Florida Senate - 2011                                     SM 852
       
       
       
       By Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       20-01287-11                                            2011852__
    1                           Senate Memorial                         
    2         A memorial to the Congress of the United States,
    3         urging Congress to support the marketing of Florida
    4         seafood.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, Florida seafood products face constantly
    7  increasing domestic competition from imported seafood products,
    8  with more than 80 percent of the total seafood consumed in the
    9  United States currently originating in foreign countries, and
   10         WHEREAS, effective domestic marketing of Florida seafood in
   11  the face of aggressive competition from foreign products
   12  requires innovative, forceful, and consistent promotion, and
   13         WHEREAS, current annual funding for the domestic promotion
   14  of Florida seafood is insufficient to effectively develop the
   15  thriving markets that sustainable Florida seafood products
   16  merit, especially when competing with nationally supported
   17  promotional programs aimed at United States consumers by rival
   18  seafood-producing countries, and
   19         WHEREAS, duties and tariffs on imported seafood products
   20  generate approximately $280,000,000 annually for the United
   21  States Treasury, and
   22         WHEREAS, revenue from anti-dumping and countervailing
   23  duties on imported seafood products collected by the Federal
   24  Government total hundreds of millions of dollars annually, and
   25         WHEREAS, federal revenue derived from the importation of
   26  competing seafood products is not presently made available for
   27  the marketing of seafood harvested and produced domestically,
   28  and
   29         WHEREAS, using a portion of the revenue collected on the
   30  importation of foreign seafood products to promote United States
   31  seafood to domestic consumers will secure United States
   32  fisheries and seafood processing jobs, create robust and
   33  enduring domestic markets, and greatly enhance the nutritional
   34  value of national diets, and
   35         WHEREAS, throughout recent history each spill or leak
   36  associated with the transportation or production of oil
   37  negatively affects the seafood industry through the closure of
   38  commercial and recreational fishing operations, the destruction
   39  of wildlife and natural habitat, or loss of market share, and
   40         WHEREAS, in a recent survey conducted by the University of
   41  Minnesota, 54 percent of respondents said the Deepwater Horizon
   42  oil spill has affected their seafood consumption habits
   43  somewhat, 44 percent said they will not eat seafood from the
   44  Gulf of Mexico, and 31 percent said they will eat less seafood
   45  regardless of its origin, and
   46         WHEREAS, a new National Seafood Marketing Fund designed to
   47  promote and develop United States produced seafood would help
   48  the United States seafood industry now and in the future recoup
   49  damages related to oil spills that result in decreased market
   50  demand for seafood, and
   51         WHEREAS, a small portion of oil revenues are a logical
   52  source of funding for a National Seafood Marketing Fund as
   53  mitigation for real damages incurred by the seafood industry and
   54  coastal communities, NOW, THEREFORE,
   55  
   56  Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   57  
   58         That the Congress of the United States is requested to
   59  allocate moneys generated from federal marine and fishery
   60  product import tariffs for the domestic marketing of Florida
   61  seafood.
   62         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Congress of the United
   63  States is urged to pass legislation dedicating a significant
   64  portion of marine and fishery product import tariffs to a
   65  national seafood marketing fund to promote domestic seafood
   66  products that face competition from foreign imports.
   67         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Florida Congressional
   68  Delegation is urged to work with representatives of other
   69  seafood-producing states to secure adequate funding for
   70  effective and sustained domestic marketing of United States
   71  seafood.
   72         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be
   73  dispatched to the President of the United States, to the
   74  President of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the
   75  United States House of Representatives, and to each member of
   76  the Florida delegation to the United States Congress.