Round Two funding for Commercial fishing businesses
Round Two applicant list and application status: Round Two Commercial Fishing CARES Act Fisheries Relief Application Status
Program Overview:
The Round Two CARES Act Fisheries Relief Program is now closed. ASMFC mailed payments to eligible recipients on October 7, 2021.
Basic Program Eligibility:
1. Must have held a 2020 Massachusetts Commercial Fishing permit.
2. Must have suffered greater than 35% gross revenue loss under your permit during March 10 - July 31, 2020, OR March 10 - May 31, 2020, caused by COVID-19 relative to the previous 5-year average during the same timeframe.
a. If you qualified in Round One for a payment, you did not need to recalculate a greater than 35% loss for Round Two, however you did need to fill out a Round Two application to ensure proper payment.
3. Must have had landings during the period of March 10 - July 31 OR March 10 - May 31 in any calendar year from 2017 - 2019.
4. Must meet a minimum of $15,000 fishing ex-vessel income in any calendar year from 2017 - 2019.
5. Must be 18 years of age or older at the time of application.
6. Must be in good standing with the State and Federal Government.
7. Must be a Massachusetts resident. Non-resident Massachusetts permit holders must apply for relief in their home state if that state received relief in support of the CARES Act under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. A non‐resident that holds a Massachusetts permit and resides in a state that did not receive fisheries relief may qualify for the Massachusetts program.
8. Assistance from this and other COVID-related relief must not make the applicant “more than whole” regarding their 2020 revenue. Your 2020 wild harvest commercial fishing revenue under your permit combined with applicable federal COVID-related relief cannot exceed your typical annual wild harvest commercial fishing revenue under your permit based on the prior five years’ average. If an applicant has multiple permits, they will receive multiple applications and each application should only include revenue information for wild harvest activity performed/earned under that permit.
Tiering & Payment Share:
• Eligible participants were placed into one of six tiers based on their highest annual commercial fishing revenue during 2017-2019 using SAFIS dealer data.
• Applicants were able to appeal their assigned tier by providing acceptable documentation for a revised revenue calculation.
• Payment shares were scaled by tier. Tier 1 received one share per eligible permit, Tier 2 receive two shares per eligible permit, and so on.
• If you were found eligible in Round One, you were pre-qualified for Round Two under the same tier. Round Two recipients received their assigned share unless that amount made them “more than whole”. In this case, you received your “maximum payment value”, as identified during the application process.
• The total number of shares was calculated after applications from all four sectors (Seafood Processing, For-hire, Aquaculture, and Commercial) were qualified and appeals resolved. The Commercial shares are shown below.
|
Tier |
Payment Share |
Annual Revenue |
Amount |
|
0 |
0 |
<$15,000 |
$0 |
|
1 |
1 |
$15,000 - $31,341 |
$7,004.29 |
|
2 |
2 |
>$31,341 - $69,997 |
$14,008.58 |
|
3 |
3 |
>$69,997 - $116,326 |
$21,012.87 |
|
4 |
4 |
>$116,326 - $221,929 |
$28,017.16 |
|
5 |
5 |
>$221,929 - $583,832 |
$35,021.45 |
|
6 |
6 |
>$583,832 |
$42,025.74 |
Additional Resources
Accessing your catch data
Questions
If you have any questions about this commercial fishing relief program, please email us at dmf.caresrelief@mass.gov.