Hurricane Florence Federal Fishery
Disaster Assistance Information
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries was notified in March 2020 that it is eligible to receive $7.7 million in federal fishery disaster assistance after NOAA Fisheries approves the spending plan developed by the state.
The draft spending plan was submitted to NOAA in the summer of 2020, and the division anticipates that NOAA Fisheries will approve it sometime in 2021.
The draft spending plan proposes disbursement of the funding through direct payments to affected seafood dealers and processors, bait and tackle shops, for-hire businesses, and ocean fishing piers that can document lost revenue or damages due to Hurricane Florence. These stakeholders were not compensated by earlier state-funded payments to commercial fishermen and shellfish harvesters.
Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina coast in September 2018, dropping nearly three feet of rain over a four-day period and causing widespread flooding that disrupted fishing and destroyed boats, gear, and buildings critical to fishing businesses. In a 2019 Hurricane Florence Fisheries Damage Assessment report, NOAA Fisheries estimated $38 million in damages to vessels and business, $56.5 million in lost revenues, and 3,500 fishing-related job losses.
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