Saving Seafood

Will Trade Tariffs Cause The American Fish Industry To Flop?

August 16, 2018 — An estimated $900 million worth of American-caught or -farmed seafood — from fish sticks to cod fillets — may get a lot more expensive thanks to the U.S.’s current trade war with China.

How? Well, last month the Trump administration proposed a 10% duty on a wide range of imports from China, including many varieties of fish. Trade representatives will finalize the tariffs, which could increase to 25%, in September. While these tariffs are designed to punish China for unfair trade practices, when it comes to seafood, it’s the U.S. that may be on the hook.

Here’s a surprising fact: In many cases seafood labeled as “from China” is actually American. That $900 million of seafood I mentioned earlier? It’s seafood that is first caught or raised in the U.S., sent to China for processing, and then subsequently imported back into the U.S. by companies that sell it to American consumers.

Why would pink salmon or squid that’s caught in U.S. waters be labeled a product of China? Well, thanks to our confusing Country of Origin Labeling law (COOL for short), American products that undergo a “substantial transformation” abroad — such as calamari being breaded or pink salmon being filleted and canned — must then be labeled as coming from the country where they were processed. For example, in some cases a package of frozen “Alaskan Cod” fillets may say “product of China” on the back. The fish was caught in Alaska, but it was cleaned, filleted, and frozen in China. (If you’re interested in more, the USDA has a good blog post on the subject.)

Read the full story at Forbes

Researchers are seeing young cod return to the Gulf of Alaska

August 15, 2018 — Tiny cod fish are reappearing around Kodiak.

Researchers aim to find out if it is a blip, or a sign that the stock is recovering after warming waters caused the stocks to crash.

Alaska’s seafood industry was shocked last fall when the annual surveys showed cod stocks in the Gulf of Alaska had plummeted by 80 percent to the lowest levels ever seen. Prior surveys indicated large year classes of cod starting in 2012 were expected to produce good fishing for six or more years. But a so-called warm blob of water depleted food supplies and wiped out that recruitment.

“That warm water was sitting in the gulf for three years starting in 2014 and it was different than other years in that it went really deep and it also lasted throughout the winter. You can deplete the food source pretty rapidly when the entire ecosystem is ramped up in those warm temperatures,” explained Steven Barbeaux with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

This summer researchers at Kodiak saw the first signs of potential recovery with beach seine catches of tiny first year cod that are born offshore and drift as larvae into coastal grassy areas in July and August.

“A lot can happen in that first year of life that we would like to learn more about to predict whether or not these year classes are actually going to survive,” said Ben Laurel, a fisheries research biologist with the AFSC based in Newport, Ore., whose specialty is early survival of cold water commercial fish species.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Warming waters and migrating fish stocks could cause political conflict

August 8, 2018 — Climate change is driving fish species to migrate to new areas, and in the process they’re crossing political boundaries – potentially setting up future conflicts as some countries lose access to fish and others gain it, according to a recent study published in the journal Science.

Already, fish and other marine animals have shifted toward the poles at an average rate of 70 kilometers per decade. That rate is projected to continue or even accelerate as the planet warms.

When fish cross into new territory, it might prompt competitive harvesting between countries scrambling to exploit disappearing resources.

“Conflict leads to overfishing, which reduces food, profit, and jobs that fisheries can provide, and can also fracture international relations in other, non-fishery sectors,” Malin Pinsky, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of biology at Rutgers University, told SeafoodSource.

The study looked at the distribution of nearly 900 commercially important marine fish and invertebrates, examining how their movements intersect with 261 of the world’s Exclusive Economic Zones. By 2100, more than 70 countries will see new fish stocks in their waters if greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rates.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the scale and number of these migrations by half or more, Pinsky said.

Conflict over shifting fish stocks is not unheard of. In the 2000s, migrating mackerel in the northeast Atlantic caused such a rift between Iceland and other nations that it played a role in derailing attempts to join the European Union. In the eastern Pacific, a bout of warm ocean temperatures in the 1980s and 1990s shifted salmon spawning patterns, prompting a scuffle between U.S. and Canada.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Catching fish is easy part; Quota system? Not so much

August 6, 2018 –By 4 a.m. every morning the Finlander is out in the ocean, sometimes traveling as far as 50 to 70 miles into the Gulf of Maine, to catch fish to be sold directly to restaurants and customers at local farmers’ markets.

