Fisheries Disaster Recovery Program

The GSMFC Disaster Recovery program effectively began in the Post Hurricane Katrina era in response to Federal funding opportunities where fisheries disasters were declared by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. Authorization for funding is embedded in the Magnuson Stevens Act of 1976 which allows Congress to provide supplemental funding assistance where rapid recovery is critical not only to marine resources and related habitat but also to the coastal economies which are built around those resources.

Acting in a coordination and facilitation capacity, the Commission works collaboratively with its member states to identify the extent of damages following natural or manmade fisheries disasters, and joins with them in the solicitation of Federal financial support for relief and recovery. Through grant agreements with NOAA Fisheries GSMFC is responsible for working with recovering agencies in the development of work plans, monitoring of work progress and the provision of reimbursements for cost incurred by sub-grant recipients or approved contractors as recovery initiatives are implemented.

Since 2006 the Commission has been responsible for the receipt and distribution of nearly $256 million used in the five Gulf States as they addressed the impacts of Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma and Rita in 2005, the British Petroleum Oil disaster in 2010, and the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.