Lawmakers urge USDA to support Pacific Hake market amid war instability

Jeff Merkley led a bipartisan group of Oregon and Washington lawmakers who wrote to United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The group called on the USDA to provide critical federal support to West Coast fishermen, harvesters, processors, and distributors. The lawmakers noted that war instability in Ukraine, a major whiting fillet market, has jeopardized the supply chain. They also cited trade embargoes, inflationary pressures, and increased competition from low-cost proteins as threats to the market's viability.

The factors cited, including war and trade restrictions, threaten the long-term stability of the whiting fishery market. The lawmakers are seeking federal intervention through the Section 32 purchase program to maintain the market's viability. This uncertainty creates risks for coastal economies that rely on the success of the whiting fishery.