By Congressman Derek Kilmer

The fishing season off the coast of our Olympic Peninsula usually brings a lot of excitement. Before sunrise, boats line the docks in Westport checking gear to make sure they are ready for a long day on the water. The cash registers at bait and tackle shops stay busy as professional and amateur fishermen pick up supplies. Processors get ready to take in the day’s catch and send it to stores and restaurants far and wide. But for the past few years, unforeseeable events have caused both salmon and crab fisheries to take a serious hit.

Instead of cutting across coastal waters trolling for salmon or setting crab pots, commercial and tribal fishermen were stuck shore-side wondering how they were going to make their next loan payment or put food on the table at home. Businesses tied into our recreational fishery were also impacted.

That’s because an unusually warm mass of water (that became known as “the blob”) appeared off our coast in 2013 and damaged the ability of salmon to survive. As a consequence, fish runs plummeted. In fact, the runs were just 20 percent of the previous five-year average. To add to this challenge, changing ocean conditions fueled a massive harmful algal bloom (or “HAB”) that impacted our iconic Dungeness crab population.

In the small towns and tribal communities scattered along the Peninsula’s coast, fishing is a way of life. Boats, gear and trade secrets are passed down from generation to generation as sons and daughters who grew up in the family business now hope to make their living on the water. Instead of a storefront, young people starting out in this business need a boat and a permit. And neither comes cheap. They put all their investments into getting into the fishery with the expectation they can earn it back one season at a time.

The multiple fishery disasters that have occurred in Washington state since 2013 have hit the wallets of men and women on the Peninsula. All that money they’ve put into their business has been put in jeopardy due to factors outside their control.

In light of the economic hardship caused by this, I joined Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray in asking the U.S. Department of Commerce to issue fisheries disaster declarations. These declarations give local communities access to assistance that will mitigate the impacts of these disasters in the short term-term and invest in projects that will help our fisheries recover over the long run.

The department finally followed through in mid-January, and that’s good news. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I’m going to fight for the funding for which our local communities are now eligible.

Despite this important victory, we still need to look at the road ahead, because the reality is that rapidly changing ocean conditions are threatening the species that make up our iconic fishing industry. Although these declarations are important, we still have a ways to go before folks begin to feel some relief.

I think we can do better.

First, we need to double-down on supporting science and innovative management decisions to reduce the risk of future disasters. On the Appropriations Committee I’ve fought for federal funding to help recover salmon populations. That includes investments for habitat restoration along with scientific research focused on selective fishing methods to better protect wild stocks so they can return home safely to spawn. I’ve also advocated for federal funding to support ocean monitoring so we can better understand and predict the conditions that led to the coast wide Dungeness crab disasters.

As evidenced by the long-drawn out process for these disaster declarations, which spanned nearly four years, we need to revamp this process too. Right now, it takes far too long and is uncertain. Folks suffering from seasonal disasters often don’t know whether the government will actually provide meaningful relief to their businesses. It’s time for a system that can provide immediate emergency relief when a disaster strikes, not years later when it may already be too late.

Currently, I’m talking to folks in the industry about what this system should look like. Based on those conversations I look forward to working with my colleagues to introduce a proposal that can give us a predictable and timely process to providing economic relief to impacted communities while also ensuring that we don’t pave the way for unsustainable fishing.

These declarations are an important victory but our work is not done. I’m going to keep at it because when fisheries close, business owners, families and workers take the hit. I want to make sure we have certainty for these jobs. I want to make sure the next generation of fishermen can be just as successful as the last.

Derek Kilmer serves as the United States Representative of Washington’s 6th Congressional District.