Nancy Mace

MOUNT PLEASANT — A series of amendments to the 2026 farm bill would expand federal assistance traditionally reserved for farmers to commercial fishermen and seafood processors and remove foreign seafood from SNAP — also known as food stamps — eligibility.

From a dock on Mount Pleasant’s Shem Creek on April 27, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace announced the four amendments she authored and a fifth she co-sponsored that she said will deliver “long overdue” support to South Carolina’s commercial shrimping and fishing industries.

The proposed amendments lay out key changes in the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, a bill that goes to the House floor this week.

Mace, R-Charleston, and one of seven GOP candidates for governor this year, has submitted four of her own amendments to the bill that would establish an Office of Seafood within the U.S. Department of Agriculture and expand the department’s loan program for farmers to include commercial fishermen and processors.

Under the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, the USDA offers operating and ownership loans to farmers. The funds can be used to purchase livestock and equipment, or purchase or expand a farm or ranch.

According to the text of the amendment, commercial fishermen would be eligible for these loans, too. The loans could be used to purchase or improve a fishing vessel or a processing house, a facility where fish are sorted and cleaned ahead of consumption.

Mace is also proposing expanding the USDA’s Local Market Program Grants to include commercial fishing businesses.

The amendment specifically targets the Farmers’ Market and Local Food Promotion Programs, which give matching funds to local governments, food councils, nonprofits and community-supported agriculture networks to promote or distribute certain domestic agriculture products.

This amendment would make wild-caught fish and shellfish one of those eligible agriculture products.

“The federal government has dozens of programs to provide grants and loans to farmers and ranchers,” Mace said. “Yet for too long, they've ignored the the struggles of our shrimpers and our fishermen along the coast and the decline of our domestic seafood industry.”

Mace is also proposing that non-domestic seafood no longer be SNAP-eligible items.

A fifth amendment, which Mace is co-sponsoring with U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Tex., would prohibit federal dollars from going to international financial institutions that support foreign shrimp farming, processing or exporting the shellfish.

Joining Mace on Shem Creek on the chilly morning was Bryan Jones, a McClellanville-based shrimper and vice president of the South Carolina Shrimper’s Association.

“Our fishermen are competing every day against the tide of imported seafood and strengthening the domestic seafood production is really about protecting our livelihoods, but more so it's about food security and the resilience of America's food supply,” Jones said.

The updated farm bill, including Mace’s amendments, is on the U.S. House agenda this week.

The federal proposals coincide with efforts in the S.C. Legislature to adopt shrimp labeling laws. House Bill 4248 would require individuals, restaurants and seafood markets to clearly label their shrimp or other shrimp products with the product’s country of origin.