Saving Seafood

One year in, researchers try to quantify COVID’s impact on seafood industry

March 9, 2021 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute has been diving into the effects of COVID-19 on the seafood industry for a while now.

Mainly, it’s been using interviews, anecdotal evidence and market research to compile briefings about how fishermen and other industry stakeholders have fared.

Now, the association is looking for more quantitative data about the effects of the pandemic. It’s sending out two surveys — one for fishermen and one for processors.

“We wanted to conduct this survey to really, fully measure the scale and breadth of the pandemic impacts on Alaska’s commercial fishermen, as well as processors,” said communications director Ashley Heimbigner. “Which hasn’t really been done yet, on a broad scale.”

Read the full story at KDLL

Yearbook: Fishing fleets flex

March 8, 2021 — With revenues up 3 percent in January and February of 2020, the industry was looking ahead to another strong year in the global marketplace.

In March, when restaurants across the country shuttered quickly under covid-19 outbreak restrictions, seafood supply chains ground to a halt in the early days of the pandemic. Fishermen who had been out harvesting to supply the once-solid market were stuck with their catch left unsold and their boats tied up.

In early March, New Jersey fisherman Gus Lovgren was headed to port after a Virginia summer flounder trip when his wife called him, “saying they’re shutting the country down, basically,” he recalled.

“We had been getting $1.75 to $2 (per pound). In the end we got, I think, 60 cents,” said Lovgren. “The market was flooded, and there was nothing we could do.”

Right out of the gates in April 2020, the Hawaii Longline Association worked with others in Hawaii’s fishing industry to donate 2,000 pounds of fresh seafood to Hawaii Foodbank, and planning larger deliveries.

The initial donation, coordinated with the with United Fishing Agency’s Honolulu auction, the Hawaii Seafood Council, Nico’s Pier 38, and Pacific Ocean Producers, “is the beginning of a new pilot program with the Hawaii Foodbank,” the association said.

“Through the partnership, Hawaii Foodbank plans to purchase $50,000 worth of seafood landed by Hawaii longline vessels,” according to a statement from the association. “The purchase will ensure that Hawaii Foodbank will be able to meet the needs of Hawaii residents facing hardship as a result of covid-19. It will also support Hawaii’s longline fishermen.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Industry Updates: Year in review, looking ahead to 2021

November 19, 2020 — Expo Online has teamed up with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations to bring you annual updates on West Coast and Alaska fisheries.

This year calls for a detailed roundup like none other we’ve seen — tariffs and covid-19 restrictions conspired to complicate the global marketplace.

Dan Lesh of McKinley Research (formerly McDowell Group) presents for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Alaska seafood industry rides stormy pandemic markets

November 18, 2020 — Dizzying swings in markets and consumer trends touched off by the coronavirus pandemic have forced the Alaska seafood industry to rethink its entire business model, from marketing to distribution to product mix.

Last week, professionals from across the industry and around the world convened on Zoom for a virtual installation of All Hands on Deck, an annual conference hosted by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). Experts discussed the quick pivot the Alaska seafood industry made as foodservice industry fell off a cliff while grocery sales and e-commerce surged following the outbreak of the coronavirus inside the United States.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China COVID-19 restrictions to remain in place through January

November 17, 2020 — China’s testing of seafood for traces of COVID-19 will remain strict for the rest of the year, according to a leading marketing consultant in Shanghai.

Robin Wang, the CEO of SMH International, a seafood-focused marketing agency with offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong with clients including the Alaskan Seafood Marketing Institute, told SeafoodSource the move will negatively impact the broader food market in China.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

COVID and climate: Alaska seafood talks zoom in on 2020 and the future of fish

November 13, 2020 — The pandemic and a growing public concern about the effects of climate change loomed large over the committee conversations at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s virtual All Hands on Deck conference this week.

Alaska fisheries had a remarkably successful story to tell in terms of coping with the threat of covid-19 over the spring and summer, as tens of thousands of fishing and seafood industry workers converged on remote coastal towns across the state.

While the Bristol Bay salmon fleet matched that success with robust returns and a harvest of 39 million fish, statewide salmon returns were down overall, and the bay’s base price was half what it was in 2019, coming in at 76 cents. This year marks the state’s seventh lowest salmon volume since 1976 with run failures in the Chignik and Artic-Yukon-Kuskokwim districts, and disaster declarations in Cordova, Petersburg and Ketchikan.

“The [chum salmon] didn’t show up, with only 45 percent of the forecast harvested. On top of that, the ex-vessel prices were quite low,” said Dan Lesh with McKinley Research (formerly McDowell Group). Total value for the 2020 chum fishery was $26 million, less than half the previous 10-year low of $63 million in 2014.

Alaska’s salmon export volumes overall were down 48 percent as of September. A low global wild supply managed to compensate for a glut of farmed salmon and pushed export prices up 26 percent for wild Alaska salmon.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Expos and All Hands: Fisheries events go live online

November 9, 2020 — The coronavirus has derailed face-to-face fish gatherings and forced them to online venues, and there’s a fishing industry dream of a lineup for this month. One perk of going virtual is that more people can tune in to all kinds of meetings, discussions and workshops, no matter where they call home.

Get the latest updates on nearly every Alaska fish in the sea at the popular All Hands on Deck virtual meetings set for Nov. 10-13 by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Each day will focus on marketing strategies and challenges for the fish and shellfish ASMI promotes in the U.S. and around the world.

“ASMI’s mission is to increase the economic value and awareness of the Alaska seafood resource and that’s a really big lift,” said Ashley Heimbigner, ASMI communications director. “And we couldn’t do it without the input and guidance and ‘on the ground’ information we get from all of our industry partners and stakeholders.”

The All Hands lineup features the latest industry economic indicators presented by the McDowell Group, including covid impacts around the world, trade disputes, and a roundtable forum with experts from the global seafood supply chain.

Every fish and shellfish species gets its own session, Heimbigner said.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Bristol Bay catch lifts sluggish Alaska summer salmon season

July 29, 2020 — Alaska’s summer salmon season drifts into its second half as Bristol Bay’s sockeye fishery is winding down from another strong catch of around 38 million fish, leaving pink salmon to take center stage.

In his weekly report for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Garrett Evridge said preliminary data from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game put average Bristol Bay sockeye size at just over five pounds, continuing a trend of larger runs of smaller fish in the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. Total state-wide catch for sockeye sat at 42 million fish, which was on par with 10-year averages, according to data compiled by Evridge.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China social media strategy pays dividends for Alaskan seafood

June 24, 2020 — A recent social media campaign by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) yielded an impressive 55 million impressions on the leading Chinese social media platform Weibo.

The campaign was part of a social media promotion this winter by ASMI, where 50 Weibo influencers posted about Alaska seafood and fans of the posts were entered to a lucky draw for Alaskan seafood prizes.

Read the full story at Seafood Source