Redfish Farmers of America

05/21/2021

Redfish farms across Texas are working diligently to prepare their farms for another season. If the consumer that dines in exquisite restaurants on this palatable product knew the preparation and hard work that it takes to get beautiful farm raised redfish from farm to plate it would make that wonderful meal a lot more meaningful. Farmers feed America and Redfish farmers love their work. Stay tuned as we start to highlight the story of the Redfish Farmers of America!

05/13/2021

Congrats to all the Redfish Farms in Texas. The Farm Services Agency has determined to include fish for food in the ELAP program. What an incredible piece of news this morning. Thank you to Paul from the NAA for all of your work and Fritz from The TAA!

03/30/2021

The USDA Farm Services Agency has taken a position of denial against the redfish farmers of America. A few key points about the importance of Redfish Farmers:

1. Our commercial production of land based farm raised Domestic Redfish protects wild populations from over fishing and supplements Domestic Fresh Fish supply with high quality farm raised product used by restaurants and grocery stores across the United States.

2. The work Redfish Farmers of America perform year in and year out reduces American dependency on import fish supply.

3. Aqua farming is a sustainable, annually predictable process that allows large production capacities of fresh fish, a terrific protein for human consumption, from private industry with little to no risk to the environment.

4. Aqua farming generates thousands of American jobs from Feed companies that produce the fish to ice packing companies, box companies to distribution companies and restaurants and grocery store chains who depend on our fresh supply in the market place.

5. Our sustainable program allows for the wild stock to continue to thrive because of the reduced impact to commercial fishing in wild estuaries.

Live stock like beef cattle and lamb as well as bee production all raise their crop for human consumption. The USDA Farm Services Agency Deputy Director has the sole authority granted by Congress to include or exclude Redfish. He has determined that fish for food would be excluded from Government protections under ELAP. The ELAP program granted by Congress in the farm Bill guarantees our protection under the law but the Farm Services Agency is going against our inclusion on a rule, NOT written by Congress thereby excluding Redfish Producers from needed aid from the freeze that happened in February of 2021z Please call Secretary Tom Vilsacks office to encourage him to meet with the Deputy Director of the Farm Services agency to change the USDA FSA position and include Redfish in the ELAP program. We need your support.

Secretary Tom Vilsacks office is

[email protected]
202-720-3631

Redfish farmers of America are not against the Farm Services Agency or the Deputy Director. However, We are for the law and hope that Secretary Vilsack will consider our plea for assistance guaranteed under the law outlined and passed by Congress and encourage the Deputy Director to change his position to save our industry. We need your help. Please call this week.

03/24/2021

Please share our story. The Redfish Farmers of America need your help and support to continue producing High Quality American / Texas raised Redfish!

PALACIOS — As other Texans fixed busted pipes and paid off electric bills after February’s freeze, Shane Nicaud had to bury 1.5 million pounds of dead farm-raised redfish into the

03/23/2021

As we continue to recover from the freeze we are going to get to work to try to continue to work with the Farm Services Agency while preparing to have our farms positioned to start production when they help the Redfish Farmers of America! We need your help FSA!

03/21/2021

Thank you KIII news Corpus Christy for sharing our story. We need support from Media reporters like Ms. Lexis Greene

The industry is reportedly needing immediate disaster relief and assistance or farmers will find it very hard to rebound from the freeze event.

03/21/2021

If you are wondering why US Farm Raised redfish is has been limited or has been removed on menus across the Gulf South check out the Redfish Farmers of America page to learn more about it. Please catch up on the issue a d please reach out to USDA Secretary Vilsacks office to encourage him to include Redfish in the USDA Farm Services Agency program called ELAP (emergency livestock program for Cattle, Honey Bees and Aquaculture raised fish) 95% of the US production was wiped out in the freeze storm that occurred in South Texas in February 2021.

03/21/2021

Redfish Impact Alert:

In February of this year the frigid, sustained freeze that occurred in South Texas wiped out the US Domestic Industries Redfish supply. Every farm was severely impacted and millions of pounds of Domestic farm raised redfish was lost the week of February 15 through February 21, 2021. This loss has devastated the Redfish Farmers of America. Over 95% of US Redfish production was lost and without help from the USDA Farm Services Agency the American Redfish Farmers will not recover. The FSA has a program, called ELAP, that is approved by Congress, through the Farm Bill, that clearly covers redfish farmers. Unfortunately, the FSA, has not approved Redfish Farmers to date due to a rules concern. However, the Deputy Administrative Director of farm programs has the legislative authority, granted by Congress, to include Redfish Farms but to date, for some reason, has not included us. We need your help so our farms can re-stock in time to produce more of our beautiful redfish to fill gaps in US Domestic Supply. Please call US Secretary Tom Vilsack to address your concerns and encourage him to urge the Deputy Administrative Director of Farm Programs in the FSA to include Redfish in the ELAP program. Attached is a picture of the mailing address and phone number to the USDA. We need your help. The ELAP program was specifically designed for this exact type of emergency we face. You can learn more about the ELAP program issues we face by clicking the link:

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/disaster-assistance-program/emergency-assist-for-livestock-honey-bees-fish/index

03/19/2021

DID YOU KNOW:
FARM RAISED REDFISH is the only method to produce the necessary supply to fill the gap in markets at US restaurants and Grocery stores due to the restrictions on Commercial catches in State and Federal waters!

Commercial and recreational use

From 1980 through 1988, commercial fishermen took an average of 28% of the redfish, while sport fishermen harvested 72%. Catch limits and size restrictions have increased the average weight of redfish caught in Louisiana coastal waters.[13] Restrictions on both sport and commercial fishermen allowed the species to rebuild. States actively vary the recreational catch limits and minimum and maximum lengths to help maintain sustainable red drum populations. Executive Order 13449 of October 20, 2007, issued by U.S. President George W. Bush, designated the red drum as a protected game fish. The order prohibits sale of red drum caught in federal waters and encourages states to consider designating red drum as a protected game fish within state waters.[14] While they may no longer be commercially harvested in U.S. federal waters or in most state waters, they are readily caught and still enjoyed as table fare by many. In addition, farm-raised redfish are still available as a commercial product [15] Commercial netting disappeared after coastal states such as Florida declared red drum prohibited for sale. Recreational size and bag limits have been highly effective, allowing daily limits to be increased in recent years.[citation needed]