Disaster Relief
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Federal assistance has been available to help ease the impacts of fishery resource disasters since the 1960s. The assistance has taken the form of economic aid packages to help affected fishermen and coastal communities deal with poor economic conditions in the fishery and/or a stock collapse, or as result of natural or manmade disaster.
The recent hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast caused fishing communities to experience unprecedented losses in vessels, docks, and fishing industry shoreside facilities. For the citizens whose communities revolve around fishing and whose livelihoods depend on fishing the impact was overwhelming. Prior to this natural disaster, the Gulf fishermen contributed 20 percent of the commercial landings and almost 40 percent of the saltwater recreational fishing trips nationally. Four of the top ten commercial fishing ports in our Nation were destroyed by the hurricanes. The Commercial Fishermen of America worked to bring attention to the plight of the Gulf fishermen in the aftermath of the hurricanes.
Click here to see updates on the Gulf Oil Spill on the CFA website.
