Saving Seafood

Cooke Aquaculture Pacific Files Lawsuit to Fight Washington Decision to Cancel Port Angeles Lease

January 9, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — In December Cooke Aquaculture Pacific was ordered by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to dismantle their fish pens at Ediz Hook. Now the company is fighting back.

Cooke Aquaculture announced on Friday that they have filed a lawsuit in Clallam County Superior Court against the Department of Natural Resources. The company says that the government organization’s attempt to terminate their lease is “not supported by the facts and will unnecessarily result in the loss of scarce rural jobs.”

As previously reported, state Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, the elected head of DNR, canceled the aquatic lands lease due to a series of violations. Styrofoam discharges, a defective anchoring system and operating 500 feet outside of the leasehold area were all listed as violations.

“Cooke Aquaculture Pacific acquired the Washington salmon farms when it purchased Icicle Seafoods in 2016,” Joel Richardson, Vice President for Public Relations at Cooke Aquaculture, said in a press release. “The Department of Natural Resources, then led by Commissioner Franz’s predecessor, approved the transfer of those farm leases at that time and raised no concerns or objections to the manner in which Cooke’s predecessor company was managing the leased aquatic area. We can only assume that the recent decision to terminate the Port Angeles lease is based upon misinformation or a misunderstanding of the facts and history related to the site.”

At the time of canceling the lease, Franz said that the decision was non-negotiable and that there is no appeal process in place. However, reps for Cooke say that they hope to meet with Franz to discuss DNR’s decision to terminate the lease and answer any questions that the Commissioner might have about their operations.

“While we regret the need to file suit before meeting with the Commissioner, we are required to do so in order to protect the company’s legal rights,” Richardson said. “Nonetheless, Cooke believes that a fulsome dialogue with DNR, which it regards as a long-standing partner in its recently acquired Washington aquaculture program, can likely resolve any legitimate, substantive factual issues between the parties. If those issues cannot be amicably resolved by dialogue with the Commissioner then we are prepared to assert our legal rights by way of the judicial system.”

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

 

New York: New Law Creates Seafood Task Force To Boost Industry

January 3, 2018 — A law designed to support New York’s local fishermen, aquaculturalists and related small businesses has recently been signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The New York Seafood Marketing Task Force Act of 2017, sponsored, in part, by Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, creates a Seafood Marketing Task Force composed of individuals from Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, the New York Sea Grant Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension, in addition to seafood wholesalers, processors, aquaculturalists and retailers.

As part of its function, the task force will promote the economic and environmental sustainability of the New York seafood industry through marketing initiatives, incentives and educational programs. The task force will seek to prevent mislabeling of seafood products and will work to block illegally caught seafood from New York markets. The task force will begin meeting in 2018.

Read the full story at 27 East

 

How Fishermen Are Faring In Washington Months After Salmon Spill

December 28, 2017 — Last summer, more than 100,000 farmed Atlantic salmon spilled into Puget Sound, threatening the wild salmon population. Local fishermen scrambled to catch them. NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with fisherman Riley Starks about what’s happened since.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

This week we’re checking back in with people we met on the program during 2017. Over the summer, more than a hundred thousand Atlantic salmon escaped from an ocean farm in Puget Sound off the coast of Washington state. Local fishermen feared a complete disruption of the ecosystem. Back in August, I spoke with one of those fishermen, Riley Starks, who was on a hunt for the fugitive salmon.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)

RILEY STARKS: Fishermen love to fish, and so there is a certain sort of joy in it. But it’s like a Fellini movie. There’s the overshadowing sort of despair, you know, that underlies it.

SHAPIRO: And Riley Starks is back with us now once again. Welcome to the program.

STARKS: Thank you, Ari – nice to be back.

SHAPIRO: Did you catch all the fish?

STARKS: We did not catch all the fish. We caught – I’m going to say about a third of the fish that escaped.

SHAPIRO: So where’d the other two-thirds go?

STARKS: Well, one-third were scooped up by Cooke themselves.

Listen to the full story at New England Public Radio

 

Cooke Aquaculture acquires Houston fishing company in $650M deal

December 20, 2017 — New Brunswick seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture got even bigger on Tuesday, with its acquisition of a Houston, Texas company and its workforce of 1,000 people.

