Sec. 302. Action plan and identification of coastal communities
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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall develop an action plan to facilitate more domestic processing of United States-caught seafood and mariculture by rural processing facilities, including rural processing facilities that have less than 50 employees. The action plan developed under subsection
(a)shall include— an identification of rural coastal communities where commercial fishing is a significant economic driver and there exists a need and voiced community desire for the creation of new (or rehabilitation of existing) seafood processing infrastructure for rural processing facilities to allow those communities— to effectively process their own catch locally; and to provide for the local and domestic market; an identification of rural coastal communities with existing or developing mariculture operations where processing infrastructure for rural processing facilities is not sufficient to meet the needs of the mariculture operations; and a consideration of the diversity of rural coastal communities, including geographic diversity. The action plan developed under subsection
(a)shall identify rural coastal communities across the United States that would be eligible for the grants and cooperative agreements under section 303. In developing the action plan under subsection (a), the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, shall provide a meaningful stakeholder engagement process that prioritizes outreach and engagement through methods that effectively reach out to residents of rural coastal communities described in paragraphs
(1)through
(3)of subsection (b).