Saving Seafood

China Calls Them Fish Farms. South Korea Fears They Have Another Use.

June 24, 2025 — In recent years, China has towed a decommissioned offshore oil-drilling rig and two giant octagonal steel cages into the sea between China and South Korea, saying that the structures were used as deep-sea fish farms in shared waters. But South Koreans fear that they are more than that and could be used to expand China’s military influence.

South Korea’s National Assembly formally took issue with the Chinese structures on Monday when its ocean and fisheries committee condemned them as “a threat to maritime safety,” in a resolution adopted with bipartisan support. Those fears were bolstered on Tuesday by a report from the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“While available information suggests that the platforms are genuinely focused on aquaculture, concerns that the platforms may be dual-use are not unfounded, given China’s track record in the South China Sea,” said the report, which used satellite imagery and other data to track the installations. Dual-use refers to a second potential use for military purposes.

“Even without further expansion, the platforms are likely already collecting data that could have value for undersea navigation and detection,” the report said.

Read the full article The New York Times

Shipping rates continue to rise as global economic headwinds mount

June 10, 2025 — Global shipping rates are rising, especially on routes between the U.S. and China, as the nations’ trade war continues and U.S. courts consider the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariff program.

Shipping rate indexing and analysis firm Xeneta has reported a continued surge in spot rates between East Asia and the U.S., significantly driving up prices for importers.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Seafood industry raises alarms about foreign subsidies

June 5, 2025 — On Wednesday, Russia was accused of subsidizing their seafood industry and exporting farm-raised, mislabeled salmon – an accusation levied by other seafood producers against countries such as India, Vietnam, and China.

The accusation came at Wednesday’s meeting of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries.

The meeting was held in response to an executive order issued in April by President Donald Trump titled Restoring America’s Seafood Competitiveness.

“In the case of Russia, for instance, not only are they flooding global markets with hatchery-produced salmon, it is also often mislabeled,” Jamie O’Connor, deputy executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, told the committee. “And so we are operating in the best faith that we can as small businesses to compete in a vast global market. And we need your help to do that.”

Read the full article at The Center Square

ALASKA: Alaska seafood industry ‘uniquely vulnerable’ to tariff impacts, trade groups say

June 5, 2025 — Alaska’s seafood industry could see an outsized impact from international tariffs, according to experts.

In April, President Donald Trump announced a major tariff hike on China, escalating up to 145%, and China retaliated with similar rates. Though both governments struck a deal in May delaying any increases by at least 90 days, they haven’t been canceled, and tariffs have stayed elevated since his last presidency. That makes Alaska seafood less competitive in China, one of the largest markets for it internationally.

Two trade groups representing some of Alaska’s largest seafood processors — the Pacific Seafood Processors Association and the At-Sea Processors Association — sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative March 11 urging caution on new tariffs worldwide.

“(Alaska is) heavily dependent on fair access to export markets, and also uniquely vulnerable to retaliatory tariffs that our trading partners may seek to impose in the event of heightened trade tensions,” they wrote. “Accordingly, care must be taken to remedy these issues in a manner that does not increase the harm to U.S. seafood producers.”

The letter points to an “existential and global threat” to Alaska’s seafood industry in recent years due to unfair trade practices by Russia, which has been overproducing and flooding world markets for years, especially for pollock. The U.S. currently has broad trade sanctions on Russia.

Read the full article at Alaska Journal of Commerce

China Dominates ‘Dark’ Network Behind Global Fishing Crisis

June 4, 2025 — A new report exposes the sophisticated networks propping up Chinese squid fleets accused of illegal fishing off South America.

These activities—often carried out with Automatic Identification System (AIS) trackers turned off, or “dark”—are undercutting local fishers who depend on regional marine resources for their livelihoods, according to Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit C4ADS.

Illegal, Unreported And Unregulated

The rising demand for seafood and dwindling local stocks have pushed fishing fleets farther from home. The vessels now operate in international waters for months—even years—at a time, virtually unmonitored, increasing the risk of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and labor abuses.

China and Taiwan account for about 60 percent of distant-water fishing, and Chinese vessels in particular have faced growing scrutiny for allegedly operating illegally within South American exclusive economic zones, prompting rising grassroots pressure to tighten enforcement and close regulatory loopholes.

What To Know

The abundant stocks of jumbo flying squid and Argentine shortfin squid have attracted distant-water fishing fleets to the coasts of South America.

A report released Tuesday by the C4Dfound that 69 percent of squid jiggers operating off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts share ownership with ships allegedly involved in illicit activities, or vessels of concern.

While these operations are theoretically under the oversight of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), enforcement is often spotty. The situation is even more tenuous on the Atlantic coast, which lacks a comparable fisheries management framework.

Read the full article at Newsweek

USTR extends Section 301 tariff exclusions on certain seafood for another three months

June 3, 2025 — The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has granted certain Section 301 tariff exclusions on some seafood items, giving the products another three months to avoid a higher 25 percent tariff rate.

The Section 301 tariffs stem from the first term of U.S. President Donald Trump, who first hit Chinese products with a 10 percent tariff in 2018. That move started Trump’s first trade war with China, which resulted in 25 percent tariffs being placed on a wide array of goods from China related to the Section 301 Investigation of China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

“A lesser-of-two-evils scenario” – Trade law experts respond to US-China tariff pause

May 22, 2025 — Though the U.S.-China tariff pause has provided U.S. import businesses with a reprieve, many are still struggling to create long-term growth strategies in the current environment, experts say. 

Reed Smith Global Regulatory Enforcement Group Chair Michael Lowell told SeafoodSource that the current situation is “just a lesser-of-two-evils scenario.” 

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Imports likely to spike amid pause in US-China tariffs; Suez Canal Authority tries to entice shippers back to Red Sea transit

May 16 2025 — Supply chain experts are cautiously optimistic as they track changes in cargo and import levels since the 90-day pause on U.S.-Chinese import tariffs began on 12 May.

As a result of the pause, preliminary information from various cargo and import indexes appears to suggest that an import spike may be coming in the near future.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US, China agreement on tariffs encourages some, but others aren’t celebrating yet

May 13, 2025 — The U.S. and China’s recent agreement to reduce tariffs has garnered mixed reactions from the seafood and retail industries.

In a joint statement, both the U.S. and China agreed to modify duties the two countries had placed on goods from the other country on 12 May for 90 days. Effective 14 May, both countries will reduce tariff rates by 115 percent as the two continue discussions about economic and trade relations.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource