PCFFA compilation of COVID-19 needs for our local fishing and seafood businesses.
For processors and distributors:
- What changes are you seeing in orders from customers, in particular food service vs. retail customers, and how is that affecting your business?
Answers:
Short-term
· Food service purchases are virtually non-existent.
· Retail purchases are also impacted due to State guidance (both in terms of social distancing and shelter-in-place).
Long-term
· Uncertainty regarding many of our food service clients. If they go out of business, it increases the chance we do as well
· While some see long-term new opportunities; others are concerned that economic impacts will force consumers to choose a cheaper alternative (ie foreign sourced whose production costs are significantly lower)
For everyone; vessel owners, staffing agencies, fuel providers, gear providers, cold storage, processors, and distributors:
- What are your key concerns right now for the near and long-term financial future of your business? And what kind of aid would assist?
Answers:
Near-term
These were all common concerns without regard to whether the respondent was a harvester or a buyer/processor
· Lack of markets: Some of our markets have stopped buying altogether. The few markets that can purchase, are offering prices which are not financially viable.
· Operational uncertainty: With States implementing shelter-in-place orders and closing all “non-essential businesses” our operations could be stopped with or without advance notice.
· Costs incurred in preparation of this year’s fishing: Many of our members spent significant amounts of money securing necessary permits, licenses, etc.
· Loss of infrastructure. We are dependent on services offered from and within our community: Ice, fuel, gear, mechanics, marine parts stores, etc. We are inexorably linked and losing one could result in the loss of all. Additionally, physical infrastructure which supports our operations (including maintenance and staffing of such facilities)
· Cold storage: With so much inventory already in cold storage (seafood and produce) and a lack of containers to move this product, will there even be facilities to store what we catch?
· Distribution: Once local commerce begins, will there be trucks or drivers to help us move product from our Port to a buyer?
· Loss of Opportunity: If we, or our crew(s), contract the virus; our operations are shut down (for potentially lengthy periods of time).
Kinds of Aid:
· Food Security: Ask Local, State and Federal Govts to purchase seafood which are occupying space in containers and seafood/produce in cold storage. We will need access to these sooner than later.
· Operational certainty: A federal designation that all seafood harvesters, processors, distributors and key service providers (mechanics, refrigeration, etc) are deemed essential as providing food products to the nation.
· Distribution channels: Traditional distribution channels used to get seafood from the vessel to the ultimate consumer are not currently usable. There is a large and immediate need for support (grants, funding, etc) for seafood distribution direct to the door. Community Supported Fishery (CSF) programs that have relied on customer pick-ups will need delivery options. Current web-based food delivery systems (Doordash, UberEats) often have fees/commission which make it unfeasible and cost prohibitive to the consumer. Perhaps a tax credit for those online based companies worth 50% of any fees waived for food distribution.
· Financial: Grants or no-interest SBA loans with reasonable repayment schedules. Amend the Federal Fishery Resource Disaster statutes to include pandemics as a ground for a Disaster Declaration and make those amendments retroactive to Jan 1, 2020. Shorten the timelines for getting appropriated funds to industry.
· Access: Carryover of any unused quotas or catch limits for those stock where doing so wouldn’t have serious adverse impacts to that stock. Example, temporary increase in open access trip limits for groundfish would likely be much more scientifically sound than would be increasing limits on salmon.
· Observer requirements. Expand the temporary waiver of the requirement to carry a fishery observer or at-sea monitor to all U.S. fisheries. The rationales (observer availability and the health and safety of the vessel’s crew) expressed in Michael Pentony’s March 20 announcement waiving the observer requirement for vessels with Northeast fishing permits, applies equally to all U.S. fisheries.
· Market: Assistance in removing layers of red tape that keeps harvesters from selling direct to the public.
· Regulatory: Some USCG and NMFS regulations are cost prohibitive and could be temporarily waived taking into account the geographic location of the fishery. One such example would be cost recovery fees.
· Consider regional banding of interests: two or more fishing communities in a natural region band together to strategize on marketing opportunities and other collaborations. We are in this together.
Long-term
These were all common concerns without regard to whether the respondent was a harvester or a buyer/processor
· Loss of markets: Will we be able to find new markets or take advantage of alternative markets soon enough to keep us from going out of business.
· Foreign competition: The costs of producing our seafood make it difficult to compete against foreign sourced seafood. Anything we can do to promote and protect our product(s) from foreign competition would be welcome.
· Failure to meet long-term revenue projections: We budget and forecast our financial needs (including maintenance projects) on projected revenues. Given the likely damage to our markets, necessary maintenance projects may have to be deferred.