Cooke Aquaculture acquired Omega Protein Corp. in a $500 million USD deal — approximately $650 million (Canadian) — in one of the single largest foreign investment deals a New Brunswick company has ever done in the United States.

“It’s the single largest acquisition [our] company has ever made,” said Joel Richardson, vice-president of communications for Cooke.

“When a New Brunswick company reaches beyond our borders and acquires a company outside our province, it helps strengthen jobs back here and at home.”

Omega Protein, founded in the early 1900s, is a fishing company that sources omega oils and specialty protein products for both nutritional supplements and animal feeds.

They operate over 30 boats off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, near Mississippi, Louisiana and Virginia, and catch a forage fish called menhaden, which is rich in omega fatty acids.

Read the full story at CBC News

 

Maine: Scallop farm first of its kind in local waters

November 30, 2017 — Just about one year after father-and-son fishermen Marsden and Bob Brewer returned from Japan, where they learned new scallop-farming techniques firsthand, Bob Brewer was granted a 3.23 acre experimental aquaculture lease southwest of Andrews Island. It is the first scallop farm of its kind in Penobscot Bay.

The Brewers can grow up to 200,000 Atlantic sea scallops using lantern nets, where mesh nets, each 10 floors deep, hang from a 600-foot longline.

“It’s a big circular tube with floors,” Bob Brewer said. “They’re used in Japan. That’s where we learned how to do it.”

Brewer grows the scallops from seed, caught in spat bags while he and Marsden are out lobstering.

Read the full story at Island Ad-Vantages

 

Fugitive salmon may be dead, but the court case is just getting started

November 15, 2017 — A Washington state conservation group is suing the owners of an Atlantic fish farm that failed over the summer.

Wild Fish Conservancy says the company negligently allowed the salmon escape to happen, which would be a Clean Water Act violation.

More than 100,000 non-native Atlantic salmon escaped into Puget Sound when Cooke Aquaculture’s pens near Cypress Island collapsed.

Aside from the spill, the Wild Fish Conservancy also contends Cooke violated its Clean Water Act responsibilities over the past five years. Attorney Brian Knutsen is representing the conservancy.

Knutsen: “Permits require that Cooke Aquaculture implement pollution prevention plans at all eight of its facilities. Cooke Aquaculture has over the last five years failed to implement these plans in a manner that’s required by its clean water act permits.”

He said the lawsuit seeks to hold Cooke responsible for the fish escape in August and for allegedly failing to follow its pollution plan.

Read the full story at KUOW

 

UM scientist awarded grant aimed to increase aquaculture production in the US

November 2, 2017 — University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (UM) Professor Daniel Benetti has been awarded $967,000 by Florida Sea Grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The funding is just a portion of $9.3 million NOAA has slated for 32 projects around the country to help spur the development and growth of shellfish, finfish and seaweed aquaculture businesses. All projects include public-private partnerships and will be led by Sea Grant programs across the nation.

With each project, every two dollars of federal funding is matched by one dollar of non-federal funds, bringing the total investment to more than $13.9 million. UM successfully leveraged with matching funds from an ongoing research agreement with Aqquua, LLC, a US company investing in advanced technologies to further aquaculture development in the nation.

The projects include basic and applied research to improve efficient production of seafood, permitting of new businesses, management of environmental health issues, and economic success of aquaculture businesses.

Read the full story at PHYS

 

Fishmeal-free info deemed misleading and misguided

October 6, 2017 — A competition established to inspire the increased use of alternative ingredients to fishmeal in aquafeeds has been lambasted for “the organisers’ use of negative messaging, exaggeration and misinformation in relation to marine ingredients”.

The winners of the fishmeal-free feed (F3) challenge were announced in Dublin yesterday. However, a statement from IFFO, the marine ingredients organization, – while congratulating the winners – laments that: “Unfortunately, the F3 Challenge organisers have refused our offers to enter into dialogue or meet and provide up-to-date facts, instead choosing to seek publicity through a number of misleading or false statements.”

