CARES Act: Marine and Coastal Fisheries Assistance from COVID-19 Effects

New Hampshire CARES Act Spend Plan
NH CARES Act Spend Plan Amended February 28, 2022

General CARES Act Eligibility:

• Resident or business in New Hampshire
• Must have held a 2020 New Hampshire license or equivalent 2020 license if you fish exclusively in other states during part or all of the qualification period. Months of qualification vary by group.
• Must have suffered a >35% loss in gross revenue from previous reported 5-year average within the qualification period, or less if not in business for five years. 
• Must have been in business for at least one year between 2015-2019 within the qualification period.
• Must be 18 years of age or older at the time of application.
• Must be in good standing with the State and Federal Government.
• The total of assistance from this program, other COVID‐19 pandemic related relief funds, and the applicant’s 2020 total gross revenue must not make the applicant “more than whole” compared to the 5-year average of gross revenue (or less if not in business for five years).
   

CARES Act Applications:

• If you are pre-qualified based on mandatory reported information or hold a 2020 New Hampshire Saltwater Fishing Vessel Charter license for a vessel that does not possess federal permits with mandatory trip reporting (all federal permits except HMS) you will be sent an application. If you are not pre-qualified and meet the eligibility criteria for the below fisheries or seafood group(s), please use the appropriate application(s) below.
• Applications must be received or postmarked within the application period.  See dates next to the appropriate application(s) once they are posted. Applications will not all be posted at the same time and will be posted as they are distributed. Applications postmarked outside of the application period will not be accepted.
   
• Aquaculture Application Application must be received or postmarked by January 15, 2021.
• Seafood Processors and Dealers Application Application must be received or postmarked by January 19, 2021
• For-Hire State Only Charter Fishing (Charter fishing vessels that hold no federal permits or hold a federal permit for Lobster and/or HMS only use this application) Application must be received or postmarked by January 28, 2021
• For-Hire Federally Permitted Fishing (Charter fishing vessels that hold a federal permits for lobster and/or HMS only use the above application. Charter or Party Vessels who hold any other federal permit(s) use this application) Application must be received or postmarked by January 28, 2021
• Commercial Lobster and Crab Application (All Gear Types): Applications must be received or postmarked by February 2, 2021
• Commercial Saltwater Application (All Commercial Species other than Lobster and Crab): Applications must be received or postmarked by February 2, 2021

Overview of CARES Act:

On May 7, 2020, the Secretary of Commerce announced the allocation of $300 million in coastal and marine fisheries assistance funding through Sec. 12005 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, CARES Act, to states, territories, and tribes with fishery participants who have been negatively affected by COVID–19.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries determined the revenue impacts relating to COVID-19 on the fishing communities and allocations to partners—the interstate marine fisheries commissions, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—to fairly disburse funds to address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial impacts. The table below is a summary of allocations to the Atlantic coast states. The NOAA CARES Act Funding webpage shows the full list of state, territory, and tribal distributions – NOAA – CARES Act (COVID-19). See additional information pdf on the fishing sector-based proportion of revenues for each state that contributed to the total U.S. revenues used in the allocation of the $300M of CARES Act funds from NOAA Fisheries. New Hampshire has been allocated $2,710,668 from this CARES Act package.

General Process:

Each state along the East Coast, will develop spend plans based on the CARES Act criteria and NOAA’s guidance. Fishery participants eligible for funding include tribes, commercial fishing businesses, for-hire fishing businesses, aquaculture businesses, seafood processors and dealers, and other fishery-related businesses. All spend plans must describe how the funding, including direct payments, fishery-related infrastructure, and fishery-related education, will address direct and indirect COVID-19 impacts to the commercial harvesters, for-hire fishing businesses, aquaculture businesses, subsistence/tribal users, processors and dealers, and other fishery-related businesses. Once a state’s spend plan has been approved by NOAA, the states will work with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to process payments to eligible fishery participants on behalf of the states.

Also of note, for the purposes of Sec. 12005 funding, businesses farther down the supply chain—including vessel repair businesses, restaurants, or seafood retailers—are not considered "fishery-related businesses."

New Hampshire Spend Plan Development Process:

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department’s Marine Division (NHFG) will be working through the ASMFC to finalize the New Hampshire (NH) CARES Act fisheries/seafood relief spend plan to be submitted to NOAA Fisheries. The New Hampshire Spend Plan will be developed through a public process with industry participation:

1. Small Sector and sub-sector workgroups (aquaculture, for-hire, commercial saltwater and lobster, and seafood processors/dealers) met to develop a strawman spending plan for each group.
2. NHFG sent the workgroup’s strawman spending plan to the 2020 licensed industry in a survey platform for the industry, as a whole, to comment.
3. NHFG assembled the individual Sectors spending plans into one NH Spend Plan.
4. The spend plan was formally submitted and approved by NOAA Fisheries.
5. The Advisory Workgroup will work with NHFG through the approval and remaining industry’s qualification and appeal processes.
6. The NHFG will work with ASMFC and the qualified seafood industry to get the funding out as soon as possible.
    

The NHFG started the process of developing a NH Spend Plan by coordinating with selected members of the industry in small workgroups from the seafood dealers/processors, commercial harvesters, for-hire recreational, and marine aquaculture sectors to develop strawman spend plans for each sector. NHFG will have a draft spend plan to present to NOAA Fisheries by mid-August.

The five small workgroups met in June for their first meetings and drafted survey questions for the rest of the industries to have input into the spend plans. The second set of meetings; Aquaculture workgroup met in July, and the other four workgroups in August, allowed the workgroups to refine the spend plan based on survey results. Surveys were either emailed or mailed to the licensed industry members of the drafted strawman spend plans for public comment.