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The CARES Act is the federal program designed to provide relief to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The following FAQs pertain to issues affecting commercial fishing and aquaculture businesses. Affected individuals and businesses are encouraged to subscribe to the Marine Fisheries CARES Act Information E-mail list to receive notice of updated information.

1. Who is Eligible?

2. What counts as an eligible loss?

3. How do I apply for CARES Act funds?

4. In the instance that someone fishes in NJ but resides in another state, will they be given money from NJ or the state in which they reside?

5. How long will it take to receive funding?

6. Will approved applicants receive the same amount of assistance or will the amount differ depending on the loss? Who determines the amount?

7. Can you explain the application process?

8. What will happen to new businesses that have no previous record to indicate lost revenue?

9. Am I allowed to apply for/receive multiple sources of relief funding?

10. Can aquaculture businesses receive assistance through the Department of Agriculture and the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Administration?

11. What are some other programs that may be available to me?

12. Will I have to pay back the funding that I receive for this program?

13. What else is the State of New Jersey doing to assistant the fishing industry at this time?

14. Will the spend plan be discussed at any of the Marine Fisheries Council meetings?

15. Who can I contact if I have additional questions?

1. Who is Eligible?
From the CARES Act, "Tribes, persons, fishing communities, aquaculture businesses not otherwise eligible for [USDA] assistance under part 1416 of title 7CFR for losses related to COVID-19, processors, or other fishery-related businesses, who have incurred, as a direct or indirect result of the coronavirus pandemic."

In other words, commercial fisheries, aquaculture, for-hire fisheries, processors, commercial fish/shellfish dealers/wholesalers, and manufacturers are eligible to receive assistance. There is a caveat that aquaculture businesses that can receive emergency agricultural disaster assistance through the USDA Farm Service Agency would not be eligible (7CFR part 1416). Aquaculture businesses should contact their county Farm Service Agency office to speak with them about their Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (also known as ELAP) before applying for fisheries assistance through the Marine Fisheries Administration (MFA).

Businesses farther down the supply chain - including vessel repair businesses, restaurants, and seafood retailers are not considered "fishery-related businesses" and are not eligible for assistance.

In order to be approved for assistance, applicants must have incurred an eligible loss.

2. What counts as an eligible loss?
An eligible loss is any fisheries-related economic revenue losses greater than 35% between July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 as compared to the prior 5-year average revenue history of the same time period.

All applicants will be required to provide their fishery-related revenue from July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 for each sector in which they are applying. In addition, they will also need to provide their fishery-related revenue history from July 1 through December 31 for the previous five years (2015-2019). Applicants will be eligible for support if their 2020 revenue shows a greater than 35% loss over the previous five-year average. Applicants are required to have at least 1 year of revenue history in order to be eligible for payment.

An applicant will be required to report revenue data for all years in which the entity existed, even if the business was not active. Inactive years will still be used to calculate revenue loss, so long as the entity existed. All years in which the business was not active and had no revenue, but the entity existed, the total revenue that must be used is $0. An applicant does not have to include prior year revenue in their calculation if their business did not yet exist. Revenue must be broken down per sector. All sectors that show a greater than 35% revenue loss compared to the prior 5-year average revenue will be eligible for payment. The sectors are broken down as follows:

1. Commercial
  a. includes aquaculture

2. Recreational
  a. For-Hire
  b. Bait & Tackle Shops

3. Dealers & Processors

3. How do I apply for CARES Act funds?
The application period is now CLOSED. The application process was available online on through New Jersey's SAGE (e-Grants) website, njdepsage.intelligrants.com. The application time period began on August 18, 2021 and ended on Friday, November 12, 2021 at 5:00pm EST.

For more information, please see the Notice of Funding (pdf, 164kb).

4. In the instance that someone fishes in NJ but resides in another state, will they be given money from NJ or the state in which they reside?
Fishery participants will only be able to apply and receive funding through their state/territory of residence.

5. How long will it take to receive funding?
The application period for applying for this grant ended on Friday, November 12, 2021. Checks will be issued after all of the applications have been reviewed, appeals processed, and total losses have been calculated. The Division anticipates that the process will take 24 business days from the application end date. Successful applicants will be notified when this process is complete and when checks have been mailed.

If you have other questions about receiving you award, please contact njfisheriesaid@dep.nj.gov.

6. Will approved applicants receive the same amount of assistance or will the amount differ depending on the loss? Who determines the amount?
MFA is scaling payments based on the total dollar amount of revenue lost and the total number of applicants in order to equitably distribute 100% of the funding to applicants. The actual amount of funding to be received per applicant will not be available until the application period closes and all applications have been reviewed.

7. Can you explain the application process?
Applicants will apply for eligible losses in every sector for which they participate. The sectors are as follows:

1. Commercial
  a. includes aquaculture

2. Recreational
  a. For-Hire
  b. Bait & Tackle Shops

3. Dealers & Processors

All applicants will be required to provide their fishery-related revenue from July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020 for each sector in which they are applying. This revenue must be broken out per sector. In addition, they will also need to provide their fishery-related revenue history from July 1 through December 31 for the previous five years (2015-2019) for each sector. Applicants will be eligible for support if their 2020 revenue shows a greater than 35% loss over the previous five-year average. Applicants are required to have at least 1 year of revenue history in order to be eligible for payment.

An applicant will be required to report revenue data for all years in which the entity existed, even if the business was not active. Inactive years will still be used to calculate revenue loss, so long as the entity existed. All years in which the business was not active and had no revenue, but the entity existed, the total revenue that must be used is $0. An applicant does not have to include prior year revenue in their calculation if their business did not yet exist.

For example, if an entity was created in 2010 but was not active in the years 2016 and 2017, they will have to report their revenue for those years as $0. Their application may look something like this:

2015: $100,000
2016: $0
2017: $0
2018: $150,000
2019: $110,000
2020: $75,000

The calculation in this example will look like this: (100,000+0+0+150,000+110,000)/5= $72,000 average revenue. In this example the entity would not qualify for a payment because their revenue from March 1 through June 30, 2020 totaling 75,000 was not a 35% loss compared to their average 5-year revenue history for the same time period totaling $72,000.

Revenue must be broken down per sector. All sectors that show a greater than 35% revenue loss compared to the prior 5-year average revenue will be eligible for payment.

Applicants will also be required to provide information on all COVID-19 related monetary assistance that has been received.

Applicants must not be made more than whole for their losses seen over the course of 2020. Applicants will be required to provide their total revenue for 2020. Applicants who expect to be made more than whole in 2020 compared to their 5-year average revenue from 2015-2019 should note that if they are made more than whole they are required to return the excess money to ASMFC. Applicants are solely responsible for determining if they have been made more than whole.

In addition to meeting loss eligible requirements, applicants will answer a series of questions to determine if they meet all licensing and permitting requirements. Applicants should have handy any permit and license numbers while filling out the application. Here is a breakdown of required permits and licenses per sector:

Commercial Fishery Sector: