Saving Seafood

PPP loans helped buoy Maine’s lobster industry through the spring

July 22, 2020 — Maine lobster businesses, both large and small, received emergency funding through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program to help them survive the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus’ global spread this spring.

The lobstering sector was the top recipient in Maine of forgivable PPP loans of less than USD 150,000 (EUR 130,000), with around USD 14.9 million (EUR 12.9 million) offered to 1,358 Maine lobstermen, according to the Portland Press Herald. But the average loan to lobster fishermen was USD 10,900 (EUR 9,400) each, a total that won’t help many survive the season if low dock prices and weak export markets continue, according to Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases

July 21, 2020 — More than two-thirds of the crew of a huge factory fishing vessel docked in the Aleutian fishing port of Dutch Harbor has tested positive for COVID-19, local authorities announced Sunday.

The 85 cases are on board the American Triumph, owned by Seattle-based American Seafoods — one of the biggest players in the billion-dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery.

The Triumph arrived in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor on Thursday, with seven crew members reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

All seven were tested for the virus upon arrival, and six of those tests came back positive, officials announced Friday. That prompted staff from Unalaska’s clinic, Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, to test the remaining 112 crew.

All crew members were restricted to either the vessel or their isolation locations while in Unalaska, city officials said.

Read the full story at KTOO

Whales Get A Break As Pandemic Creates Quieter Oceans

July 21, 2020 — When humpback whales migrated to Glacier Bay in Alaska this year to spend the long summer days feeding, they arrived to something unusual: quieter waters.

As the COVID-19 pandemic slows international shipping and keeps cruise ships docked, scientists are finding measurably less noise in the ocean. That could provide momentary relief for whales and other marine mammals that are highly sensitive to noise.

Through networks of underwater hydrophones, scientists are hoping to learn how the mammals’ communication changes when the drone of ships is turned down, potentially informing new policies to protect them.

“More needs to be done,” says Jason Gedamke, who manages the ocean acoustics program at NOAA Fisheries. “When you have animals that for millions of years have been able to communicate over vast distances in the ocean, and then once we introduce noise and have increased sound levels and they can’t communicate over those distances, clearly there’s going to be some impact there.”

Read the full story at NPR

Corps to release review of Alaska mine project this week

July 21, 2020 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to release its final environmental review of a proposed copper and gold mine near the headwaters of a major salmon fishery in southwest Alaska, a review a corps official says will inform a permit decision expected later this year.

For years, the proposed Pebble Mine has been shrouded in controversy that release of the review expected Friday is unlikely to clear up. Some tribes, tribal groups, fishermen and others say the review has been rushed and is superficial.

Tom Collier, CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, the project developer, said the work done so far provides confidence the review will show “why we believe the project can be done without harm to the Bristol Bay fishery.”

The corps previously disclosed a preliminary determination that a northern transportation route would be part of a “least environmentally damaging practicable alternative.” David Hobbie, chief of the corps’ regional regulatory division, told reporters Monday that public comment, work with other agencies and review of information and impacts went into that determination.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KTVA

ALASKA: GAPP: Positioning pollock as value item could be key post-COVID-19

July 21, 2020 — As the number of nations that have been able to successfully manage the COVID-19 pandemic increases, positioning seafood items like pollock as a value proposition will become increasingly important, according to the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP).

That perspective was shared earlier this month during GAPP’s fitfth webinar in its summer series. The webinar – titled “COVID-19 Consumer Insights: A Look Forward” – was hosted by Bill Romania and Sharon Ripps of R3 Consulting, and addressed the COVID-19 situation and its impact on consumer spending habits.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: Bristol Bay Catch 31M Sockeye, Total Run Over 47M, Escapement Reached in Most Major Rivers

July 20, 2020 — As of two days ago, Bristol Bay landings of sockeye salmon have reached 30.7 million sockeye, with a total run clocking at 47.37 million sockeye. The run appears to be about a week later than historic timing indicates (with a peak during the week of July 4) and slightly more than pre-season estimates of 49 million sockeye, based on in-season Port Moller Test Fishery data.

The Bristol Bay salmon season is managed first by escapement, which looks good in all the major rivers. The highest producing system so far is Naknek-Kvichak with 11.13 million sockeye caught to date. The forecast for that three-river system is 12.34 million. Escapement there has been 9.43 million, nearly 3 million more than the pre-season forecast of 6.67 million.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Alaska’s emerging mariculture industry suffers setback from market losses in pandemic

July 17, 2020 — For the past few years, mariculture has been the hot topic of innovation in fisheries in Alaska. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, many of the budding farms took a huge financial hit to their operations.

