Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, both R-Alaska, have announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval of up to $52 million in Pacific and Alaskan groundfish purchases.

The USDA will buy cod, haddock, pollock, and flounder to supplement the federal government’s food-assistance programs as part of its Section 32 program.

Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act authorizes a percentage of customs receipts to be transferred to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to support the prices of surplus domestic commodities and to distribute those commodities through various USDA programs designed to feed hungry Americans.

“The covid-19 pandemic has only further highlighted the longstanding disparities in food insecurity, reminding us that millions of Americans, including Alaskans, struggle to feed their families. This issue is only exacerbated by the historic levels of inflation that currently plagues our nation,” Murkowski said in a press release.

The USDA’s purchases will also provide “much-needed support for our seafood industry, which continues to face the impacts of COVID-19, and provide healthy, Alaskan fish to hungry Americans,” Murkowski said.

“Alaska has suffered extraordinary economic hardship over the last few years, with the impacts of the pandemic layered on top of an unprecedented number of fisheries disasters,” Sullivan noted. “Our great fishing industry is a pillar of Alaska’s economy and culture, and is critical to America’s food supply chain.”

Foods purchased with Section 32 funds are distributed to schools, childcare programs, senior citizens, food banks, victims of disasters, and Indian tribes via programs such as the National School Lunch Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.

This story was originally published on SeafoodSource.com and is reprinted here with permission.