A bipartisan group of Oregon and Washington lawmakers is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to purchase Pacific hake, also known as whiting, as the West Coast seafood industry continues to face disruptions in key export markets.
In the Sept. 18 letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, the lawmakers expressed support for a West Coast Seafood Processors Association request that USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Services pursue Section 32 purchases of Pacific whiting fillets during fiscal years 2026 and 2027.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley led the letter, joined by Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, along with Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, Cliff Bentz, Val Hoyle, Andrea Salinas, Janelle Bynum, and Maxine Dexter of Oregon, and Rick Larsen and Emily Randall of Washington.
The lawmakers pointed to the loss and disruption of overseas markets as a major challenge for the Pacific whiting industry. Historically, exports to Ukraine, one of the largest markets for whiting fillets, reached nearly $95 million annually, according to the letter. Russia’s war in Ukraine has put that market in jeopardy and disrupted the seafood supply chain.
The lawmakers wrote that those losses have been compounded by trade embargoes, growing competition from lower-cost imported proteins, inflation, and rising operating costs.
Together, those pressures are creating uncertainty for fishermen, processors, and coastal communities that depend on the whiting fishery. “The seafood industry represents a massive pillar of the Pacific Northwest’s coastal economy,” the letter reads, adding that its economic footprint extends beyond coastal communities and into domestic and international food markets.
The group is asking USDA to continue using federal purchasing programs to help move domestically produced seafood into U.S. markets. The department has worked with the West Coast seafood industry in recent years to distribute surplus seafood domestically as overseas markets have fluctuated or disappeared.
The lawmakers said purchasing whiting fillets through Section 32 would provide direct support to U.S. harvesters and processors while helping stabilize working waterfront communities during the ongoing market disruption. They argued that the purchase would strengthen domestic food supply chains by supporting U.S. protein production and distribution.
“We ask the USDA to continue that partnership by addressing these sustained market losses that have created vast economic strains and challenges for our seafood industry,” the lawmakers wrote.
