Saving Seafood

Fishery managers call for deeper look at salmon bycatch, but decline to tighten rules

June 16, 2022 — Western Alaska villagers have endured the worst chum salmon runs on record, several years of anemic Chinook salmon runs in the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers, harvest closures from the Bering Sea coast to Canada’s Yukon Territory and such dire conditions that they relied on emergency shipments of salmon from elsewhere in Alaska just to have food to eat.

Many of those suffering see one way to provide some quick relief: Large vessels trawling for pollock and other groundfish in the industrial-scale fisheries of the Bering Sea, they say, must stop intercepting so many salmon.

Advocates for tighter rules on those interceptions, known as bycatch, made their case over the past several days to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, the organization that manages fish harvests in federal waters off Alaska.

‘Like fishing in the desert’

“The numbers are really low. There’s nothing out there. It’s like fishing in the desert,” Walter Morgan, of the Yup’ik village of Lower Kalskag, said in online testimony to the council, which met in Sitka.

Read the full story at the the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman

 

Steep lobster price fall represents a return to normalcy – for now

June 7, 2022 — Sky-high lobster prices over the past several months appear to have abated, both at the shore and in the market.

The price has dropped steeply enough that it’s garnered wider media attention, with reports saying the price of lobster has suffered its largest drop in years. The Fish, Food & Allied Workers Union in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada reported the average market price went from USD 10.50 (EUR 9.81) per pound in mid-April to USD 8.22 (EUR 7.68) in late May.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

More Endangered Right Whales Are Leaving New England for Canada

April 25, 2022 — Local researchers are studying why North Atlantic right whales are migrating out of our area into more northern waters in Canada.

Some believe rapidly warming waters in the Gulf of Maine could be playing a role, but they’re just not sure how.

The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most critically endangered animals on the planet.

Researchers from the New England Aquarium are studying these majestic creatures and they think some of the answers might lie in their poop.

Dr. Elizabeth Burgess is a research scientist with the aquarium that studies hormone changes in right whales. Unfortunately, the easiest way to collect hormones is through their feces.

“So nutritional stress is of really great concern for this species, as is the reproductive viability as well. So all of these things we can, we’re using hormones to better understand what’s happening,” said Burgess.

Read the full story at NBC Boston

FDA warns about norovirus-contaminated Canadian oysters in the US

April 5, 2022 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning about raw oysters from Canada involved in a norovirus outbreak that has sickened nearly 300 Canadians.

Potentially contaminated raw oysters harvested in the south and central parts of Baynes Sound, British Columbia, Canada, were distributed to restaurants and retailers in the U.S. states of California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, the FDA said in a press release.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

ANALYSIS: 2022 Scallop Season Expectations

April 5, 2022 — April 1, 2022  marks the opening of the 2022/2023 Atlantic sea scallop fishery that operates along the Atlantic coast from the Mid-Atlantic region, up to the U.S.-Canadian border. Framework Adjustment 34, which namely projects 34 million pounds of Atlantic sea scallops to be landed this season, was approved by New England Fishery Management Council back in December, and passed along to NOAA for final approval and implementation.

Harvest projections of 34 million pounds is a 15% reduction to the 40 million pounds projected last year, almost half of the 62.5 million pounds projected just three years ago in 2019, and the lowest level since 2014.

Read the full story at Seafood News

 

Glaciers’ retreat could open new Alaska salmon habitat

February 22, 2022 — Melting glaciers in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia could open up new habitat for Pacific salmon – conceivably almost equal to the length of the Mississippi River – by 2100, under one scenario of “moderate” climate change.

But, on balance, a warming climate will continue to take a negative toll on salmon populations on the U.S. Pacific coast.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Major border crossing blocked over Canadian trucker protests

February 8, 2022 — Canadian truck driver protesters have impeded access to the busiest international crossing in North America.

The demonstrations began January 29 as an objection to a vaccine mandate requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or face testing and quarantine requirements. Beginning 7 February, the Ambassador Bridge that links Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., was partially blocked by those participating in the collective action, according to CNN. Canadian-bound traffic was still shut down as of the morning of Tuesday, 8 February, while U.S.-bound traffic was flowing with limited bridge access.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

With $250 million in monthly seafood shipments on the line, fallout from US-Canada trucker vaccine mandates could be costly

January 24, 2022 — Recently introduced COVID-19 vaccine mandates for truck drivers moving goods across the US and Canadian borders has sparked an outcry from truckers in both countries, threatening to impact already strained supply chains for fresh products, including seafood.

Canadian border authorities began refusing entry to unvaccinated American truckers after an order came into force on Jan. 15.

At the US border crossing, vaccine mandates for south-bound truckers are expected to come into force Jan. 22.

Drivers arriving at the US border not in compliance with the mandate could face the refusal of entry into the US, including having their trucks returned to Canada.

It is estimated that as many as 22,000 Canadian truck drivers and 16,000 US truck drivers may be prevented from crossing by mandates imposed in both countries.

Read the full story at Intrafish

 

Waters off New England hit record fall temperature in ’21

January 19, 2022 — A body of water off New England and Canada had its warmest fall surface temperatures on record last year, a Maine science center reported.

The Gulf of Maine has long been a focus of climate scientists because it is warming faster than most of the world’s oceans. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute said last week that average sea surface temperatures in the gulf reached 59.9 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 degrees Celsius).

Read the full story from the Associated Press

Op-ed: Focus on blue economy needed in 2022 for COVID-19 recovery

January 13, 2022 — We’ve come to the end of another year filled with uncertainty, with no sign of predictability on the horizon. No one is really sure what the new year will bring. Stability has been hard for Canadians to come by, and it’s something that decision-makers and leaders in both government and industry need to prioritize immediately to incite recovery.

In 2022, Canadian decision-makers are going to have to start implementing serious COVID-19 recovery measures as the pandemic continues to stretch on. The Blue Economy Strategy is an initiative that offers significant recovery opportunities to grow the Canadian economy. While the Blue Economy mandate was put forth by the federal government prior to the pandemic, it has been reinforced in the new mandate letter given to new Fisheries and Oceans Canada Minister Joyce Murray.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource