| SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Low-interest federal disaster loans are now available to California businesses and residents as a result of President Biden’s major disaster declaration, U.S. Small Business Administration’s Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman announced. The declaration covers Merced, Sacramento and Santa Cruz counties as a result of severe winter storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began Dec. 27, 2022. “With President Biden’s declaration, SBA is working closely with FEMA and our state and local officials on the ground to deliver expedient disaster recovery loans and support that will aid Californians impacted by these severe and devastating winter storms, flooding and mudslides,” said Administrator Guzman. “My heartfelt condolences go out to the families who have lost loved ones, and I urge affected residents to stay safe and heed the guidance of local emergency officials. As the state faces continued rainfall and heightened risks of flooding and mudslides, the SBA is committed to providing the full breadth of our resources to help small businesses and communities recover and rebuild stronger than before.” Businesses of all sizes and private nonprofit organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets. SBA can also lend additional funds to businesses and homeowners to help with the cost of improvements to protect, prevent or minimize the same type of disaster damage from occurring in the future. For small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, small businesses engaged in aquaculture and most private nonprofit organizations of any size, SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic injury assistance is available to businesses regardless of any property damage. Disaster loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property. Interest rates can be as low as 3.305 percent for businesses, 2.375 percent for private nonprofit organizations and 2.313 percent for homeowners and renters with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. To be considered for all forms of disaster assistance, survivors must first contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency at www.disasterassistance.gov. As soon as Federal-State Disaster Recovery Centers open throughout the affected area, SBA will provide one-on-one assistance to disaster loan applicants. Additional information and details on the location of disaster recovery centers is available by calling the SBA Customer Service Center at (800) 659-2955. Read in browser » |
Tag Archives: environment
Winter Storm Reminders, Resources, and Reporting
| Reporting Storm Related Damage Growers that have sustained damages due to these recent storms, need to report damages to the Sacramento County Agriculture Commissioner’s office with the Report of Loss Form. Form can be found online at https://agcomm.saccounty.gov/Pages/default.aspx. Completed Report of Loss Forms may be hand delivered or mailed to either office below, or emailed to agcomm@saccounty.gov |
Pathways Toward Responsible Aquaculture in California: archived video
California Sea Grant, the Moss Landing Marine Lab (MLML), Save Our Shores, Sustainable Design Masterclass, and LIFT Economy all co-sponsored a two-day forum held at the Moss Landing facility Fri-Sat, Aug 10-11, presenting a wide range of topics exploring pathways toward responsible aquaculture development in California. Continue reading
New View of Shellfish Aquaculture and Eelgrass Interactions
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is working with Hog Island Oyster Company and the University of California Santa Cruz to assess the interactions between oyster aquaculture and eelgrass in Tomales Bay, California. The use of drones may help with these studies, and the validation of such aerial surveys could be highly valuable in both their perspective and economy (as this approach could be much less expensive than conventional side-scan sonar or diver-based methods). This TNC-produced video captures the study site and plan beautifully. The Tomales Bay studies are just beginning, so stay tuned to further developments and discussion.
New film highlights importance of Marine Aquaculture in California and the U.S.
“Perspectives on Marine Aquaculture in California and the U.S.” is a short film recently produced by the Seafood for the Future program and Long Beach Aquarium and can be viewed here. It features prominent scientists and experts on the topic and discusses aquaculture’s role in the global food supply, the state of domestic marine aquaculture, and its future in the US and California.
“It’s important to put aquaculture into the broader context of food”, says Dr. Steve Gaines, Dean of UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “It’s easy to focus on the negative impacts of one form of food production in terms of environmental impacts, without recognizing that all forms of food production have some negative impacts.” Dr. Gaines goes on to point out how important it is to look at how all of those food production methods compare to one another. Recent research analysis shows that aquaculture, done well using today’s current best practices, can exert the lowest environmental impacts of any form of food production on the planet. Continue reading
US Aquaculture 101 – Webinar
The National Aquaculture Association, in partnership with the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center and the United States Aquaculture Society, present U.S. Farm-Raised Finfish and Shellfish 101. This webinar gives a great overview of the diversity of aquaculture in the United States and answers many common questions.
There are plenty more great aquaculture webinars available free to the public. Check them out:
- The National Aquaculture Association thenaa.net/webinars
- The North Central Regional Aquaculture Center ncrac.org/video
- United States Aquaculture Society http://usaquaculture.org/webinars
Podcast – Oysters and Ocean Acidification
Dr. Tessa Hill, associate professor at Bodega Marine Labs, joined NPR’s Science Friday program to discuss the challenges facing shellfish aquaculture in the face of rising Ocean Acidification.
Listen in to learn more about challenges facing the oyster industry and what scientists, the industry, and policy makers can do to combat these challenging new ocean conditions.
Webcast & Report – Offshore Aquaculture in Southern California
Just in time for National Aquaculture Week, the Aquarium of the Pacific, Sea Grant, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the second report of their Offshore Aquaculture Workshop series. This workshop continues the conversation with Federal and State agencies about how to improve regulatory confidence in aquaculture operations. The workshop introduced a model as a possible tool for decision making, and includes information on animal health management, protected species concerns, and a summary of the permitting process.
Webcast speakers include Dr. Jerry Schubel, president and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific; Dr. James Morris, marine ecologist, NOAA’s National Ocean Service and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science; and Dr. Paul Olin, aquaculture specialist, California Sea Grant and the University of California, San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Upcoming Webinar – Regulatory Costs of U.S. Aquaculture Businesses
The United States Aquaculture Society, National Aquaculture Association and North Central Regional Aquaculture Center are offering a free webinar focused on the regulatory costs incurred by bait and sportfish farmers. Many aquaculture producers and scientists have long pointed to an excessively burdensome regulatory environment in the United States as a constraint to growth and development of aquaculture. However, there has been little research done to determine the magnitude of the specific costs incurred by aquaculture producers as they comply with regulations.
This 1-hour webinar will present results of the first-ever study to measure the specific costs of regulations and how these costs affect U.S. baitfish and sportfish farms. While this study focused on baitfish and sportfish farms, results are likely to be of interest to the broader aquaculture community and to state regulatory agencies. New studies under development to similarly measure regulatory costs on U.S. West Coast shellfish growers and trout and salmon farmers will also be discussed.
Date and Time: Tuesday, September 27, 2016, 3:00 PM Eastern.
Duration: 60 minutes.
To Register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/1b9f24b2117490ab7c24e00bf0acd2b8
Presenter: Dr. Carole Engle is an Aquaculture Economist with more than 35 years of experience in the analysis of economics and marketing issues related to aquaculture businesses. She has worked in 19 different countries, has published over 112 scientific articles, serves as Executive Editor of the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society and Editor-in-Chief of Aquaculture Economics and Management.
Upcoming Funding Opportunity -Macroalgae Cultivation
The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) intends to issue a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in November, 2016, for the development of cultivation technologies benefiting the production of macroalgal-biomass (seaweeds) in the ocean. These technologies are expected to be deployed and support cultivation of macroalgal-biomass for the production of commodity fuels and chemicals. The primary challenge is to dramatically reduce capital and operating cost of macroalgae cultivation, while significantly increasing the range of deployment by expanding into off-shore environments.
The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E eXCHANGE (http://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in September 2016. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.
Read more below from the ARPA announcement.
Aquaculture Matters 