· Loss of infrastructure: We are dependent on services offered from and within our community. Ice, fuel, gear, mechanics, marine parts stores, etc. We are inexorably linked and losing one could result in the loss of all. Additionally, physical infrastructure which supports our operations (including maintenance and staffing of such facilities)
· Cold storage: With so much inventory already in cold storage (seafood and produce) and a lack of containers to move this product, will there even be facilities to store what we catch?
· Distribution: Once local commerce begins, will there be trucks or drivers to help us move product from our Port to a buyer?
· Policy: Explore pathways to categorize fishermen with farmers so that we are eligible for security programs akin to crop insurance.
Kinds of Aid:
· Financial: Grants or no-interest SBA loans with reasonable repayment schedules. Amend the Federal Fishery Resource Disaster statutes to include pandemics as a ground for a Disaster Declaration and make those amendments retroactive to Jan 1, 2020. Shorten the timelines for getting appropriated funds to industry.
· Access: Ban any further monument designations or sanctuary restrictions on fishing activities for at least 5 years.
· Studies: Fund studies with industry to rebuild lost markets as well as study and develop new, alternative markets. Far too often grants are awarded to non-fishing interests. Applications submitted by qualified fishing interests, or in equal partnership with qualified fishing interests, should be prioritized.
· Marketing: NOAA and Dept of Ag to promote US seafood through campaigns.
· Increase grant funds available for port infrastructure projects and other projects which directly benefit the local fishing community. Require grant applicants coordinate with local harvesters and a percentage of those grant awards are shared with local fishermen’s associations and groups representing them.
· Grant funding to support transition to Electronic Monitoring, from human observers, for vessels and fisheries which have an observer requirement.
What are your key concerns right now for the near and long-term well-being of your workers and colleagues? And what kind of aid would assist?
· A federal law which allows commercial fishing vessels to pay their crew members as independent contractors. There is much confusion as some states try and define crew on commercial fishing vessels as employees. This adds unnecessary costs and time to our operations.
· Automatic extension of due date for tax payments for 2020 tax year to October 15, 2021.
· Unemployment benefits: Allow non-employee (independent contractors or co-venturers) crew to collect unemployment benefits
Letter to our port community re: Coronavirus crisis
by Kim Selkoe, Executive Director of CFSB
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has dealt a crushing blow to the health and welfare of Santa Barbara’s fishing community. Over the past two weeks your staff at CFSB, Mike Nelson and myself, have worked with other fisheries leaders and our local and state government to identify ways to counteract the economic disaster.
We know that many in our fishing community are also working to adapt and come together to problem-solve. We have a very strong, close-knit port community and helping each other out is more important now than ever.
Below I list some of the recent actions and developing plans we have going.
1. Fishermen, give your input:
Mike Conroy, the new ED of PCFFA, is collecting ideas to take to the Department of Fish and Wildlife by Wednesday evening. He has started a very useful compilation that I have posted here. The questions he wants answer to are below. Please email kim@cfsb and mike@wefcom.com to share your thoughts.
What types of relief, or increased opportunities, would be helpful in the immediate future? The focus here should prioritize getting product to the consumer’s dinner table.
What actions could be taken (or waived/undone) to address longer-term impacts?The focus here should be on lessening impacts to your business(es)?
Any other suggestions/requests for the DFW? This will be your chance to provide recommendations to the DFW which don’t fit squarely into the two questions above. While some may view this as an opportunity to attack the DFW – please don’t. We need to work with the DFW to get through these unprecedented times.
We would like to turn this around and submit to the Director on Thursday.
2. Recent activity:
On March 11th, Mike Nelson and I attended the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishing Associations Board Meeting.
PCFFA voted to make Mike Conroy its new Executive Director, as Noah Oppenheim is moving to Maine. Mike Conroy has immediately stepped up as markets began to collapse due to COVID and has led our CA ports in sharing knowledge and ideas for finding new markets and putting together statements about the need for financial support to keep our fisheries going.
At the PCFFA meeting, we were pleased that per our request, PCFFA voted to support CFSB by adopting our position about oil rig decommissioning, reversing their prior position of taking directive from Linda Krop at the Environmental Defense Center. CFSB’s position is that each rig needs a case-by-case assessment that explicitly considers impacts to our fisheries, highest and best use, and minimizing environmental damage. EDC has an extreme view of full removal of all equipment and surrounding seabed, even when it could do more harm than good and create new risks.
