HDOA opens seafood processors pandemic block grant program

HONOLULU — The state Department of Agriculture is administering a federal Seafood Processors Pandemic Response and Safety Block Grant Program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture program is designed to provide relief to seafood processors who incurred costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This federal-block-grant program is meant to help defray some of the expense that seafood processors incurred for workplace safety, employee health and a shifting market,” said Phyllis Shimabukuro-Geiser, DOA chair, in a release.

The state DOA received $200,000 from the USDA to reimburse costs associated with the following: Workplace-safety measures, including personal protective equipment, sanitizer, hand-washing stations; market pivots like transition to virtual/online sales costs; retrofitting facilities for worker and consumer safety; transportation, such as costs incurred to maintain social distancing; worker housing, such as costs incurred to maintain social distancing or allow for quarantining of new or exposed employees; and unreimbursed medical costs associated with providing or enabling vaccinations, testing or health-care treatment of infected employees, including paid leave. Eligible costs must have been incurred between Jan. 27, 2020 and Dec. 31, 2021. Processor eligibility is limited to those companies regulated under the state Department of Health’s Food Safety Branch Program. For more information see the Aquaculture and Livestock Support Program webpage, hdoa.hawaii.gov/ai/main/seafood-processors-pandemic-block-grant/, or contact Liz Akina at (808) 483-7104 or liz.akina@hawaii.gov.