§53702 General authority

Summary

The Secretary or Administrator can promise to pay the principal and interest on loans that qualify under this law. They set the terms of those promises, and each promise must cover 100 percent of the principal and interest. The Federal Financing Bank is the preferred lender for the principal and interest of these guaranteed loans. Any loan involving a fishing vessel, fishery or aquaculture facility, individual fishing quota, or fishing capacity reduction program made after October 11, 1996, must be a direct loan to the Secretary instead of a loan guaranteed to someone else. A direct loan is treated like a guaranteed loan except for rules that only apply to guarantees. The interest rate is 2 percent plus the extra rate the Secretary pays to borrow from the Treasury. At least $59,000,000 must be made available each fiscal year for historic uses. The Secretary may also make direct loans to build or rebuild vessels in limited-access fisheries or to buy harvesting rights in federally managed limited-access fisheries.