Shellfishermen, Seaweed Farmers Now Eligible For U.S. Aid For Severe-Weather Damages
By JUDY BENSON
G & B Shellfish Farm workers Eddie Clarke, left, of Stratford, and Kadeem Mundle, of Fairfield, attach a crane hook to a bag of quahogs while aboard the Stacie Frances Friday afternoon. The crew harvested 8 palettes of quahogs which each weigh about 2400 pounds. (Brad Horrigan / Hartford Courant)
Connecticut shellfishermen and seaweed farmers will be eligible for federal assistance to cover losses from severe weather thanks to a change in U.S. Department of Agriculture policy.
The change was made possible in the 2014 Farm Bill.
"We're thrilled. We've made progress here," Steven Reviczky, commissioner of the state Department of Agriculture, which includes the state Bureau of Aquaculture, said last week. "This has been something we've been working on for nearly a decade."
Previously, the vast majority of Connecticut shellfishermen and seaweed farmers could not take advantage of the USDA's Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program because they did not grow their product in cages or nets, Reviczky said. Instead, most Connecticut shellfish and seaweed are grown on beds leased from the state. The seed stock is spread in the leased area by the grower but is typically not kept in cages — the more common method of aquaculture in other coastal states. Only about 1 percent of Connecticut shellfish are currently raised in cages.
"Up until now, most of those who farm underwater in Long Island Sound have been excluded, because [the USDA] was slow to recognize that the way we grow shellfish is in fact farming," he said. "It's not a wild population. It's cultivated, grown and managed."
The USDA announced the change earlier this month. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is scheduled to hold a news conference at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday in the Marine Sciences Building at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus in Groton to talk about the significance of the new policy for the state's shellfishermen. Reviczky credited Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, along with others in the state's congressional delegation, for helping to persuade the federal agriculture officials to make the change.
Tessa Getchis, extension educator of Connecticut Sea Grant, said up to 45 shellfish businesses and two seaweed farms in the state could take advantage of the new program. They would apply in March for coverage that would begin in the fall.
"It's a small level of coverage, but it's coverage they've never had before," she said. "It's one more tool in the toolbox that could make a difference to a lot of the small producers who couldn't afford to lose their crop."
The program may be especially helpful to seaweed farmers, a small but growing segment of the state's aquaculture industry, Getchis said.
"There are a number of seaweed farms in the queue," she said.
Aquaculture farmers who want the coverage will have to provide five years of data showing typical harvest and losses, said David Carey, director of the state Bureau of Aquaculture
For $250 per year, a shellfisherman could recoup 55 percent the market value of crop losses, provided that more than 49 percent is destroyed in a tropical storm, hurricane or typhoon. Carey said losses caused by nor'easters would not be covered, but he hopes that will change in the future.
"We'll start with named hurricanes and tropical storms, and go from there," he said. "We're really excited about where this will lead us."
Having the program could make it possible for some shellfishermen to expand their operations, he said, if they find it easier to obtain loans because a portion of their risk is covered.
During Storm Sandy in 2012 and Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, some Connecticut shellfishermen lost about 50 percent of their harvest, said Bob Rheault, executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. Despite the risk of future losses, he said, it remains unclear how many will want to tap into the new program because of the requirements for several years' worth of data, he said.
"In my experience with shellfishermen in Connecticut, many are reluctant to keep records and make them public," he said. "But for those farmers willing to go the extra mile, it's a very cheap product that does provide a little bit of cushion. It's something we've been pushing hard for a long time."
In addition to the basic coverage for $250, shellfishermen can pay more for a higher level of coverage, said Bryan Hurlbut, state executive director of the Connecticut office of the Farm Service Agency, which is part of the USDA.
While the program provides only partial compensation for losses, he said, it is nonetheless a significant change in the agency's policy.
"Going from having nothing to having something is pretty monumental," he said.
He said his office plans to organize educational forums for shellfishermen about the new program in 2015.