Saving Seafood

Pacific Bluefin Tuna: Catch Could Increase in 2020

September 9, 2019 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Northern Committee met in Portland, Oregon, last week to discuss two proposals to increase catch limits on Pacific bluefin. Despite continued overfishing of the depleted species, the Committee recommended changes to the Pacific bluefin management measure that will lead to an increase in catch for 2020. However, The Northern Committee will need to reconvene at the WCPFC annual meeting in December to officially adopt the outcomes of this meeting, as the meeting failed to reach the required quorum due to the absence of four members.

The Northern Committee recommended that next year, Chinese Taipei be allowed to transfer 300mt of their adult catch limit to Japan. All countries will also be able to roll over up to 17 percent of their 2019 quota to be used to increase their catch of both adult and juvenile fish in 2020. This means that Japan will be able to catch hundreds of tons of additional fish in 2020 from a stock that is at just 3.3 percent of its unfished size and is just two years into a 17-year rebuilding plan.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Interatlantic exec: China remains a processing powerhouse

September 4, 2019 — Economists have been predicting the decline of China’s seafood processing sector for years, but that prediction may not be correct, Jesús Martínez, Asia managing director at Interatlantic, a Vigo, Spain-based seafood trading firm, told SeafoodSource recently. Founded in 1989, Interatlantic has an office in Dalian, China, and has increasingly turned to China and its booming seafood market for a bigger share of its revenue.

Statistics do show a decline in the Chinese processing sector – the number of Chinese aquatic product processing enterprises dropped from 9,674 in 2017 to 9,336 in 2018, according to the Chinese Agriculture Ministry, and the country’s processing capacity of aquatic products processing enterprises fell from 29,262,300 tons per year in 2017 to 28,920,600 tons per year in 2018. Additionally, actual processing volume of aquatic products in China decreased by 1.79 percent compared with 2017, to 21.56,850 tons. Freshwater processing products and seawater processing totaled 3.883 million tons and 17.75 million tons respectively.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Sea Mix brand CEO: MSC certification is only path forward for Chinese market

September 3, 2019 — Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in sustainability, according to Song Peng, the CEO of Qingdao Beiyang Jiamei Aquatic Products Co. Established in 2009, the firm distributes seafood to supermarkets and online markets in China under the “Seamix” brand, using the marketing slogan “Food safety, responsibility, sustainability.” The firm’s imports include Arctic shrimp, cod, salmon, Ecuadorian shrimp, and Greenland halibut. SeafoodSource talked to Song about the firm’s marketing strategy for certified sustainable products. 

SeafoodSource: When and how did you discover the MSC certification program?

Peng: We started as a processor and then entered the domestic market. In 2010, we started to process MSC-certified cod and haddock for the European and American markets. We are now the leading supplier of MSC products in China market in terms of SKUs [stock keeping units].

Read the full release here

China patrols target IUU in North Pacific

August 28, 2019 — China is flexing its muscles as an enforcer of international fishery rules after moving to enlarge its Coast Guard and place it under military command.

Two vessels of the China Coast Guard are operating in the North Pacific Ocean to enforce the Convention on the Conservation and Management of the High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean (NPFC), which came into force in 2015. A Chinese military TV channel has been broadcasting footage of the vessels returning to ports in Dalian and Qingdao after 27 days of patrolling, during which they sailed a combined nearly 10,000 nautical miles.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Trump escalates US-China trade war with tariff increases

August 26, 2019 — Soon after China moved on 23 August to raise tariffs on USD 75 billion (EUR 67.4 billion) of U.S. goods, U.S. President Donald Trump retaliated with another increase to tariffs on Chinese goods.

China’s escalation of its tariffs on U.S. goods hit the seafood industry once again, increasing the tariffs on salmon, lobster, pollock, cod, squid, crab to 35 percent, exempting raw material for processing and re-export. The previous tariffs already had a significant impact on some sectors of the seafood industry – lobster exports from Maine to China plunged 84 percent after the tariffs took effect.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Trump says US “better off without” China after latest tariff escalation

August 25, 2019 — China moved on Friday, 23 August to raise tariffs on USD 75 billion (EUR 67.3 billion) in American goods, in response to a move made at the beginning of the month by U.S. President Donald Trump to raise tariffs on Chinese goods.

China’s new tariffs – ranging between 5 and 10 percent – will affect goods ranging from soybeans to crude oil to automobiles, and also include additional tariffs for seafood. They will go into effect between September and December, mirroring the dates set by Trump in his revised timeline for implementing the latest round of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Most U.S. seafood exported to China will will be subject to an additional 10 percent tariff on 1 September, raising Chinese tariffs on U.S. seafood as high as 35 percent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Tariffs changing shopping habits of US consumers

August 16, 2019 — More U.S. shoppers are noticing price increases for the products they buy regularly, and a majority of them plan to reexamine their shopping habits if U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods remain in place, according to a new survey.

Shopkick, the operator of a shopping rewards app, surveyed more than 30,000 of its users between 28 and 30 June, and found 44 percent of respondents planned to cut down on their shopping as a result of raised prices on consumer goods, the result of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on practically all Chinese goods, valued at more than USD 550 billion (EUR 495.6 billion) in annual trade.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Frozen salmon, cod fillets escape latest Trump tariffs

August 13, 2019 — A move executed Tuesday, 13 August by the Trump administration will reverse previously-announced tariffs on some seafood processed in China.

Included in the original list of items subject to the latest round of tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday, 1 August – which originally proposed subjecting an additional USD 300 billion (EUR 270 billion) in imported goods to a 10 percent tariff – were frozen fillets of cod, salmon, and haddock.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Mexico becomes top US trade partner one year into China conflict

August 8, 2019 — It’s been one year, so how’s that trade war with China working out for the nation’s seafood industry?

As with farmers, there’s not much winning and ongoing tweeted skirmishes have global fish markets skittish.

The quick take is the 25 percent retaliatory tariff imposed by China on U.S. imports last July caused a 36 percent drop in U.S. seafood sales, valued at $340 million, according to an in-depth analysis of Chinese customs data by Undercurrent News.

“Chinese imports of US seafood fell from $1.3 billion in the 12 months prior to tariffs (July 1, 2017-June 30, 2018), to $969 million in the 12 months after (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019), underlining the heavy impact of weaker demand for U.S. seafood subject to tariffs, while poor catch of U.S. wild-caught seafood was also to blame,” the News wrote.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce