Saving Seafood

ASC claims SeaChoice criticism of new salmon standards “pre-emptively undermines” future progress

August 6, 2019 — SeaChoice’s latest criticism of changes to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s Salmon Standard “pre-emptively undermines” the future progress the changes are intended to make, according to a release from the ASC.

The SeaChoice criticism was targeted at the ASC’s amendments to the salmon standards, mainly the parasiticide treatment index (PTI). In a media release, SeaChoice claimed the changes allow for dramatic increases in chemical treatments on salmon farms, and that they represent a lowering of standards.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

North Carolina streamlines shellfish aquaculture permit process

July 31, 2019 — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper recently signed into law Senate Bill 648, the Support Shellfish Aquaculture program, which establishes new large-scale leasing rules and a newly streamlined permitting process.

The “enterprise” areas proved to be one of the key reasons why this year’s effort on aquaculture was successful. The House passed Senate Bill 648, Support Shellfish Aquaculture, on June 12 in a 116-0 vote. In early May, the Senate approved the bill in a 47-0 vote, according to local press reports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

This company is the only one raising salmon in Maine so far, as more look to join it

July 29, 2019 — With his high-backed chair and banks of keyboards, windows and video screens, Frank Lank could be in an air traffic control tower. Instead, he’s at sea watching fish swim inside netted pens in Machias Bay.

The 53-year-old Eastport man sits aboard a floating platform, essentially a two-story office, overseeing the automated feeding of Atlantic salmon at 12 of 24 sea sites Cooke Aquaculture USA, Maine’s sole aquafarmer of the prized kingfish, leases from the state.

He also watches them for signs of trouble. Are they surfacing too often, as if they’re agitated or lacking oxygen? Are they overeating? Lank carefully notes fish behavior and sea conditions so the company’s divers and veterinarians can review it and, if necessary, take follow-up action.

“You’re always learning from [the salmon]. You can never ever settle,” Lank said during a recent workday. “I mean, granted you have a number of years of experience and all that, which probably kind of gives you a little bit of a leap up, but there’s always some kind of new way that you can do what you do.”

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

MAINE: State deals setback to opponents of aquaculture lease on Maquoit Bay

July 19, 2019 — The Maine Department of Marine Resources has rejected a citizens petition that requested a moratorium on aquaculture leases of over 10 acres.

The petition was submitted March 20, with 189 signatures, by a group called Save Maquoit Bay. The petition was drawn up in response to an application by Mere Point Oyster Co. for a 40-acre lease in the bay, off Brunswick, in order to cultivate Eastern oysters, bay scallops and sea scallops.

Although the proposed moratorium targeted one project, it would have applied statewide.

In its decision, the department wrote that it doesn’t see a basis for a moratorium.

“The Legislature has limited the size of any single lease to no more than 100 acres,” the decision reads. “Leases of greater than 10 acres may be appropriate and suitable in some areas and for certain aquaculture activities, just as leases of less than 10 acres would be required in others. The department can adequately deal with the size of a lease requested under the current lease decision criteria.

“Lease applications greater than 10 acres have been found to meet the decision criteria and have been granted, and other lease sites have been reduced in size by the department’s lease decision where the proposed sites were found to be unreasonable. Further, a 10-acre limitation on lease size may have the unintended effect of causing applicants to apply for multiple leases, as opposed to one single lease of a size that is suitable to meet their needs.

“Without further justification, a moratorium on leases of greater than 10 acres is arbitrary, and the department will not implement such a moratorium.”

Read the full story at MaineBiz

Massive shift underway in China’s aquaculture, fisheries sectors

July 19, 2019 — It’s unlikely anyone on the average Chinese aquaculture worker’s wages will afford to eat often at “Guo,” a fancy new restaurant which opened recently at the New Century Hotel in Dalian, one of China’s traditional fishing and seafood processing hubs – and the home town of the Zoneco Group.

Punters pay CNY 500 (USD 73.00, EUR 64.76) to sit amid chic décor at a buffet of “Dongbei” treats including lobsters and crabs.

The average annual income for a Chinese fisherman (including aquaculture workers) stood at CNY 18,450 (USD 2,685, EUR 2,390) in 2017. That’s lower than an industrial wage in China – and this in a workforce that is now officially shrinking. And that might explain why so many are exiting the sector.

