Saving Seafood

One reason you’re shelling out more for lobster? China

August 6, 2015 — CHINA — Prices for lobster meat have hit record highs in the U.S. this year thanks to surging demand from China and environmental factors such as the unseasonably cold winter. This comes two years after prices for the tasty shellfish hit a 20-year low because of a supply glut.

In recent years, China, which consumes 35 percent of the world’s seafood, has taken an increasingly larger bite out of the lobster market, where it is considered both a delicacy and symbol of good luck because of its red color. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shellfish exports rose 8 percent in fiscal year 2014 and 20 percent of them went to China.

“China is a huge factor,” said John Sackton, editor and publisher of the trade news site SeafoodNews.com, in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. “They have become a year-round consumer of live and frozen lobster. They are a permanent factor in the market now.”

According to market research firm Urner Barry, wholesale prices for lobster meat, which is mainly sold to food service customers, are about $22.50 per pound, up more than 30 percent from a year earlier. According the company, prices haven’t been this high in decades and are at unprecedented levels.

Read the full story at CBS News 

 

In Quirky Hong Kong Voting System, Fishermen Play Key Role

July 23, 2015 — Since China took control of Hong Kong from Britain in 1997, the city’s billionaires have played a leading role in hewing the Asian financial center to Beijing’s priorities. So too have a dwindling band of fishermen and farmers.

The desire of China’s communist leaders to enlist the tycoons’ cooperation is understandable given the influence they have through their control of large swathes of the semiautonomous Chinese city’s economy. Chinese President Xi Jinping last year summoned a group of them for an emergency meeting as political tensions in Hong Kong mounted.

Less known outside Hong Kong, however, is the political role of fishermen and farmers, remnant industries in Hong Kong that form a large slice of the 1,200-member committee that selects the southern Chinese city’s pro-Beijing leader. They also have their own representative in the territory’s legislature.

Fishing and farming make up less than 1 percent of Hong Kong’s $274 billion economy but command 60 votes in the leadership committee, far more than groups or industries with much greater economic or social significance.

Their outsized role is a source of discontent in a city that was rocked by pro-democracy protests over the past year as many Hong Kongers chafed against a rising tide of mainland Chinese influence.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News

 

Despite maritime security tension, US and China to cooperate on combating illegal fishing

June 24, 2015 — The U.S. and China said Wednesday they are stepping up cooperation on preserving the ocean and combating illegal fishing despite their differences on maritime security.

Secretary of State John Kerry said that indicates the two nations are “working hard to address differences and to find the areas of commonality.”

The two governments discussed ocean policy on the final day Wednesday of high-level talks on security and the economy. The leaders of the Chinese delegation met later Wednesday at the White House with President Barack Obama, who will host China’s President Xi Jinping in the fall.

This week’s talks are a prelude to Xi’s visit, his first to the U.S. since 2013. Despite growing tensions over cybertheft and China’s island-building in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. and China are stressing how they can work together on less contentious issues, such as climate change.

State Councilor Yang Jiechi said they have “broad common interests in global maritime governance” and that they could jointly build a “peaceful and tranquil” marine environment.

Read the full story from the Associated Press here