A record 41 million people have reportedly voted early in the 2020 US election, a strong predictor that Democrats could take both the White House and the Senate. But what might that mean for the seafood industry?
That, and the possibility of Republicans retaining power, are what a panel of five experts will discuss on Thursday as part of Undercurrent News’ free, 90-minute “Seafood and the US Election” webinar. It kicks off at 3:30 p.m. EST and will be moderated by Undercurrent senior reporter Jason Huffman. His panel includes:
· Sebastian Belle, executive director of the Maine Aquaculture Association;
· Todd Clark, partner, Endeavor Seafood;
· Leigh Habegger, executive director, Seafood Harvesters of America;
· Bob Vanasse, founder, Saving Seafood; and
· Marc Busch, professor of international business diplomacy, Georgetown University.
President Donald Trump at a meeting with commercial fishing industry representatives in Bangor, Maine. Official White House photograph by Joyce N. Boghosian.
Among the many topics the group will talk about are issues related to wild harvesting. A bill introduced this week by US representative Raul Grijalva, chairman of the House of Representative’s Natural Resources Committee, looks to impose new conservation standards on commercial fishing in US waters while also encouraging the development of wind farms, as reported by Undercurrent.
Grijalva said during a press conference on Wednesday that he’s counting on Democrats to take control of the Senate in order to push his legislation forward, and that’s a real possibility based on the latest predictions by the Cook Political Report. And the early voters are believed to be heavily dominated by Democrats looking to oust current president Donald Trump.
Republicans currently maintain a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, but, of the 35 Senate races, 23 involve Republican incumbents and seven of those are considered a toss-up, according to Cook. Two of those races are leaning toward the Democratic challengers.
Remember that a tie in the Senate is broken by the vote of the vice president, which could wind up being Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris from California.
Joe Biden. Photograph by Evan Evan El-Amin on Shutterstock.
Aquaculture also is on the political table, as Trump has recently elevated US domestic seafood production and aquaculture as priorities in his administration, while simultaneously other legislation pending in both the House and Senate would ease the regulatory process for new offshore aquaculture facilities. Might a Biden administration continue the same tack?
Likewise, the US seafood industry is currently mired in a bitter trade war between China and the US that already has cost it $422 million in import tariffs, not to mention the much larger losses of import and export business. Might a Trump or Biden victory bring an end to the battle and its related costs?
Our experts will cover all of these issues and also what they expect to happen with coronavirus-related relief for seafood harvesters, processors and wholesalers, too.
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