In the past five years, Alaska has seen a boom in the number of applications for mariculture operations, focusing on oysters, geoduck clams and kelp. Their main outlet has been in restaurants and wholesale food service, where they’ve been able to carve a niche for sustainably grown Alaska seafood and supply markets both in the state and the Lower 48.

But the coronavirus pandemic closed restaurants across most of the United States in March, and large events or group cafeterias that required catering or food service remain mostly off the table. That left the mariculture farms in Alaska with a much more limited market but still a lot of product to move.

For Ketchikan-based Hump Island Oyster Co., it’s going to be a tough year. Owner Trevor Sande said the company has mostly sold its oysters to wholesalers who distribute to food service businesses and retailers, with some going to local sources. They also grow a small amount of kelp, but the majority of the farm produces oysters. With seven years of shellfish growing under their belts, Hump Island has been increasing its business size every year, and this year’s plummet leaves them with a lot of oysters that don’t have anywhere to go.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

ALASKA: GAPP announces new business partnerships through partnership program

July 17, 2020 — The Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) has announced new partnerships with Denny’s, Gorton’s Seafoods, and New England Seafood Company, according to a 16 July press release.

Denny’s plans to offer pollock fish and chips as well as a pollock fish sandwich; Gorton’s plans to introduce recipes and an ad campaign to encourage customers to try Alaska pollock; and New England Seafood is introducing a pollock tenderloin – with an accompanying ad campaign – to customers in the United Kingdom.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fisheries across nation seeking monitor waivers

July 17, 2020 — What began in the fisheries of New England has spread across the country.

Fishing stakeholders from as far away as the West Coast and Alaska have joined Northeast commercial fishermen in pressuring NOAA Fisheries to extend — and uniformly apply — waivers from having to carry at-sea monitors and other observers on vessels while the COVID-19 pandemic still rages.

The Seafood Harvesters of America, an umbrella organization that represents 18 separate fishing groups from Maine to Alaska, wrote to NOAA Fisheries and Department of Commerce officials this week to advance many of the same safety arguments against reinstating observers aboard commercial fishing vessels in the midst of the pandemic.

“Recent decisions by the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding observer requirements continue to threaten the health, safety, and lives of our nation’s fishermen, fishing communities, and observers,” the group said in its letter to Neil Jacobs, the acting undersecretary for oceans and atmosphere, and three chief NOAA Fisheries executives. “We strongly urge you to add a third criteria to the emergency action under which NMFS may waive observer coverage requirements to take into consideration the health and safety of captains, crew, coastal communities, and observers.”

The group also urged NOAA Fisheries to “fix its inconsistent and unequal application of observer waivers” by extending waivers to any fishery where fishermen are now mandated to accept human observers aboard commercial vessels.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Pollock Survey Begins in Eastern Bering Sea

July 16, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

For the past four decades, a team of scientists have conducted an acoustic trawl survey from a NOAA research vessel in the eastern Bering Sea. They collect acoustic measurements of fish abundance and distribution. They also sample fish by capturing them with trawl nets to groundtruth the acoustic signals to confirm the species. They also are able to learn more about the fish themselves—for example, their age, length, weight, and reproductive state.

Scientists believe using acoustic technology on saildrones to survey in the eastern Bering Sea will provide a reliable estimate of pollock abundance, based on past experience comparing the technology to ship-based surveys. It also helps that pollock are the dominant fish species in this area, minimizing the need to further sample with a trawl net to confirm species.

Since the standard surveys were cancelled this year due to COVID-19, data collected by the saildrones will fill a gap in the survey time series. Scientists use these survey data along with other data to assess pollock population abundance and trends (whether the stock is increasing or decreasing in size). The saildrone survey is expected to take two months to complete.

In late June, after some 40 days at sea, the three saildrones arrived at Unimak Pass, a 20-nautical-mile gap between Unimak Island and Ugamak Island that separates the North Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea. At this point the saildrones separated. Each saildrone will cover a third of the 600-nautical-mile-wide survey area, which is bordered by Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to the south and the edge of the eastern Bering Sea shelf to the west.

The saildrones will complete a series of north-south transects moving from east to west; the mission is designed to mimic a typical ship survey as closely as possible in the amount of time available. Each vehicle is equipped with a Simrad EK80 high-precision split-beam echo sounder to map fish abundance.

Read the full release here