Bremen, Maine (AP) – Commercial fishermen and seafood transformers and distributors who seek to move to new low carbon emission systems indicate that the federal funding on which they lean for this work is frozen or unavailable due to significant budgetary reductions promoted by President Donald Trump’s’s’s’s Government Department of Effectiveness.
The modifications are designed to replace the old Diesel combustion engines and the cooling systems exceeded and are praised by environmentalists as a means of reducing the carbon footprint of seafood. Salmon harvesters in the state of Washington, the distributors of scallops in Maine and the Poutan Fishermen in Alaska are among those who said to the Associated Press that Federal commitments for projects such as boats and refrigeration systems have been canceled or have been revised.
“Uncertainty. It is not a friendly environment,” said Togue Brawn, a Maine seafood distributor who said she had tens of thousands of dollars. “If they want to make America again, then honor your word and tell people what’s going on.”
The decarbonization of the fishing fleet has been the target of environmental activists in recent years. A study published in the Marine policy The newspaper stipulates that more than 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide were released by fishing in 2016.
It is much less than agriculture, but still an important play on the global puzzle of shows. With the experimenting land Merge storms And His hottest year On the file in 2024, the reduction in the combustion of fossil fuels in different industrial sectors is essential to combat climate change, scientists said.
But climate projects Often cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, which led fishermen to ask the United States the Ministry of Agriculture or the Environmental Protection of the Funds to cover certain costs. DOGE, an assembled commission to reduce federal spending, targeted the two agencies for discounts.
This left fishermen like Robert Buchmayr de Seattle on the hook for huge invoices. Buchmayr said he was in the process of completing a refrigeration project for a salmon boat and counted on a subsidy of $ 45,000 USDA to pay a song. The agency told him last month that funding was suspended until further notice, he said.
“I rush, where the money comes from. I was counting on the grant,” said Buchmayr. “I had the impression that if you got a subsidy from the United States, it was a commitment. Nothing in the letter said:” Yes, we will guarantee the funds that is elected. “”
The fishermen are looking for answers after obtaining bad news
The complete extent of the cuts is not clear, and the fishermen affected by them described the situation as chaotic and confusing.
USDA and EPA representatives did not respond to requests for comments from the Associated Press concerning the value of the cuts and if they were permanent. Dan Smith, director of energy of the state of the Rural Development for Alaska, said that updates on certain subsidies could arrive in April.
Many fishermen, commercial fishing groups and defenders of the seafront fronts told the Associated Press that they had learned about the modified status of their subsidy in February and March. Some were informed that the money would not have come and others were informed that the funds had been frozen when they were subject to an exam.
Many potential recipients said they had struggled to get agency updates. The lack of certainty arouses worried fishermen and seeks answers, said Sarah Schumann, a fisherman of Rhode Island and director of the friendly climate action campaign, a network led by fishermen working on climate issues.
“They have started to contact me in the past two weeks because they had the mouth removed from the money that was already engaged,” said Schumann. “If they miss a season, they could go bankrupt.”
In Homer, in Alaska, Lacey Velsko of Kaia Fisheries was delighted for her decarbonization project, which she said articulated on hundreds of thousands of dollars via a USDA subsidy to improve a refrigeration system on one of its boats. The recently completed project burns less fuel and gives a better quality project for the company, than fish for the Poutan, the cod of the Pacific and other fish, she said.
But now the company is informed that money is unavailable, leaving a huge cost to wear, said Velsko.
“Of course, we think it was unfair that we signed a contract and we were told that we would be funded and now we are not funded. If six months later, we are not funded, I don’t know what avenue to take,” she said.
The lack of funding endorses businesses in danger
The financing cuts also harmed the transformers and distributors of seafood, such as Brawn in Bremen, in Maine. Brawn said she had received just over half of a USDA subsidy of around $ 350,000 before learning that the rest might not happen.
Brawn received the Dayboat Blue grant, a project that uses a model -based model to bring Maine seafood to national customers while reducing the carbon footprint of transport and packaging.
“This model can really help fishermen, it can help consumers, it can help communities,” said Brawn. “What is going to do is that it will stop the program.”
Confusion on the seafront is another example of the bumpy deployment of government cuts under Trump. Trump administration interrupted his shots Hundreds of federal employees who worked on nuclear weapons programs last month. He also went to to hire Medical, Food Safety and other Masse -Masse Mass Workers at Food and Drug Administration. New tariffs on the main trading partners have also been chaotic.
In Bellingham, Washington, the financing of EPA was interrupted for five engine replacement projects divided between three companies, said Dan Tucker, executive director of the Waterfront Coalition Working of Whatcom County. He said that the uncertainty about funding has made it difficult for fishermen to move forward with projects that will ultimately benefit their companies and the community as a whole.
“Many little guys are like:” Well, I really want to help with climate change, but I can’t afford it “,” said Tucker.
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This story was supported by the financing of the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.