Updated May 20, 2020

As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to impact all aspects of society, Washington Sea Grant has been mobilizing its resources to support communities and stakeholders across the state:

• At the onset of the outbreak, Washington Sea Grant was among the first organizations to reach out to the state’s shellfish industry, providing an online webinar on COVID-19 resources for the shellfish industry which featured speakers from the Washington Department of Commerce.
• Washington Sea Grant and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) are partnering with commercial fishermen to increase awareness of Washington State’s sustainably harvested seafood products, which has become particularly critical in the face of the current COVID-19 outbreak. This initiative addresses a gap in consumer information about fisheries management and the measures taken by WDFW to ensure that seafood delivered to Washington consumers is sustainably caught, while raising consumer awareness of fishing techniques, business practices, and economic impact.
• An advisory group representing all fisheries niches in Washington State was established by WDFW and now meets monthly with Washington Sea Grant. Web pages providing COVID-19 resources to fishers and consumer COVID-19 resources were created in response to feedback from this group.
• A social media campaign was launched this spring, sharing seafood recipes and encouraging Washington consumers to purchase Washington seafood directly from fishers.
• In addition to this project, Washington Sea Grant created COVID-19 resource pages for families and educators and for the shellfish industry in the state.

We will continue to update these resource pages as we collectively respond with an abundance of caution to the needs of our communities during this time of change.