Act Creates National Grant Program to Support Next Generation of America’s Fishermen
On Sunday, December 20th, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) and commercial fishermen around the country are cheering the passage of the Young Fishermen’s Development Act (H.R. 1240, S. 496), which passed in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. The bipartisan bill, introduced by Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in the Senate and Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) in the House, passed unanimously in both chambers of Congress and establishes the first ever national program to train, educate, and foster the next generation of commercial fishermen.
The Young Fishermen’s Development Act (YFDA) was first proposed in 2015 by the Fishing Communities Coalition (FCC); a national advocacy group that represents over 1,000 independent fishermen and business owners from Maine to Florida to California and Alaska. ALFA - a founding member of FCC - and others have spent the last five years working with members of Congress to develop the YFDA, which directs the National Sea Grant in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to establish a Young Fishermen's Development Grant Program to provide training, education, outreach, and technical assistance initiatives for young fishermen.
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