The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a Harvest Fuel Relief Program on Oct. 19. The announcement, which came just ahead of the midterm elections, pledged $8 billion in one-time payments to American farmers and fishermen to provide relief for market disruptions and increased operating costs.
Alaska’s commercial fishermen could be eligible to share in the money. John Yeager of Wrangell had this to say.
With high fuel prices and insurance costs and bait costs, you leave the dock in the hole quite often, and that’s not a good feeling. It’s hard to maintain a business plan because you’re constantly adjusting for all these different increases in expenses.
The USDA has not said when it will start accepting applications or when the money would start going out.
Yeager and his wife have been commercially fishing halibut out of Wrangell since 2008. On a regular eight- or nine-hour work day, Yeager said their 42-foot Lindell can easily burn 20 to 30 gallons of fuel.
Fisherman Antonio Silva runs a 46-foot combination fishing vessel called the Danegeld. He participates in five fisheries including: Southeast halibut, Dungeness crab, salmon gillnetting and trolling, and pot shrimp.
If I want to run to Ketchikan, it’s 300-400 bucks just in fuel one way. Not to mention the daily activity of crabbing. Or if I run up to Juneau to go gillnet. So it does impact your decision on where you fish and how you fish.
The application for the harvest fuel relief program is not yet open and it is unclear how it will incorporate fishermen.
Kate Thomas is Wrangell Borough’s Economic Development Director..
Recognizing a fisherman under USDA is a new concept and it’ll take time for them to figure out how they evaluate the criteria and analyze the applications and issue that relief.
Thomas said that the USDA is working with state and local agencies to collect data from fishermen for the program. To help with the data collection process, Thomas has set up a survey where fishermen can voluntarily share information about their operation and fuel use to help design the application.
The survey is available on the borough’s Facebook page and can be filled out through Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Readers can access the survey here: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/7mRrGkqini
