The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing $1 million in grant funding awarded under the Tribal Seafood Pandemic Response and Safety Grant Program (TSPRS), authorized by section 751 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) (Pub. L. No. 116-260). TSPRS is part of USDA’s commitment to support Tribally-owned seafood processors significantly impacted by COVID-19. The $1 million in TSPRS funding provided by the Pandemic Assistance effort covers COVID-related expenses associated with activities that occurred exclusively in response to changing market conditions and/or safety requirements that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The three awardees are:

• Quinault Nation Enterprise Board,
• Red Lake Nation Fisheries, Inc., and
• Sun’aq Tribal Enterprises, Inc.

Eligible applicants included Tribal seafood processors, including at-sea processors and dealers, wholly owned and operated by Indian Tribes, as defined by the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act (List Act) of 1994 (Pub. L. No. 103-454). The Intertribal Agriculture Council provided technical assistance for eligible tribal seafood processors interested in completing an application package.

Seafood processors not wholly owned by a Tribal government, but still affected by COVID-19 pandemic-related costs, are eligible to apply through their respective state’s Seafood Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant program (SPRS), also offered by USDA. Visit the SPRS website for more details. Follow-up questions can be sent to TSPRSgrants@usda.gov.

Source: USDA