MATLACHA, Fla. — We all remember the images of shrimp boats stacked on top of each other after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida. It wasn’t just the shrimp boats, but also fish houses and much of the rest of the fishing industry was severely damaged as well. Over two years later, federal aid has yet come.
A bill recently passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives that could throw a lifeline post-disaster to American fisheries.
House Bill 5103 (Fishery Improvement to Streamline Untimely Regulatory Hurdles post Emergency Situations) FISHES Act passed in House in early December to help streamline the process for fisheries to receive aid.
“As we saw in Southwest Florida, time of the essence once a disaster hits,” said Florida Congressman Byron Donalds (R).
But in the past, federal aid to fisheries only came after a long grueling review process that took years. Something that Congressman Donalds is looking to change with the FISHES Act.
"What the FISHES Act does, it makes two review processes happen concurrently and requires a response to the property owner happens within 90 days," said Rep. Donalds.
Owner of Island Fish Market on Matlacha, Casey Streeter, calls this bill a game changer for fishermen not only in Southwest Florida, but also across the country.
“Whether you lost a boat, or you lost a fish house, and really have no lifeline; what this does for the fishing community you can’t quantify it,” said Streeter.
Here in Southwest Forida, fishermen never received for federal aid post Ian despite widespread damage. Something Streeter fears will happen again post Helene and Milton.
“We didn’t meet the thresholds of what they require to bring in federal aid,” said Streeter. “When you look at Helene and Milton, it’s going to be the same thing. Our crabbing fisheries, our grouper/snapper fisheries were decimated. We lost a lot of critical infrastructure up and down the west coast of Florida.”
Streeter believes if this bill was in place at the time of Ian, things would have ended up differently.
“Our fishermen would have received the payments,” said Streeter. “Our infrastructure would have been rebuilt quicker. And it’s not just Southwest Florida. This is a national problem, from Alaska to the Northeast. There are maybe 30 national fishery disasters that are pending right now, and they span 5 or 6 years.”
That is something Congressman Donalds is trying to fix.
“When a disaster comes through the number one thing is the resources to help people rebuild,” said Rep. Donalds. "If it takes them two years to get the resources, just because of bureaucratic foolishness up here in Washington, that is not helping anybody.”
The FISHES act is still waiting for an up-down vote from the Senate before it can go to the President's desk. Senator Rick Scott took to X urging his colleagues to pass it immediately. The current session of congress closes on December 19.
