Saving Seafood

Trump administration renews push for expanding U.S. aquaculture

May 19, 2020 — Giving pandemic relief funds to the seafood industry and stepping on the gas for offshore fish farming are two big takeaways from the executive orders and congressional packages coming out of the nation’s capital.

Recent news that Alaska would receive $50 million from the $300 million fisheries relief funds in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was well received by industry stakeholders and it’s likely to be followed by more.

A May 15 hearing called “COVID 19 impacts to American Fisheries and the Seafood Supply Chain” was scheduled by the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee to focus on the lack of assistance for harvesters and processors.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

COVID-19: Trump Administration Takes Actions to Assist U.S. Fishing Industry

May 18, 2020 — The Trump administration recently announced two major actions to assist the U.S. commercial fishing industry. President Trump’s Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth[1] (Order) aims to increase seafood production by streamlining regulatory permitting processes and reducing burdens on the fishing industry.

In a separate action, the Secretary of Commerce detailed how $300M in CARES Act[2] funding intended to address impacts to the seafood industry caused by COVID-19 will be distributed.

This alert outlines the impacts of the Order on U.S. fishing, as well as describes the initial details for distribution of CARES Act funds to fishing businesses.

Impacts of the Executive Order on U.S. Fishing

While the Order focuses mainly on aquaculture, it also contains several provisions aimed at assisting the U.S. fishing industry. However, important details remain to be worked out, and it is unclear how quickly the fishing industry will see benefits.

Read the full story at The National Law Review

FAO report analyzes climate patterns’ impact on the seafood industry

May 15, 2020 — Climate patterns across various ocean regions have impacted the production, survival, and performance of fish, fisheries, and aquaculture – which in turn directly impacts the populations that rely on the resource for a living.

A new report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD France), says the events of El Niño and La Niña – which are recurring climate patterns made of warm and cool phases across the tropical Pacific, popularly known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) – “generally worsen the effects of climate change on fish, fisheries, and aquaculture.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Will Trump’s executive order expanding fishing help the seafood industry catch needed profits?

May 13, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the seafood industry in the U.S. ​Following the widespread closure of restaurants and food service locations, many of the country’s fisheries have reported sales dropping as much as 95%. Thousands of commercial fishers are at risk of bankruptcy, The Washington Post reported.

Shortly after sales started to plummet, seafood companies — including Trident, Pacific Seafoods, High Liner, Cargill and Fortune International — wrote a letter to the Trump administration to ask for financial support. Although the industry anticipated the need for billions of dollars, the government only approved an aid package for $300 million at first.

Now the government is offering additional support with another $300 million in financial aid, as well as an attempt to bolster domestic production. Currently, domestic aquaculture production is either done on land or in state-controlled waters and is only a small portion of U.S. seafood. Aquaculture accounted for 20% of the country’s seafood production in 2016, according to NPR. The outlet reported that U.S. production is dwarfed by imports, which account for 90% of the country’s seafood consumption.

Read the full story at Grocery Dive

What’s in Trump’s seafood order?

May 13, 2020 — Today we’re talking about the president’s May 7 executive order that is getting widespread support from fishing companies and processors, but also some criticism from small-scale fishermen and groups that support localized wild-capture fisheries.

Joining us is Ryan Bradley, executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, a commercial fisherman, vessel owner, seafood dealer and business owner, and a National Fisherman Highliner.

Bradley shares with us how he hopes the EO will pave a path toward breaking down some unnecessary regulatory barriers, help enforcement fight IUU fishing — including illegal sales of recreational catch — and bolster fair trade that benefits American fishermen.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Trump executive order could speed offshore aquaculture permits

May 13, 2020 — The Trump administration executive order on aquaculture and fisheries is raising hopes among some commercial fishing advocates to roll back what they view as excessive regulation.

But the statement’s strong emphasis on streamlining the permit process for ocean aquaculture alarms opponents, who won a 2018 federal court decision in Louisiana that said NOAA lacked Congressional authority to regulate aquaculture.

The “Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth” directs federal agencies to “identify and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers restricting American fishermen and aquaculture producers” and “facilitate aquaculture projects through regulatory transparency and long-term strategic planning.”

The document has other promises to U.S. seafood producers, especially in seeking fair trade and competition with imported seafood — including to hold imports to the same food-safety standards required for domestic products.

Chris Oliver, the assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries, said in a statement that a new Seafood Trade Task Force will “develop a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy. The strategy will identify opportunities to improve access to foreign markets through trade policy and negotiations; resolve technical barriers to U.S. seafood exports; and otherwise support fair market access for U.S. seafood products.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL conference to move online due to COVID-19

May 12, 2020 — The Global Aquaculture Alliance announced on Tuesday, 12 May, its annual Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference will be completely virtual this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

GOAL 2020 will be held from 6 to 8 October as previously scheduled, with six to eight program sessions per day. Access to the first day of the conference will be offered free of charge to members of seafood associations and other strategic partners worldwide.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Global farmed salmon producers significantly reduced antibiotic use over seven years, GSI report finds

May 12, 2020 — Seven years of data from more than 50 percent of the world’s farmed salmon sector is featured in the latest annual sustainability report from the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI).

Released on 11 May, the report’s data covers 15 key indicators – 10 environmental and five social – impacting salmon aquaculture operations worldwide. The new issuance, which highlights data through 2019, reveals some promising sector trends, GSI said, including a 50 percent reduction in the use of antibiotics over the past seven years, as well as a more holistic, collective approach to preventing and managing sea lice.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Executive order calls for reducing aquaculture regs

May 12, 2020 — Around the same time last week that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released $300 million in coronavirus aid to the seafood industry, President Donald Trump issued an executive order “Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth.”

The major reasons given to issue the executive order were familiar objectives of the administration: reduce our dependence on imported seafood by decreasing the regulatory burden on fishermen and the aquaculture, while creating a level playing field with other countries.

“The Fisheries Survival Fund has long supported efforts to revise and streamline unnecessary regulations, an effort that is more important now than ever,” spokesman John Cooke wrote in a statement.

Trump ordered each of the country’s regional fishery management councils to submit a prioritized list of recommended actions to reduce regulatory burdens on fishermen and increase production within six months. But the Trump administration already asked NOAA and the New England Fishery Management Council three years ago to develop a list of unnecessary and duplicative regulations, which has already been submitted, and it may be much harder to find the regulatory fat this time around.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Maine fishing industry to receive $20.1M in federal aid

May 11, 2020 — Maine’s fishing industry will receive $20.1 million out of $300 million in federal economic relief designated for U.S. fishermen and seafood industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fishery participants eligible for funding include commercial fishing businesses, charter and for-hire fishing businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors and other fishery-related businesses, according to a news release. Tribes are also eligible for funding including for any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial fisheries.

The shutdown of restaurants and other outlets serving fresh seafood has decimated the the supply chain of fishermen and seafood processors.

In 2019, Maine’s fishing industry generated a value for harvesters and aquaculture operators of more than $673 million, which translates to approximately $2 billion in overall value when accounting for the value added by dealers and processors.

Read the full story at MaineBiz