I had the chance to ask Chuck Bonham to have his staff at the Department respond to my request for a meeting to discuss lobster tailing regulations. Current code severely hampers access to domestic markets (e.g., storing frozen tails) and prohibits creation of value added products, leaving the industry without any back up options when their single export market is in trouble. Department staff has since responded to my emails and I hope to meet with them soon. Please share your input on this topic. I expect a port meeting about it will be coming in the future (once meetings are allowed again).
March 12th at the Fisheries Forum: I made a Public comment (at the very end of the event).
I described the upset the lobster fishery experienced first due to tarifs and then Coronavirus hitting at Chinese New Year
I reiterated the need for amending code on lobster tailing
I requested that lobster and rock crab be added to the list of species included in a new bill, SB1128, that would authorize the Dept. of Public Health to issue evisceration orders for Dungeness crab during domoic acid events. I will be working with Tom Weseloh to ensure that amendment is made before the bill is finalized.
On March 12th we also held meetings with Monique Limon and with staff of Hannah Beth Jackson at their offices in Sacramento. Mike Nelson and I gave an in depth report on our port’s specific needs for new infrastructure and the process we are in with the Harbor Commission’s subcommittee on commercial fishing to tackle these needs. We got their guidance as to how to tailor our plan to state funding opportunities. Taking their feedback into account, we have a new draft briefing document on our ‘Maritime Collective’ plan you can see here.
On March 19th, Mike Nelson briefed Senator Jackson’s staffer on impacts to our local fishing and seafood businesses, and ideas for solutions we have begun to gather from the community. Our message has stressed the importance of financial assistance, minimizing disruptions to our fisheries, and access to foreign and domestic markets, particularly, seafood groceries, restaurants and other food service outlets.
All this week, we are also staying in close communication with City Council, the Waterfront Department, and staffers of our State elected officials and reaching out to a diverse network of food producers, community organizations and foundations to seek grant funding for the commercial fishermen of Santa Barbara.
On March 23rd, we signed on to a letter spearheaded by Pacific Seafood proposing a Congressional disaster relief package for U.S. seafood producers and processors.
3. Ideas for immediate action
We are exploring possible proposals for immediate assistance to our port community:
1) CFSB would purchase fish from local fishermen at cost that would be processed and delivered to the Food Bank or similar enterprise – grant funding may be available for this.
2) Request the Waterfront department to consider allowing us the chance to purchase and access electricity for a refrigerated container(s) that could be placed in the Waterfront parking lot. This would allow us to continue storing frozen and fresh product for new markets now and new demand later.
3) Request the Waterfront department allow expanded Saturday Market hours (for example, 6 to 4 pm Saturdays and 8 to 2 pm Sundays).
4) We will fast track new applications for vendors at the Saturday Market as demand allows us to add them. We have a limit of 2 vendors per species. Contact me for details.
4. Markets to sell your catch:
PCFFA has compiled this list of California seafood businesses able to deliver seafood directly to consumers today.
Ventura Fresh Fish (Ventura, home delivery in LA area on Friday nights and Saturday-Sunday)
KitchenCatch (LA, CFA pickups and home delivery in LA area)
OC Wild Seafood (Orange County, home delivery in southern LA and Orange County)
Catalina Offshore Products (San Diego, ships nationwide)
Two by Sea (San Francisco Bay Area, ships nationwide)
Santa Barbara Fish Market (Santa Barbara, ships nationwide)
Real Good Fish (Moss Landing, CFA pickups in Bay area and home delivery California-wide)
Water2Table (San Francisco, home delivery in Bay area)
Ocean to Table (Santa Cruz, home delivery to Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Monterey Counties)
Get Hooked (Santa Barbara, local pickups and home delivery)
H&H Seafood (Santa Cruz, local CFA pickups)
5.Resources for small businesses
The Labor & Workforce Development Agency has compiled a list of benefits available to workers who have been affected by COVID-19. Visit their website. http://www.labor.ca.gov/coronavirus2019/
Small businesses and nonprofits can apply for U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster assistance programs online or seek assistance from SBA's Customer Service Center at 1-800-659-2955/1-800-877-8339 (TTY). Checkout their website for more details. https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance
You might also consider visiting the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development website for COVID-19 resources. https://business.ca.gov/coronavirus-2019/
Finally, we have included a local link to the Santa Barbara County’s Public Health Department for the latest COVID-19 local updates. https://publichealthsbc.org/
Please send us your thoughts and ideas and share your personal experiences of how this crisis is affecting you so we can pass on this information to decision-makers, leaders and funders.
Thank you,
Kim Selkoe, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara
805-259-7476
kim@CFSB.info