Saving Seafood

RHODE ISLAND: Virus puts freeze on demand for shellfish

April 3, 2020 — Jody King’s hands usually dry out from salt water after a day of work on Narragansett Bay, where he rakes quahogs for a living from the sandy bottom around Prudence Island.

Now, King’s hands dry out from using too much Purell.

His last day of steady quahogging was more than a week ago, when his dealer called to say he couldn’t buy any more clams. These days, King sits at home, waiting for a call to return to work.

With restaurants shuttered and fish markets in Boston, New York and other East Coast cities closed because of the spread of coronavirus, quahoggers like King have been left with no demand for their product.

“The bay is open, and I can’t go to work,” said King. “This is an absolute first.”

Andrade’s Catch in Bristol usually buys 4,000 to 6,000 clams a day from quahoggers, but after the wholesale business collapsed the shop could only move 1,000 pieces a day selling retail to locals.

“We could make it another month, a month and a half like this, but the fishermen are really at risk,” said Davy Andrade, a part-time owner of the shop. “It takes about $200 a day to run a boat and pay the bills and feed their family, and these guys are pulling in $100 a day if they’re lucky.”

Read the full story at the Warwick Beacon

Coronavirus: Struggling Louisiana fishermen, shrimpers look for new ways to sell catch

April 3, 2020 — Louisiana’s fishermen and shrimpers are struggling to sell their catches as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has severely depressed demand from buyers.

The drop in demand largely comes from the state’s shutdown of restaurants, aside from carryout and delivery options, to prevent further spread of the virus. Gov. John Bel Edwards issued an order closing dine-in operations March 16.

With low demand, processing plants’ freezers and inventories are full, leaving most fishermen with nowhere to sell their catches, said Thomas Hymel, a marine extension agent with the LSU AgCenter and the Louisiana Sea Grant.

Read the full story at the Lafayette Daily Advertiser

CALIFORNIA: Coronavirus upends San Francisco’s fishing industry

April 3, 2020 — Fisherman’s Wharf looks like an unused movie set, a shadow of its pre-pandemic self. Most businesses are closed.

One of the few signs of life is a wholesaler who has quickly adapted to the new challenges the fishing industry faces with a huge loss of sales.

Tucked towards the back of Pier 45, Joe Conte, owner of Water 2 Table, found a new way to keep his doors open.

He showed a KTVU crew halibut and black cod, fresh catch from local fishermen. Conte normally sells solely to Bay Area restaurants. But with the shelter-in-place order, they closed and the market was suddenly gone overnight.

“I’m pretty scared that we lost all our restaurant business,” said Conte, “We immediately pivoted to home deliveries we reached out to our email contacts.”

He started building a new clientele: the retail customer. First, it was a dozen orders.

Read the full story at KTVU

Alaska fishing community takes precautions as it prepares for salmon season

April 3, 2020 — As Alaska’s top doctor put it, “We know the fish are coming regardless of COVID-19 or not and we can’t ask them to stay home.”

As a result, government officials and fishing stakeholders statewide are working to ensure Alaska can still have a strong summer salmon season even amidst a potentially prolonged COVID-19 winter.

Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink made the comment during a March 30 press briefing, adding that the state has a specific fisheries work group trying to figure out ways small communities can handle an influx of fishermen and processing workers while also adhering to important health guidelines that run counter to the realities of a traditional fishing season.

While Alaska’s diverse fisheries continue year-round, the famed Copper River sockeye and king fishery that unofficially kicks off the salmon harvest in mid-May each year will be one of the first testing grounds for trying to find that balance.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape fishermen navigating stormy seas

April 3, 2020 — Late last week Zack Dixon, co-owner of Holbrook Oyster, in Wellfleet, was spending his time filling out a small business loan application and fielding phone and text orders for what he hopes will be a successful new undertaking.

Everything had come “screeching” to a halt on March 15, when Gov. Charlie Baker said restaurants could only do take-out.

“That’s not a figure of speech,” said Dixon. “Sales went to zero. I had deliveries set up for the next day and they were like, ‘No’.”

Restaurants, no longer allowed to serve patrons inside, are taking a beating from the Covid-19 pandemic, and businesses like Holbrook, which has grown oysters since 1995, are heavily dependent on people eating out.

Holbrook, started by the Dalby brothers, who are sixth generation Wellfleetians, quickly switched to a new model, mainly to keep as many people working as they could and to spread some community cheer in the form of the nutritious bivalve.

With the new model, people place an order and Holbrook delivers, anywhere from Provincetown to Orleans free of charge, farther for a small fee. (If you’re interested in this service, call 774-722-1788 or email zack@holbrookoyster.com)

Read the full story at Wicked Local

NORTH CAROLINA: Seafood Available, Buyers Are Not: COVID

April 3, 2020 — Even under the current shutdown of the economy, North Carolina consumers still can find fresh or fresh-frozen fish in supermarkets. That belies the enormous financial hit facing the commercial and recreational fishing industries in a state that counts fishing as one of its most valuable resources.

“We do have retail markets all across the state that are open and selling,” said Glenn Skinner, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association.

But only 20% of domestic seafood is sold through retail outlets, he said. The remaining 80% is sold through restaurants.

Most restaurant service, except for delivery and pickup orders, has been closed in North Carolina — as well as most other states — since last month to prevent spread of COVID-19.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

NMFS wants fishermen’s reports of coronavirus impacts

April 3, 2020 — With an initial $300 million aid package coming, the National Marine Fisheries Service has launched an effort to collect detailed information on how the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic lockdown is affecting the U.S. seafood industry.

The project includes online outreach, asking fishermen, aquaculture growers and other businesses through the supply chain to submit information by email to the task force at NMFS.COVID-19@noaa.gov

“We recently stood up a team of experts from across the agency to collect and analyze covid-19-related impacts on the U.S. commercial seafood industry, including wild harvest and aquaculture,” according to a statement by the agency Thursday. “We are interested in learning about the virus’ impacts on their employees, their business, the businesses they support, and the broader seafood supply chain.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New emergency funding offered for EU’s coronavirus-hit seafood industry

April 3, 2020 — A new set of measures designed to help the European Union’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been proposed by the European Commission through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

With fishers forced to stay in port and fish farmers facing the prospect of having to dispose of unused products, the E.C. said the new measures could provide immediate aid during the coronavirus crisis.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Emergency meeting in Chile paints dire picture of salmon supply chain

April 3, 2020 — Workers in Chile’s salmon processing sector have been protesting on the island of Chiloé – an industry production hub – arguing the companies they work for are not doing enough to protect them from the COVID-19 virus.

Last week, the national government closed off Chiloé to much of outside traffic, only allowing the circulation of transport it deemed essential, which includes the salmon industry. Declaring the measures inadequate, Chiloé residents and even town mayors have taken to the streets in protest, closing highways to prevent all traffic, including salmon industry trucks, from circulating.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Coronavirus complications will likely affect shrimp supply chain into summer months

April 3, 2020 — The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is having a big impact on seafood as restaurants remain closed, employees are affected by stay-at-home orders, and borders become tighter to prevent the spread of the virus.

According to a number of industry experts, the disruptions occurring now are likely to have an affect on supply chains into the forseeable future, as processing facilities struggle to obtain products and importers shy away from purchasing goods in the face of uncertain demand. Southeast Asian shrimp production, in particular, will likely be in flux for months to come, according to Robins McIntosh, executive vice president at Charoen Pokphand Foods.

Read the full story at Seafood Source