June 25, 2020 — Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America, which was originally scheduled to take place in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., in March and was postponed to 22 to 24 September, 2020, has been canceled.
The event’s organizer, Diversified Communications, said the COVID-19 crisis has made holding the event this year untenable.
June 25, 2020 — The National Fisheries Institute and other food industry groups are urging U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration to prioritize food, agriculture, and retail workers for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Scientists have advised that COVID-19 will remain a continuous public health concern, so the importance of a vaccine cannot be overstated. A vaccine targeting COVID-19 is likely the only way to generate immunity across a population,” NFI, FMI – the Food Industry Association, the National Restaurant Association, and other groups said in a letter to Trump.
June 25, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
The National Fisheries Institute is pleased to see federal regulators working together to create important guidance to protect workers at seafood facilities and provide guidance for employers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recognize seafood is an important part of the U.S. economy and fish production facilities are essential to the Nation’s critical infrastructure. With the Food and Drug Administration, CDC and OSHA have released guidance designed to help keep seafood workers and food safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The guidance supplements general guidance already issued by the public health and worker safety agencies.
The seafood industry specific guidance reiterates that seafood-processing workers are not exposed to the disease through the fish and seafood products they handle. It provides useful tools to minimize hazards for workers who come in relatively close contact with each other and may raise exposure risk factors.
The guidance reviews screening, quarantining and testing of both onshore and offshore employees and is in keeping with the best practices recognized by the industry for COVID-prevention controls.
June 25, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
Diversified Communications has long been a leader in connecting, educating and strengthening the seafood community. Its trade shows and informational forums are an essential gathering place for businesses of all sizes.
Making the decision to reschedule and then cancel Seafood Expo North America 2020 was likely a tough one but illustrates Diversified’s commitment to listen to its customers and its ability to be nimble in a time of change. Diversified’s actions reflect the responsiveness and innovation found in seafood harvesters, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pivoting to meet the seafood community’s needs, Diversified continues to provide a robust digital information and marketing space for the industry. In 2021 it will host an exciting edition of Seafood Expo North America that will meet the needs of our changing market place.
We look forward to seeing NFI members exhibiting at Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America next year in what will be an enthusiastic return to Boston.
June 18, 2020 — This year’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) annual meeting, as well as the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS) plenary meeting, have been canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a letter from the organization’s commission chairman, Raul Delgado.
The SCRS meeting was to be held from September to October, and the annual meeting was to be held in November.
June 17, 2020 — Two migrant workers who worked in a Louisiana-based seafood processing facility have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board claiming they were fired due to leaving company housing to seek hospital treatment.
The two workers, Maribel Hernandez and Reyna Isabel Alvarez, were in the country on temporary H-2B visas, according to Reuters. The two workers claim that their employer, Acadia Processors LLC., told them and other sick workers to remain in employee housing without pay while ill.
June 12, 2020 — Pacific Seafood has reopened some of its five facilities in Newport, Oregon, U.S.A., that were hit by a coronavirus outbreak last week, with 132 of its workers testing positive for COVID-19.
The Pacific Surimi and Pacific Bio plants reopened in a limited capacity on Wednesday, 10 June, according to Pacific Seafood General Counsel Tony Dal Ponte. Pacific Fillet restarted some operations on Thursday, 11 June, and the Pacific Whiting and Pacific Shrimp facility remain closed, Dal Ponte said.
June 9, 2020 — As America’s meat producers contend with thousands of COVID-19 cases among processing workers, seafood companies have drafted rigorous plans to ward off similar spread of the disease as their summer season looms in Alaska.
But with that season still gearing up, the industry has already been shaken by its first major outbreak, aboard a huge vessel with an onboard fish processing factory. Last week, Seattle-based American Seafoods confirmed that 92 crew from its American Dynasty ship had tested positive for COVID-19 — nearly three-fourths of 124 people onboard.
Fishing executives had been working long hours to prevent just that type of disaster, and the news hit them hard.
“It was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe this.’ We had done so much — each company had worked so hard to try to avoid this happening,” said Brent Paine, executive director of United Catcher Boats, a trade group whose members fish for pollock and cod off Alaska and another whitefish called hake off Washington and Oregon. “None of us have ever worked so hard in our lives than we have in the last two months, without a doubt.”
June 9, 2020 — Positive COVID-19 tests for 124 employees of Pacific Seafood and its contractors have led the company to suspend operations at its five processing facilities in Newport, Oregon, U.S.A.
The Clackamas, Oregon-based company said 53 of its employees and an additional 71 locally-based contractors tested positive for COVID-19, out of 376 workers tested, as of Sunday, 7 June.
June 8, 2020 — American Seafoods Company has announced additional cases of COVID-19 aboard two more of its catcher-processor trawlers, the American Triumph and the Northern Jaeger. Testing revealed 25 positive cases between the two vessels. The ships ordinarily carry about 130 crewmembers each.
The American Triumph and Northern Jaeger are currently in port at Bellingham to offload their catch. A third vessel, the American Dynasty, had an outbreak resulting in 94 positive cases (86 at the time of her arrival in Bellingham and eight more afterwards). The Dynasty has since relocated to Seattle and her crew have moved into quarantine housing administered by King County.
“On the Northern Jaeger, one crew member reported feeling ill on-board last week and was transported to the hospital where they have tested negative for covid-19. The crew member is in the hospital recovering from their illness,” said ASC in a statement June 3.
Before the three vessels sailed in May, ASC required crewmembers to undergo a five-day quarantine period and a COVID-19 lab test. The company has since extended the pre-quarantine period to 14 days, a spokesperson told NPR.