Federal officials announced Tuesday that they will make 22,000 more temporary worker visas available to meet the needs of seasonal employers, including those in Maryland's seafood industry.

The news comes a few weeks after Maryland's senators and Gov. Larry Hogan called on the federal government to release more of the H-2B visas in letters sent before the start of the blue crab harvest season on April 1. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it will add another 22,000 visas for seasonal workers in the coming months. Of those visas, 6,000 will be reserved for people coming from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

Before the announcement, the H-2B temporary worker program was capped at 66,000 visas per fiscal year.

Federal lawmakers applauded the news.

"As the harvest season begins on the Northern Neck and the Eastern Shore, we are pleased that seafood processors will be able to hire additional seasonal workers to keep their operations up and running," a group of senators said in a joint statement.

Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen (both D-MD) joined Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) in releasing the statement.

Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st Dist.) said the additional visas still might not be enough to fill the need.

"I am concerned that this number will be insufficient to meet the full demand of our seasonal employers as we come off the pandemic," Harris said. "I will continue to work to ensure that my local seasonal businesses and the many American workers they employ are able to bring in the temporary foreign workers they need to meet their seasonal labor demands."

The H-2B program allows employers to temporarily hire non-immigrant workers to fill seasonal or other short-term labor needs. Workers from other countries can come to the U.S. temporarily to fill jobs when there aren't enough domestic workers available.

The visas are used extensively by seafood processors on the Eastern Shore, though Maryland has seen major shortages that threaten the crab industry.

Under the program, the federal government allocates 33,000 visas every six months through a lottery system.

Hogan has repeatedly called for an increase in the number of visas awarded through the program. In his letter to federal officials, Hogan also asked federal officials to end the lottery system currently used to award visas, which he said creates uncertainty for seafood processors.