Sen. Bailey urges codification of Chesapeake Bay oyster program and creation of seafood industry relief fund

Sen. Bailey presented Senate Bill 558 to the House Environment and Transportation Committee, asking lawmakers to codify the Chesapeake Bay Enhancement Program and establish a Maryland Seafood Industry Financial Assistance Fund to provide loans and other financial assistance to commercial watermen and small seafood businesses.

"The purpose of this fund would be to provide financial assistance, including loans, to commercial watermen and small businesses that are associated with the seafood industry," Sen. Bailey said, and respectfully requested a favorable report. He told the committee the bill language was negotiated with the Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Department of Transportation.

Industry witnesses said the program has long supported oyster restoration and that recent events left many watermen in financial distress. Jim Mullen of the Maryland Oystermen's Association said the program "started back in 1996" and "has been a good working relationship" among watermen, MDOT and DNR. Robert T. Brown, president of the Maryland Waterman's Association, said the program supported the industry's recovery: from a 2003 low of about 26,000 bushels to hundreds of thousands of bushels in later years. "Without these funds, we wouldn't have been able to have so much success," Brown said.

Sen. Bailey and witnesses cited a string of shocks this year: a multi-state salmonella outbreak linked to raw oysters that depressed demand, severe winter icing that kept harvesters from working and a major sewage spill on the Potomac River. Committee discussion referenced a governor-provided data point stating a 44% reduction in harvest for the year (presented to the Department of Commerce and the Maryland delegation), which witnesses and sponsor said underscores the need for targeted relief.

The fiscal conference included a contingent appropriation: the committee heard that the budget conference had set aside $2 million to seed the new fund, contingent on passage of the bill. Sponsor testimony described a draft amendment that would add $337,500 from each of two existing, related funds to supplement that $2 million, bringing an illustrative total to $2.675 million; proponents said that figure could allow roughly $4,000 loans for a significant share of licensed oystermen under the program's eligibility criteria. Marbidco representatives said with the $2 million appropriation they could make roughly $3,000 loans to approximately 675 oystermen out of 1,124 licensed this season.

Marbidco (the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation) asked for technical changes to reflect its quasi-governmental status and described an amendment to permit transfers of funds between related programs to seed the new seafood fund. Allison Colden of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation supported amendments to expand eligible program uses to research, demonstration projects and restoration and urged an annual work plan requirement for transparency.

During Q&A, members pressed whether codifying the program would remove the need for the previous memorandum of understanding (MOU) between agencies; sponsor testimony said the bill would make an ongoing MOU unnecessary and would, in effect, take the port out of the prior process. Committee members also probed how long existing DNR and MDOT regulations or updated work plans could take to promulgate and whether the $2 million in the budget was sufficient. Proponents emphasized the bill's design to accept future federal disaster funds into the new state fund as a pass-through to affected families.

The hearing concluded after extended testimony and questions from members; no formal committee vote or outcome was recorded in the transcript.

Why it matters: proponents said the program has been a key funding stream for oyster restoration and that the added financial assistance could provide immediate relief to watermen whose livelihoods were curtailed by public-health events, weather and pollution.