The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) working with the Oregon Department of Agriculture has provided an investment of $1,532,089 in grants to support Oregon seafood processors, processing facilities and processing vessels through the Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program (SPRS).
Donor Name: Oregon Department of Agriculture
State: Oregon
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 07/29/2022
Details:
The purpose of the funding is to assist eligible applicants who had expenses between January 27, 2020 and December 31, 2021 in response to:
- preparing for,
- preventing exposure to,
- and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic for seafood processing facilities and processing vessels.
Eligible beneficiaries
- Seafood processing facilities and processing vessels, including at-sea processors or dealers.
- Processor means the owner, operator, dealer, or agent responsible for any activity that changes the physical condition of a fisheries resource suitable for human consumption, retail sale, industrial uses, or long-term storage, including cooking, canning, smoking, salting, drying, shucking, filleting, freezing, or rendering into meal or oil.
- Any owner, operator, dealer, or agent exclusively gutting, gilling, heading, or icing seafood without performing any of the above activities is not considered a processor.
- At-sea processor means a vessel or other platform that floats and can be moved from one location to another, whether in State waters or water of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), receiving fish and operating as a processor.
- Dealer means an entity that first receives fish by way of purchase and sells directly to restaurants, markets, other dealers, processors, or consumers without substantially altering the product.
Eligible reimbursements
- Workplace safety measures: Workplace safety measures, including, but not limited to, personal protective equipment, sanitizer, hand washing stations, air filters, thermometers, cleaning supplies, or similar items.
- Market pivots: Market pivots such as transition to virtual/online sales costs (online platform development and fees, online marketing, credit card processing fees), supplies, new signage.
- Retrofitting facilities: Retrofitting facilities for worker and consumer safety (retrofitting harvester vessels for onboard vessel processing to maximize open-air activities, plexiglass, walk up windows, heat lamps, fans, tents, propane, weights, tables, chairs).
- Transportation: Additional transportation costs incurred to maintain social distancing.
- Worker housing: Additional worker housing costs incurred to maintain social distancing or to allow for quarantining of new or exposed employees.
- Medical: Unreimbursed costs associated with providing or enabling vaccinations, testing, or healthcare treatment of infected employees, including any paid leave.
For more information, visit Oregon Department of Agriculture.
