Of $300 million set aside from the CARES Act for fisheries throughout the U.S. and territories, Guam will be receiving $1 million.

The Guam Department of Agriculture's Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources is in communication with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration working on guidelines for the money. 

Once the guidelines are developed, the money will be given to a fisheries commission that will oversee the dispersal of the money to individual fishers on Guam, according to the agency. That commission will work with the Agriculture division to develop a plan for Guam and in anticipation of this, the division has already written a draft plan based on general guidelines already provided and will submit this for approval once the guidelines are ready. 

The first step in this entire process is to have all Guam fishers register with DOAG DAWR. Fishers can find the registration form here and on doag.guam.gov under Resources then Forms. The registration form is also being distributed via Whatsapp through fishers’ chat groups. Hard copies of the forms are also available in the DAWR office. For those with digital access, DOAG DAWR recommends downloading the free Adobe Acrobat app, or something similar, to fill out the form, sign it digitally, and then email the form to [email protected].

Chelsa Muña-Brecht, Director of DOAG urges fishers to register. 

 

“Our goal is to have every Guam fisher benefit from this program. In order to make that happen we need to first establish how many fishers we have, both commercial and sustenance," she said. "DOAG DAWR worked with the WestPac Guam Fisheries Advisory Panel and the Fishermens Co-Op to ensure that the registration form and draft plan considers each type of fisher fairly. We are here to help our community benefit and thrive." 

For questions or concerns, please email [email protected] or call 735-0294.