the Gulf states develop strong seafood quality assurance testing.
$10 million dollars was awarded to the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and NOAA to work together to improve scientific assessments of Gulf fish stocks used to manage sustainable fisheries.
Also, $1 million was awarded to the National Academies of Science to conduct a study of the long-term effects of the oil spill on ecosystem services.
That study will assess what is known about the effects of the spill, evaluate impacts in the context of stresses from other human activities in the Gulf, and identify the research and monitoring needs to more fully understand the effects of the spill.


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