The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking seafood suppliers to bid on 103,500 pounds of groundfish, including Atlantic pollock and ocean perch.

The fish will be used in the National School Lunch Program and other Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs, the USDA said in a notice.

Bids are due by Feb. 16. The winning bidders will make deliveries to several U.S. cities between April and October 2022.

The USDA is seeking to purchase 41,400 pounds of frozen Atlantic pollock fillets, 27,000 pounds of frozen haddock fillets, and 35,100 pounds of frozen ocean perch fillets.

The purchases are part of the USDA’s Section 32 program, which buys surplus goods for nutritional programs.

Federal lawmakers in East Coast states, including U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and William Keating, all Democrats representing Massachusetts, pushed to increase funding for the program in the past two years via several COVID-19 relief bills, as a means of providing an additional market for fishing companies that have struggled through the pandemic.

This story first appeared on SeafoodSource.com and is republished here with permission.

Christine Blank is a contributing editor for SeafoodSource.com and a veteran freelance writer and editor who covers all aspects of the seafood industry, from fishing to processing to selling and serving the final product.

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