Saving Seafood

Trump says tariffs will continue on Chinese imports

March 21, 2019 — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, 20 March that U.S. tariffs on imported products from China would continue, even as the two countries make strides toward resolving their trade issues.

Earlier this month, media reports indicated Chinese and American officials were close to a deal that would repeal the levies in exchange for China agreeing to purchase additional products. However, Trump’s comments to reporters outside the White House seemed to contradict, or at least dampen, those expectations.

“We’re talking about leaving them (on) for a substantial period of time,” Trump said. “We have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal. Because they’ve had a lot of problems living by certain deals.”

The current trade war has hit the seafood industry particularly hard on both sides as China introduced a 25 percent tariff on American seafood imports last year, and the U.S. countered by hiking its tariffs on Chinese seafood imports by 10 percent.

The seafood industry has just been one of many that have suffered over the past year as a result of the tariffs. According to a report from four college economists published this month by the National Bureau for Economic Research, imports from targeted counties, not just China, dropped by nearly 32 percent, while American exports slumped by 11 percent. The end result being a USD 7.8 billion (EUR 6.9 billion) loss.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Despite tariff impacts, Maine lobster market remains robust

March 15, 2019 — Just over eight months since the start of a trade war between China and the United States, the Maine lobster industry is still coping with the affects of a 25 percent tariff on their goods.

Maine had been on track to more than double the value of exports to China, with USD 87 million (EUR 76.9 million) worth of the crustacean being sold through June 2018, compared to roughly half that value through the same period in 2017. However, once China implemented a 25 percent tariff on a wide list of goods from the U.S., shipments of live lobster from Maine to China plummeted to the point that they were almost nonexistent compared to the start of the year – and things haven’t changed much since then.

“The tariff story has dominated the media, and lobster has been the case study,” Annie Tselikis, executive director of the Maine Lobster Dealers’ Association, told SeafoodSource. “We’ve been vocal about it because it really has impacted the business.”

The market, which had seen explosive growth in the past few years, suddenly dried up overnight, for reasons completely out of the hands of Maine companies shipping live lobsters to China.

Even with the challenges, however, companies that focused on live lobster shipments have managed to make up ground by re-focusing efforts in other areas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bigeye tuna fishery gains MSC certification for first time

March 7, 2019 — A Chinese-operated longline yellowfin and bigeye tuna fishery, located in the Federated States of Micronesia, has become the first bigeye tuna fishery to achieve Marine Stewardship Council certification.

The fishery – owned by Liancheng Overseas Fishery (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. (SZLC), China Southern Fishery ShenZhen Co. Ltd. (CSFC), and Liancheng Overseas Fishery (FSM) Co. Ltd. (FZLC) – gained the certification after an independent assessment. The fishery earlier earned certification for yellowfin tuna in October 2018.

“We are extremely proud to have the first bigeye tuna fishery to be certified to the MSC Standard,” Sam Chou, president of SZLC, said. “It is a distinct honor. Liancheng is the largest Chinese fleet to achieve MSC certification. We are dedicated to achieving certification for all our fisheries.”

The latest stock assessment for bigeye tuna in the area shows stocks are healthy, and being fished at a sustainable rate. According to the MSC, the certification is conditional upon the adoption of harvest strategies including harvest control rules that include all the member states of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission by 2021.

“We congratulate Liancheng and their partners for becoming the first fishery to be eligible to sell MSC certified bigeye tuna. They are demonstrating true leadership in sustainable fishing,” Bill Holden, senior fisheries outreach manager for the MSC in Oceania and Southeast Asia, said. “To maintain their certification, Liancheng will need to work with other fishing organizations and the WCPFC to agree to important management measures to safeguard bigeye tuna stocks. As a result, this certification could influence the sustainability of bigeye fishing across the entire WCPO.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Chinese Hackers Target Universities in Pursuit of Maritime Military Secrets

March 5, 2019 — Chinese hackers have targeted more than two dozen universities in the U.S. and around the globe as part of an elaborate scheme to steal research about maritime technology being developed for military use, according to cybersecurity experts and current and former U.S. officials.

The University of Hawaii, the University of Washington and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are among at least 27 universities in the U.S., Canada and Southeast Asia that Beijing has targeted, according to iDefense, a cybersecurity intelligence unit of Accenture Security.

The research, to be published this week, is the latest indication that Chinese cyberattacks to steal U.S. military and economic secrets are on the rise. The findings, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, name a substantial list of university targets for the first time, reflecting the breadth and nature of the ongoing cyber campaign that iDefense said dates to at least April 2017.

Chinese officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but have denied that they engage in cyberattacks.

Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal

At Maine Fishermen’s Forum, Sen. Angus King lauds fishing industry

March 4, 2019 — U.S. Senator Angus King commended the work of the men and women in Maine’s fishing industry at the Maine Fisherman’s Forum in Rockport today, listening first-hand to the priorities and concerns of Maine fishermen from around the state.

“Here in Maine, generations of families have made their living at sea, and they have helped shape the traditions, culture, and economy of our state,” King said, in a news release. “The Maine Fishermen’s Forum is a wonderful way to celebrate our rich fishing heritage and to come together to put Maine’s collective expertise in the industry to work. With the increased communication and mutual understanding we solidified today, the Maine fishing industry is better positioned to further it’s important role for our state. It was an honor to speak with so many Maine men and women today whose hard work drives the economy and helps support families and communities up and down the coast.”

This week, Senator King and the rest of the Maine delegation wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer, calling on him to make the lobster industry a priority in the ongoing trade negotiations with the Chinese government.

Read the full story at the Penobscot Bay Pilot

Alaska’s seafood industry says the U.S.-China trade war is costing it dearly

March 1, 2019 — The trade war with China is impacting Alaska’s seafood industry. Alaska seafood exports to China have dropped by a fifth compared to last year.

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s Jeremy Woodrow told the Alaska House Fisheries Committee Wednesday that the industry blames Chinese tariffs. That’s according to a recent industry survey.

“Of the members that responded back to us, 65 percent reported they had immediate lost sales from the increase of these tariffs, 50 percent reported delays in their sales, and 36 percent reported that they lost customers in China just due to these tariffs” Woodrow explained. “Another 21 percent reported that they had unanticipated costs because of the trade conflict.

Alaska sold nearly $800 million of seafood to China in 2017. Not all Alaska seafood is bound by the Chinese tariffs imposed in retaliation to the Trump administration’s own tariffs on Chinese goods. Flatfish like flounder are subject to tariffs though Alaska pink salmon processed in China and re-exported are not.

But Woodrow said poor relations between the two countries makes some Chinese buyers reluctant to buy Alaska seafood anyway. China is Alaska’s largest foreign market and Woodrow warned that finding new outlets will take time.

Read the full story at KBBI

Chinese tariffs challenge Alaska seafood, new markets emerge

February 27, 2019 — Alaska’s fishing industry provides more jobs than any private sector in the state. On Tuesday, the House Special Committee on Fisheries received an update from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

The tariff war with China remains a concern. The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute put a lot of effort into selling Alaska’s seafood to China, said Jeremy Woodrow, the interim executive director of the ASMI. For every $10,000 spent on marketing in China, the Alaska seafood industry gets $1 million. But with the tariff war between the U.S. and China, Woodrow said, “We are expecting big drop offs in our Chinese market.”

However, Woodrow had plenty of positive news to report. In December, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan was able to add a provision to the Farm Bill that would require Alaska seafood pollock to be used in fish sticks in American school lunches. Previously, fish sticks in American school lunches were comprised of Russian pollock. Woodrow said this would equate to about $30 million a year. Alaska pollock makes up the bulk of the Alaska’s fishing harvest volume: 57 percent of the 5.9 billion pounds of seafood harvested in a year.

Ukraine has been a growing market for Alaska seafoods ever since the Russians placed an embargo on U.S. fish about five years ago, Woodrow said this market has been steadily growing.

Read the full story at the Juneau Empire

China opening up new seafood supply lines

February 26, 2019 –One of China’s largest and most inward cities, Lanzhou, is the latest to get an air cargo link to fly seafood from Southeast Asia. As China negotiates an end to trade tensions with the U.S. it has also been busily opening up new seafood trading routes and supply lines under its “One Belt, One Road” (also known as the New Silk Road) blueprint for opening up trade through new transport routes.

Not long ago, seafood imports into China were funnelled through just a handful of ports and airports, one of the reasons why smuggling such a popular route to get seafood into the country. Yet, recently, a 15-ton shipment of ribbonfish, grouper, and shrimp from Thailand was landed at Zhongzhou Airport, located in the desert outside Lanzhou – the latest in a series of inland ports and airports now allowed to handle seafood imports.

“With this new service seafood from Southeast Asia, we will now quickly reach local peoples’ tables,” a statement from the airport’s management proclaimed. Increasing the supply of imports of staple species like ribbonfish has also been central to China’s goals of keeping prices level.

Similarly, in the southern city of Nanning (capital of Guangxi Province), the Air Asia commercial service from Kuala Lumpur into Wu Wei Airport has become a supply line for both Indonesian grouper, Chilean salmon, and Canadian lobster, all transhipped through to Nanning, which last year was granted the right to handle customs for food imports.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China tackling tax evasion in seafood sector on many fronts

February 15, 2019 — Chinese authorities are touting their latest prize in an intensification of their ongoing crackdown in illegal seafood-related operations.

The arrest of a smuggling gang accused of bringing CNY 2.6 billion (USD 385.5 million, EUR 340.3 million) worth of frozen seafood clandestinely across the border from Vietnam over a three-year period was announced in prime-time coverage across regional and national television channels in January.

Customs and police forces from across southern China collaborated on the prosecution of the gang. The investigators hailed the operation as a triumph in protecting food safety and fair tax collection for the Chinese people. Those arrested include the CEO of a major processing and distribution firm in Dalian, who could face a trial that will set an example for the industry.

In another high-profile bust, a gang of 55 suspects were arrested in August 2018 for allegedly controlling the marine fishing sector in the port city of Weifang. The gang “occupied by force” the sea space in the outlying Shouguang and Changyi counties and forced fishing and aquaculture companies to pay for access to the water, according to an indictment published by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB), China’s police force. The gang also “taxed” the vessels according to the volume of their catch.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

How The Trade War With China Is Threatening America’s Largest Fishery

February 13, 2019 — Alaskan pollock is an incredibly versatile fish when it comes to cooking. The species is often referred to as a “cousin of cod” because the two species are classified in the same family, Gadidae. This means they have many shared characteristics, including how they taste. Their meat is a flaky blank slate, ready for nearly any preparation you could throw at it. Pollock’s affordability also makes it an attractive species for a variety of markets, from fast-casual to university and corporate dining.

These factors, along with the stability and health of the species’ population, helped to make Alaskan pollock the top species landed by volume in the United States in 2017. It hasn’t always been a top seller though. Back in the 1980s, there was very little demand for the species, but seafood distributors such as Trident Seafoods, based in Seattle, saw pollock’s potential as a cheaper cod alternative. Trident started a pollock revolution and became the largest vertically integrated seafood company in North America. Its founder, Chuck Bundrant, even became a billionaire, with a net worth Forbes estimates at $2.4 billion. Today, Alaskan pollock remains one of the top five most commonly eaten species in the U.S., but the fishery is at risk of being diminished by the ongoing trade war with China.

The species’ dominance could change if markets become unavailable because of shifts in global seafood processing and distribution due to an escalating international trade war. Last summer, China put in place a retaliatory tariff of 25% for seafood products. Then the U.S. proposed a 10% increase for tariffs on seafood imported from China. The issue here is that a portion of seafood caught by American fishermen is shipped to China for filleting and processing before being re-exported back in the U.S. for Americans to buy. While this seems like a wildly inefficient move, it has been, in fact, a commonly used method to cut costs. That meant when Alaskan pollock was processed in China and re-exported to America, it was included on the tariff lists.

After reports came out that the tariffs were harming the American fishing industry, particularly in Alaska, the U.S. announced that certain species of fish caught in the state would be excluded from the tariff list. Alaskan pollock is included in this group and will not be taxed when re-entering America. But the exemption doesn’t solve all problems for Alaskan fishermen and processors.

According to an FAO market report from January, Trump’s trade war “could end up favoring Russian Federation (and Chinese) exporters at the expense of Alaska processors.” This is because foreign fishing competitors can still ship pollock caught in their waters to China for lower-cost processing and then re-export to the U.S. tariff free. It seems like a bad turn of events for Alaskan fishermen and processors.

Read the full story at Forbes