IFFO rubbishes claims that marine ingredients are not sustainable by pointing to the fact that “over 45% of the global production of fishmeal and fish oil is now independently certified as being safe and environmentally responsible, including in its sourcing of raw materials, a figure that far exceeds any other source of feed ingredient”.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

Cooke Inc. Agrees to Acquire Omega Protein Corporation for $22.00 Per Share

Omega Protein’s Stockholders to Receive $22.00 Per Share in Cash

Transaction Valued at Approximately $500 Million

Transaction Represents Key Strategic Addition for the Global Seafood Company

October 6, 2017 — SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick and HOUSTON — The following was released by Cooke Inc. and Omega Protein:

Cooke Inc. (“Cooke”), a New Brunswick company and parent of Cooke Aquaculture Inc., and Omega Protein Corporation (“Omega Protein” or the “Company”), a nutritional product company and a leading integrated provider of specialty oils and specialty protein products, today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement (the “Merger Agreement”) under which Cooke will acquire all outstanding shares of Omega Protein for $22.00 per share in cash. The transaction price represents a premium of 32.5% to Omega Protein’s closing share price on October 5, 2017. The Merger Agreement has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of each of Omega Protein and Cooke.

“We are very pleased to sign this agreement with Omega Protein,” said Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Inc. “Omega Protein will provide us with another platform in Cooke’s growth strategy through further diversification in the supply side of the business. We believe this will be a very good fit between our two cultures. Omega Protein has a 100-year history with an experienced and dedicated workforce, which we value, and a tradition of operating in small, coastal towns and communities that we share. Their focus on sustainable aquaculture and agriculture and the production of healthy food is also a great fit with our experience and culture.”

Cooke carries on the business of finfish aquaculture globally through its wholly-owned subsidiary Cooke Aquaculture Inc. The New Brunswick, Canada based Cooke family also has significant investments in wild fisheries globally through their ownership of Cooke Seafood USA, Inc. and Icicle Seafoods, Inc. Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is an aquaculture corporation founded in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada with salmon farming operations in Atlantic Canada (operated by its affiliate, Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd.), the United States (Maine and Washington), Chile and Scotland, as well as seabass and seabream farming operations in Spain. In 2015, Cooke Seafood USA, Inc. was created, and grew rapidly through the acquisitions of Wanchese Fish Company, Inc. in the USA and the assets of Fripur S.A., the largest fishing company in Uruguay. The Cooke family also acquired Icicle Seafoods, Inc. in 2016. The addition of Omega Protein serves as a perfect strategic piece for the Cooke family of companies.

“We are excited about the agreement, which we believe recognizes the value of Omega Protein’s successful, 100-year-old fishing business and also provides stockholders with an immediate premium,” said Bret Scholtes, President and CEO of Omega Protein. “Cooke is a family owned company and in many ways, reminds us a lot of ourselves and this agreement is the perfect fit for the two companies. Cooke is a highly-regarded and responsible leader in the global fishing and seafood industry.”

Read the full release at PR Newswire

New partnership puts millions in play to fund aquaculture projects

September 22, 2017 — A new joint venture between a Wall Street firm and a Norwegian lender plans to make millions available for medium- and large-scale fishing and fish farming projects.

The effort between New York City-based Simpler Funding and Oslo, Norway’s Lighthouse Finance will bring the seafood sector access to an estimated $300 million to $400m annually via a method known as asset finance that serves as an alternative to conventional methods, the firms’ executives told Undercurrent News.

Traditional loans typically rely on a business’s physical assets as collateral, which can be repossessed and resold relatively easily in case of default. That works well for assets such as real estate, but investors without deep knowledge of an industry such as seafood are often reluctant to risk putting themselves in the position of repossessing collateral such as a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility that they don’t know how to operate.

Asset finance

Asset finance works a bit differently. For an experienced aquaculture operator that wants to operate a RAS facility, for example, a corporation known as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is formed to finance up to 100% of the cost of the asset’s construction. Outside investors fund the SPV, an independent entity that remains the owner of the RAS facility, which is then leased to the operator.

In Norway, where salmon farming has emerged as an economic force almost rivaling energy, Lighthouse CEO Roy Hoias said that he and colleagues in asset finance realized two things very quickly in the early days: That the industry was poised to grow quickly, and that that aquaculture wasn’t “the first choice for banks” and for traditional financing markets.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News