Industry groups on the US West Coast are celebrating a request for proposal by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to buy $22 million worth of Pacific rockfish fillets and Pacific hake fillets.

The planned purchase was announced jointly on Thursday (July 11) by US senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and US representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle, and Andrea Salinas -- all Democrats from the US state of Oregon.

"Oregon's fisheries are the lifeblood of our coastal communities, and when they thrive, the whole Oregon Coast thrives," Merkley said. "This USDA purchasing announcement will boost Oregon's coastal fishermen and world-class seafood producers while also ensuring high-quality, nutritious seafood is included in food assistance programs here in Oregon, and across the country."

USDA plans to spend $14m on West Coast whiting fillets and $8 million on rockfish fillets, according to the announcement.

That same group of Oregon lawmakers had previously requested that USDA buy more seafood from the region, as previously reported by Undercurrent News. The request was similarly echoed by a group of industry groups from the region, including the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA), Midwater Trawlers Cooperative (MTC) and Fishermen's Marketing Association (FMA) in a letter to USDA sent in April.

The group cited lingering effects from the pandemic, and Russia's impact on the seafood market as adding to the region's seafood sector woes.

"The USDA partnership with West Coast seafood producers has already helped mitigate these and similar impacts while supplying American families with locally sourced, domestically produced, highly nutritious proteins," WCSPA executive director Lori Steele said in a statement applauding the USDA's most recent purchase announcement. "Continuing this partnership in 2024 will maintain this trend."