The Finlander is a 36-foot Northern Bay and one of two vessels operated by New England Fishmongers. On a good day, Finlander’s crew will haul in 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of fish, according to Capt. Tim Rider.

The reason the Finlander usually travels so far out, even beyond the reception of the vessel’s VHF radio, is to increase the odds of catching Atlantic pollock and haddock, instead of a large haul of cod, which has a much higher fishing quota lease price per pound. But out at sea, when the 24-ounce jig is in the water, it’s anyone’s guess what may bite.

“If there’s a problem that far out, we’re out of VHF radio reception in a 36-foot boat and we’re likely dead,” Rider, also the owner of New England Fishmongers, said. “Best case, we’d be stuck out there a long time by ourselves before there is any chance we could be rescued.”

Despite the risks of fishing on the high seas, Rider’s crew feels a sense of heightened purpose to reconnect local restaurants directly to the fishermen.

“This is the only job I could see myself doing seven days a week,” Finlander crew member Chris Roberts said after only his second week as a member of the Finlander’s crew on Monday. “With us, our fish, you’re eating what was caught yesterday. Nothing beats being out on the boat; casting out and catching fish with your hands.”

Read the full story at Fosters.com

Historic Maine cod fishery had all-time worst year in 2017

July 30, 2018 — PORTLAND, Maine — One of the most historic fisheries in the country hit an all-time low last year as cod fishermen continued to struggle with choking quotas and low abundance of the fish.

Maine’s cod fishery has existed since at least the early 17th century, and it was once one of the strongest in the country. The fishery peaked at more than 21 million pounds of cod, a fish often used with the fish and chips dish, in 1991.

But fishermen only brought 79,816 pounds of cod to land in Maine in 2017, mirroring a downward trend around New England, where cod fishermen have also struggled in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, state data said. Maine’s total was less than half the 2016 haul and by far the lowest on record according to state data that go back to 1950.

One reason for the collapse is that federal quotas for cod are so low many fishermen are just avoiding them altogether, said Terry Alexander, a veteran fisherman out of Portland and Boston. Cod fishermen typically also seek other species, such as haddock and flounder, and they must stop fishing altogether once they reach quota for cod, per the rules.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Boston Globe

 

Vineyard Wind Appoints Crista Bank as Fisheries Liaison

July 30, 2018 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The following was released by Vineyard Wind:

Vineyard Wind today announced the appointment of Crista Bank as Fisheries Liaison. In this role, Bank will lead the project’s regional engagement with fishing industry representatives on Cape and Islands, the South Coast, Rhode Island, and along the East Coast.

A fisheries scientist, Bank brings extensive local, regional, national and international experience and deep knowledge of marine science and fisheries issues to her role at Vineyard Wind.

“We’re pleased to have Crista lead our efforts to address the important questions the fishing industry have raised about the impacts of offshore wind development on the marine environment and on sea life,” said Erich Stephens, Chief Development Officer with Vineyard Wind. “Crista will play a key role in ensuring that the first large-scale offshore wind project in the US helps establish a robust body of knowledge that will benefit the American offshore wind industry and the fishing community for decades to come.”

Most recently, Crista served as a fisheries biologist at the School for Marine Science and Technology (SMAST) at UMass Dartmouth, working on collaborative research projects with commercial fishermen studying cod, monkfish, and halibut. Previously, she served on the Schooner Ernestina, the only surviving 19th century Gloucester-built fishing schooner and one of two remaining examples of the Fredonia-style schooners, where she earned her 100-ton United States Coast Guard Captain’s license. Bank also worked on board traditional sailing vessels across the world, including journeys to the Indian and Atlantic oceans. She started her career teaching marine science at outdoor experiential education programs in New England, Southern California, and the Florida Keys. Crista earned a bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology from UMass Dartmouth and a Master’s degree in Fisheries Oceanography from SMAST.

