This
program is authorized under Section 312(a) of the Magnuson-Stevens
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (16 USC 1861a) and provides
grants to deal with commercial fishery failures brought about
by fishery resource disasters. Fishery disaster causes may be
(a) natural; (b) man-made (if they are "beyond the control
of fishery managers to mitigate through conservation and management
measures"); or (c) undetermined. Grant funds can be used
for assessing the effects of commercial fishery failures or or
for restoring fisheries or preventing future failures, and for
assisting fishing communities affected by fishery failures. Activities
funded under the above authority must not expand the fishery
failure in that fishery or into other fisheries or into other
geographical regions.
Before
funds are authorized under this program, the Secretary of Commerce
must first determine that a fishery resource disaster has occurred
and that this disaster has resulted in a commercial fishery failure.
Once a disaster declaration has been made and Congress has appropriated
funds to address the disaster, the National Marine Fisheries
Service will accept applications for funding consideration. Under
this program the recipent is responsible for providing 25% matching
funds.
In
the Southeast this program has been used to fund the restoration
of brown shrimp habitat in Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana, and
to study the effects of changing hydrological conditions on brown
shrimp survival in Mississippi. Most recently this program has
reimbursed Florida Keys spiny lobster and stone crab trap fishermen
for uninsured gear losses caused by Hurricane Georges and Tropical
Storm Mitch.
