Saving Seafood

Seafood industry awaits details before celebrating ‘phase one’ US-China deal

January 17, 2020 — The US and China may have reached the interim trade agreement that loosely promises to commit China to purchasing more US seafood products, but the seafood industry is keeping its party hats and noisemakers in the drawer.

In a ceremony held Wednesday at the White House, US president Donald Trump and China vice premier Liu He signed the so-called “phase one” trade deal that has been described as hitting the pause button on a two-year trade war that has devastated the US agriculture and seafood industries.

The deal, which is expected to take effect in mid-February and spelled out in an 86-page document, commits China to buying $200 billion worth of additional US products, goods and services over the next two years, reducing the US’ bilateral trade deficit in goods, which hit $420 billion in 2018. It removes planned US tariffs on Chinese cellphones, toys and laptops, as well as halving the existing tariffs on approximately $120bn worth of Chinese goods, the Financial Times recounts.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

“Phase One” US-China trade deal signed at White House

January 15, 2020 — The so-called “Phase One” trade deal, which cancels current and proposed U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for structural economic reforms in China, was formally by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Wednesday, 15 January at the White House in Washington D.C.

The deal, which includes specific provisions pertaining to seafood, will go into effect in 30 days.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Indonesia’s President Visits Island in Waters Disputed by China

January 9, 2020 — President Joko Widodo visited an island in waters disputed by China on Wednesday to assert Indonesia’s sovereignty amid a standoff between Indonesian and Chinese vessels.

The confrontation began in mid-December when a Chinese coast guard vessel and fishing boats, entered waters in Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone, off the coast of the northern Natuna islands, prompting Jakarta to summon Beijing’s ambassador.

Widodo told reporters on Natuna Besar island that the disputed waters belong solely to Indonesia.

“We have a district here, a regent, and a governor here,” he said. “There are no more debates. De facto, de jure, Natuna is Indonesia.”

Widodo also met with fishermen on the island. Earlier this week, Indonesia deployed more ships and fighter jets to patrol the surrounding waters. Nursyawal Embun, the director of sea operations at the Maritime Security Agency, said as of Wednesday morning that two Chinese coast guard vessels remained, while 10 Indonesian ships were on patrol.

Read the full story from Reuters at The New York Times

Tensions flare as China claims historical right to Indonesian waters in the South China Sea

January 8, 2020 — Tensions are flaring on the waters of the South China Sea as a sovereignty dispute between Indonesia and China heats up.

Tension between the two countries rose following a series of naval maneuvers by the Chinese coast guard and Chinese fishing vessels in the  waters off the coast of the disputed northern islands of Natuna, The Jakarta Post reported 5 January. The islands are located between the Malaysian peninsula and Kalimantan, the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska pollock industry officials explore export market potential in China

January 7, 2020 — A group of Alaska pollock industry officials arrived earlier this week in Shanghai for a 10-day visit to China as an exploratory trip to appraise opportunities in the country, according to a Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) press release.

The tour, sponsored in large part by a grant from the Emerging Market Department of the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, will also include stops in Qingdao and Beijing.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fish food: Feed, fishmeal sectors saw innovation, volatility in 2019

January 6, 2020 — Aquafeed and its components may not always be the highest-profile segment of the seafood industry, but given that feed is typically farmers’ biggest expense, it’s usually a top concern.

Aquaculture’s growth is spurring concerns about the use of forage fish to produce fishmeal and fish oil and encouraging the development of alternative ingredients rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. This drove rapid innovation in the feed sector in 2019 as entrepreneurs and established players sought to cash in on the sector’s promise.

Undercurrent News was the first to report on many of these developments, which you can review in our recap below:

January

The fishmeal markets began 2019 on a bearish note as global supplies got a boost amid strong anchovy landings in Peru even though fishmeal stockpiles in China saw lower demand due to an outbreak of African swine fever. Sources told Undercurrent that Peruvian superprime fishmeal prices, ex-warehouse, Shanghai, China, averaged CNY 10,700 per metric ton ($1,566/t) in January, down CNY 1,200/t from mid-October 2018

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Indonesia Mobilizes Fishermen in Stand-Off With China

January 6, 2020 — Indonesia will mobilize fishermen to join warships in the South China Sea to help defend against Chinese vessels, the government said on Monday, as the biggest stand-off with China for years escalated off Southeast Asia’s largest country.

In an unusually strong statement, President Joko Widodo told reporters: “There is no negotiation when it comes to our sovereignty.”

The stand-off since last month in the northern Natuna islands, where a Chinese coastguard vessel has accompanied Chinese fishing vessels, has soured the generally friendly relationship between Jakarta and Beijing.

Indonesia’s chief security minister, Mahfud MD, told reporters that around 120 fishermen from the island of Java would be sent to the Natuna islands, some 1,000 km (600 miles) to the north.

Read the full story from Reuters at the New York Times

Facing new threats, lobstermen take hard line against right whale protections

January 3, 2020 — Their catch this year has plummeted, while their exports to China have been gutted by the trade war. The government has imposed strict quotas on their primary bait. And they’re facing serious lawsuits that could affect how they fish.

Now, the region’s lobstermen are facing a new, imminent threat, one that could drastically change how they’ve operated for generations: regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales.

With a population that has dwindled by 20 percent over the past decade to about 400, the critically endangered species is at risk of extinction, largely because of hundreds of thousands of buoy lines that extend from the surface to the seafloor in the Gulf of Maine.

As a result, federal regulators are considering rules that could cut as many as half those lines, the leading cause of right whale deaths.

But lobstermen here say such limits could devastate an industry that contributes an estimated $1.5 billion to the state’s economy, and their opposition has been building for months, with the support of their state’s leaders.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

Little-noticed document from US-China ‘phase one’ trade deal hints of positives for US seafood

December 19, 2019 — Language contained in a short, somewhat vague document included as part of the so-called “phase one” US-China trade agreement announced Friday — but not widely publicized — hints at some positive developments coming soon for US seafood harvesters, processors, wholesalers and exporters, Undercurrent News has learned.

But the seafood industry will likely have to wait another month for the details.

Under the heading of “expanding trade”, the US Trade Representative (USTR)’s two-page fact sheet, handed out to stakeholders, says China has committed to exceeding its 2017 purchase of US goods and services by no less than $200 billion, including “manufactured goods, food, agricultural and seafood products,” among other things.

It further adds that the increase should “continue on this same trajectory for several years after 2021 and should contribute significantly to the rebalancing of the US-China trade relationship.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News