In May, Vineyard Wind was selected to negotiate long-term contracts with Massachusetts’ electric distribution companies (EDCs) for construction of an 800-megawatt (MW) wind farm 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard; the project will provide the amount of clean energy used by over 400,000 homes across Massachusetts Vineyard Wind remains on schedule to begin site construction in 2019 and become operational by 2021.

About Vineyard Wind

Vineyard Wind LLC is an offshore wind development company seeking to build the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in the US, to be located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Wind, based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is 50 percent owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and 50 percent by Avangrid Renewables. For more information, visit www.vineyardwind.com.

 

ALASKA: The Big Thaw: Fishermen in Kodiak cope with record low cod numbers

July 25, 2018 — A hint of optimism creeps into Darius Kasprzak’s voice as he pilots his boat, the Marona, out of the harbor in Kodiak on a calm day in early May.

“We’re in the morning, we’re at the start of the flood tide,” Kasprzak said. “This is where you want to be.”

On the screen of Kasprzak’s echo sounder he sees a dense cluster of dots on the ocean bottom.

“Let’s drop on it,” Kasprzak said. “That looks pretty darn good.”

Kasprzak kills the engine, leaps onto the deck and lowers one of his fishing lines into the water.

And then… nothing.

For years, Alaska fishermen like Kasprzak have worried that climate change would threaten their livelihoods. Now, it has. The cod population in the Gulf of Alaska is at its lowest level on record. The culprit is a warm water mass called “the blob“ that churned in the Pacific Ocean between 2013 and 2017.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Rhode Island Environmentalists: Proposed Changes To Fishery Management ‘Could Threaten Years Of Progress’

July 19, 2018 — A local environmental nonprofit is speaking out against proposed changes to federal fishing regulations outlined under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.

The law has regulated fisheries in the U.S. since 1976. It was amended in 1996 and 2007 to help rebuild fish populations and prevent overfishing.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a partisan bill with largely Republican support called H.R. 200 – Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act that could give regional fishery councils more freedom to set catch limits.

Jennifer Felt, ocean campaign director for Conservation Law Foundation, said the change could threaten years of progress.

“These new regulations established by this bill would give the (management councils) the legal flexibility to set even looser standards, and we know that this will only compound the problem for fish like Atlantic Cod that are already on the brink,” Felt said.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

Alaskans fret as Chinese, US tariffs go into effect

July 6, 2018 — The next phase of the Chinese-U.S. trade war kicked into effect on Friday, 6 July, as each country imposed USD 34 billion (EUR 28.9 billion) worth of tariffs on a range of goods that, on the Chinese side, include a variety of seafood products.

According to a list issued from the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, more than 170 seafood products are subject to the new tariffs, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on 6 July. However, confusion remains as to exactly which products are subject to the tariffs – especially amongst those engaged in sending seafood to China for reprocessing and re-export.

That’s a big question for many involved in the seafood industry in Alaska, which relies heavily on Chinese labor to complete the difficult task of removing pinbones from much of its catch. In fact, in large part due to the seafood industry, China is Alaska’s largest trading partner, with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of salmon, flatfish, and cod heading to China for reprocessing and re-export.

Glenn Reed, president of the Pacific Seafood Processors Association, which represents companies operating onshore processing plants for Alaska salmon, crab, and pollock, as well as Pacific cod, said there is still uncertainty on the issue.

“We’re watching the situation closely. We know we this could affect us all from fishermen, processors, support business, communities, the state, etc. We just don’t have good info at this point,” he told SeafoodSource via email. “We may not know the impact until after 6 July.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Cooking class serves up less popular fish in delicious way

July 3, 2018 — If cod and haddock are your go to fish at the local fish market, you might consider venturing out and making some waves with other — just as delicious — species that are so much easier on the wallet.

Thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the New Bedford Port Authority and the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center, a free cooking class was held recently demonstrating pollock and scup as the main entree.

The class was taught by Chef Henry Bousquet at New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School.

The next class on July 25 features red fish and whiting and will involve how to cook and serve a whole fish.

The final class is set for Aug. 15 is entitled “Crafting Sauces that enhance and highlight underutilized species.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times