China claims a total 18.7 million people are active in fisheries, which includes related industries. Other figures suggest five million involved directly in aquaculture. But it’s not clear how long many of the small-time players in the industry – and that huge headcount – will last.

Several factors are combining to radically transform China’s fisheries and aquaculture sector. Most significant among those are a nationwide environmental crackdown and the domestic market’s mounting concern over food safety and the overuse of chemicals and antibiotics in local aquaculture production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bountiful Alaska salmon catches affecting Canadian farmed prices

July 18, 2019 — A bumper sockeye run from the US state of Alaska’s prolific Bristol Bay fishery is thought to be putting downward pressure on Canadian farmed prices, the Norwegian investment bank Nordea believes.

In a recent written comment, analyst Kolbjorn Giskeodegard wrote that the seasonal drop in farmed prices is typical during the second quarter as wild stocks come online. However, this year’s unexpectedly strong sockeye return in Alaska has put some 45,000 metric tons of sockeye above the preseason forecast of 80,000t to 85,000t.

Canadian farmed prices have stayed closer to $5 per kilogram from the April to June 2019 period, below last year’s $7/kg average during week 22 of the year

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Where Soybeans Meet The Sea: Midwest Aquaculture May Boost Demand For Local Grain

July 9, 2019 — Midwestern fish farmers grow a variety of species, such as tilapia, salmon, barramundi and shrimp, all of which require a high-protein diet. The region grows copious amounts of soybeans, which have a lot of protein, but these two facts have yet to converge.

Take Eagle’s Catch, a tilapia farm in Ellsworth, Iowa, where a nearly 4-acre greenhouse is filled with tanks that segregate the fish by size. CEO Joe Sweeney said he feeds the fish a soybean-based diet he buys from a processor in the South.

“We’re actually getting it from Louisiana, unfortunately,” Sweeney said, “feeding Louisiana and Arkansas soybeans. But as time goes on I look forward to feeding them that Iowa product.”

Across the 12 states served by the North Central Regional Aquaculture Center, from Ohio to North Dakota to Kansas, hundreds of businesses are trying to raise fish for food. But local demand will have to grow to make them viable. If that happens, aquaculture could provide a new market for Midwestern soybeans and other grains at a time when turmoil in international trade and several years of very high yields have led to oversupply.

Read the full story at KCUR

Federal aquaculture push faces uphill battle in Alaska

July 2, 2019 — With a hard push being made by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to up aquaculture production in the United States in order to reduce the country’s seafood trade deficit, many are wondering where Alaska fits into that plan.

While certain types of aquaculture such as shellfish farming are permitted in Alaska, finfish farming is banned under Alaskan statute 16.40.210, which was passed by the state legislature in 1990.

Before that door closed, in 1985, there was a legislative push to authorize aquaculture in the state, which remains, to-date, the closest the state has ever come to legalizing salmon farming.

Richard Harris was, at that time, a member of a group of individuals in a loosely-structured association cooperating to promote mariculture, The group included Sealaska Corporation, the Washington Fish and Oyster Company, and Ocean Beauty Seafoods. Their efforts resulted in the first proposed complete legislation to permit fish farming in Alaska.

Reflecting on his own efforts 30 years ago, Harris said that was likely the best opportunity the state had to permit finfish aquaculture, but said in those early days of commercial aquaculture, the Alaskan public had a “large number of concerns” with salmon farming.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish salmon expansion set to strain wild catch fisheries, study suggests

July 2, 2019 — The UK’s plans to expand Scotland’s salmon farming industry is set to place immense strain on wild-catch fisheries, reports The Scotsman.

According to a report from the environmental NGO Feedback, the decision by the Scottish government to double the output of salmon from its farms by 2030 will require a corresponding increase in fishmeal volumes by two thirds.

In short, Scotland will require an additional 310,000 metric tons of wild-caught fish for fishmeal purposes, on top of the 460,000t already used to feed farmed Scottish salmon each year.

Feedback said the planned expansion would have severe impacts on wild fish stocks, ecosystems, and other communities that rely on wild-caught fish for food.

However, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) responded that it was working to reduce the amount of fish oil and fishmeal required in a farmed salmon’s diet, as the industry turns increasingly to alternative sources of protein, “particularly plant extracts”.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News