Saving Seafood

Plant-based, cellular aquaculture invasion into seafood likely to arrive in 2021

December 21, 2020 — Plant-based seafood analog products are becoming increasingly popular, and, while many are still in the development stage, cellular-based seafood options are also on the rise.

In the most recent notable example of plant-based seafood success, Stockholm, Sweden-based Hooked Foods is launching Toona, shredded plant-based tuna, in restaurants nationwide next spring. The shredded Toona can be used in a wide range of dishes, including sushi, pizza, pasta, and sandwiches, the company said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Canada announces some salmon farms in British Columbia to be phased out in 18 months

December 18, 2020 — Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced on 17 December it plans to phase out all existing salmon farming facilities in the Discovery Islands – located in British Columbia – with the upcoming 18-month period being the last time the area can be licensed.

The news comes in the wake of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau writing a letter in 2019 to Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard Bernadette Jordan mandating that she “work with the province of British Columbia and Indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition from open net-pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025 and begin work to introduce Canada’s first-ever Aquaculture Act.” The mandate was a reflection of the Canada Liberal Party’s platform, which called for a shift of all net-pen fish farming in British Columbia to land-based, closed-containment systems by 2025.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NMFS planning for offshore aquaculture areas

December 15, 2020 — Now in the early stages of planning, NMFS officials are seeking public comments on the potential for “aquaculture opportunity areas” off southern California and the Gulf of Mexico.

It’s an early step in what will be a three-year process to identify those areas and develop “programmatic” environmental impact statements, agency workers said in a online virtual public information session 3 December.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Aid for Growers With Oysters Too Big for the Half-Shell

December 14, 2020 — The pandemic has seriously impacted many who fish or work on the water for a living. With restaurants and the food service industry taking a big hit, the demand for various seafood products, including oysters, has been severely curtailed. As a result, many of the oysters raised by oyster farmers have grown to a size that is considered too large for sale and general consumption.

The good news is that a lot of those oysters, which can live well over 10 years, will find a new home, back in the water and not served on a restaurant plate, thanks to a partnership between the Nature Conservancy and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Last month, the organizations combined forces to launch the Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration program, which will extend $2 million in payments to oyster farmers to support more than 100 shellfish companies and help preserve over 200 jobs in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and Washington State. Simultaneously, over five million of the older oysters will be deployed to rebuild 27 acres of imperiled native shellfish reefs across 20 restoration sites.

On Long Island, the program will begin to buy oysters from local farmers to use in nearby oyster reef restoration sites, including ones in Shinnecock and Moriches Bays. Over the next few weeks, several Long Island oyster growers will deliver 350,000 oysters so that they can be counted, cleaned, recorded, and, most importantly, replanted for restoration.

Read the full story at the East Hampton Star

Friend of the Sea revises aquaculture, fish welfare certification standards

December 11, 2020 — Milan, Italy-based nonprofit Friend of the Sea (FoS) is revising its Sustainable Aquaculture and Fish Welfare certification standards and their respective audit guidance, with the aim of strengthening sustainability and farm management criteria.

The revision process opened for public consultation on 4 December, 2020, with comment invited from stakeholders and interested parties until 1 February 2021.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New European fisheries, aquaculture fund progresses

December 7, 2020 — A provisional political agreement on the European Maritime, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) for the period of 2021-2027 has been reached by the European Commission, Council, and Parliament.

The new package is intended to support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, the development of local coastal communities, the promotion of a sustainable blue economy, the implementation of the E.U.’s maritime policy towards safe and sustainably managed seas and oceans, and international ocean governance.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NMFS planning for offshore aquaculture areas

December 4, 2020 — Now in the early stages of planning, NMFS officials are seeking public comments on the potential for “aquaculture opportunity areas” off southern California and the Gulf of Mexico.

It’s an early step in what will be a three-year process to identify those areas and develop “programmatic” environmental impact statements, agency workers said in a online virtual public information session Dec. 3.

The California and gulf areas outlined so far by NMFS for study will not entirely become set aside for aquaculture, stressed Kristy Beard, a NMFS fishery policy analyst.

“Aquaculture opportunity areas are about spatial analysis and environmental analysis,” said Beard. The process aims to maximize compatibility of aquaculture with other uses, including wild fisheries, navigation, commercial activities and military missions, she and other speakers explained.

That’s one reason it makes sense to start with the Gulf of Mexico and California, said Beard. There is already a lot of long-existing spatial analysis and environmental data that can be mined and help run the aquaculture planning process.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

‘Salmon’ author pans Patagonia’s anti-fish farm activism

December 1, 2020 — Mark Kurlansky, the New York Times bestselling author of “Salmon”, is urging anti-fish farm activists to work with salmon farmers and boost the production of affordable and sustainable seafood from the oceans.

In an interview with SeaWestNews, Kurlansky said replacing sea farms with land-based operations, as the activists are demanding in British Columbia, is not a good idea because it will exacerbate climate change and substantially increase Greenhouse Gas (GhG) emissions.

“Land based farming greatly increases energy use and the carbon footprint…I do not think that is a good idea,” said Kurlansky, who spent five years researching his book, which was published by Patagonia, the outdoor clothing conglomerate, which ironically supports activism to stop ocean-based fish farming.

“Farming salmon in the oceans has almost no carbon footprint…almost all of the energy used, apart from packaging the food, is provided by the natural force of the ocean…so you will be taking a low energy industry and turning it into a high energy industry,” he said.

“I would certainly not want to see all fish farms move on land, and I also would not want to see all ocean fish farming stopped, because I think it has a good contribution and it is a supply of affordable protein. That is not something to turn your back on.”

Read the full story at SeaWest News

Sustainable Shrimp Partnership launches blockchain-based traceability app

November 30, 2020 — The Sustainable Shrimp Partnership (SSP), an Ecuador-based certification system for shrimp aquaculture launched in March 2018, has kicked off a traceability application that aims to provide consumers with key information on their shrimp’s journey from farm to fork.

“The shrimp industry worldwide produces over five million tons of shrimp each year, and we continue to see many examples of food fraud, especially in seafood industry. So how can consumers trust that the products they are buying are safe for them and their families?” Ecuadorean Aquaculture Chamber Executive President José Antonio Camposano said. “Using the most secure and latest technology available for food traceability and committing producers to the highest levels of transparency … consumers acquire the power to make an informed choice and increase their capacity to buy healthy and responsibly farmed shrimp.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FAO: Farmed fish price increases to outpace those for wild species

November 30, 2020 — Increased demand for seafood and slowing growth of fisheries and aquaculture production will see prices increase by almost a quarter over the next 10 years, projects the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Its report “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020,” (or SOFIA 2020), expects total fish production to rise from its current level of 179 million metric tons (MT) to around 204 million MT in 2030. While this will represent an increase of some 15 percent, by comparison, for the period 2007-2018 that rate of growth was a much more dynamic 27 percent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source