May 19, 2020 — The federal government is continuing to waive the need for some fishing vessels to carry at-sea monitors.
At-sea monitors and fishery observers collect data on board fishing boats that help inform the management of U.S. fisheries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office has waived the requirement for vessels with Northeast fishing permits to carry the monitors through May 30.
May 19, 2020 — Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based supplier Bristol Seafood has voluntarily paused production at its Portland Fish Pier processing facility after several team members tested positive for COVID-19.
Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy said on 18 May that the company was in the process of conducting universal testing for its local employees and thoroughly cleaning its harbor-side plant. As of now, production at the plant has been shut down for both 18 and 19 May.
May 19, 2020 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council:
The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold its June Council Meeting via webinar June 16-18, 2020. Due to public health concerns related to COVID-19, this webinar-based meeting replaces the in-person meeting previously scheduled to be held in Virginia Beach, VA.
A detailed agenda is available here. Topics to be discussed at this meeting include:
Briefing documents and webinar connection details will be posted at https://www.mafmc.org/briefing/june-2020 as they become available.
Written comments may be submitted using the online comment form linked below or via email, mail, or fax (see this page for details). Written comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. on June 3, 2020 to be included in the briefing book. Comments received after this date but before 5:00 p.m. on June 11, 2020 will be posted as supplemental materials on the Council meeting web page. After that date, all comments must be submitted using the online comment form linked below.
June 2020 Public Comment Form
Questions? Contact Mary Sabo, msabo@mafmc.org, (302) 518-1143.
May 19, 2020 — For the past three months, much of Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet, the one that normally stocks the state’s markets and restaurants with fresh poke, ruby red ahi and slabs of swordfish, has been tied up in port as the coronavirus ravages the islands’ economy.
With tourism all but shut down due to Hawaii Gov. David Ige’s 14-day quarantine and restaurant service reduced to takeout for social distancing purposes, there’s less demand for fish.
Prices have dwindled to the point where going out on the water can be more expensive for fishermen than the price of the catch coming in.
State and federal governments have done little to help out, despite the fact that fish are a critical source of protein for the islands’ residents.
May 18, 2020 — At San Diego’s Dockside Tuna Harbor Market on a recent Saturday, hundreds of people lined up along the pier. They came to this market to get their hands on some fresh fish, caught and butchered by local fishermen.
The restaurant business has changed dramatically in the last couple of months, and that’s made it hard for the San Diego seafood industry to stay afloat. So, fishermen are turning to the market to make up the lost profit.
But seafood businesses are also hurting. They may get some relief from a government stimulus package, but how quickly they can bounce back could depend on the types of fish they supply.
May 18, 2020 — Both commercial and for-hire fishermen in the Florida Keys hit hard by the economic shutdown spurred by the novel coronavirus may apply to receive a portion of $23.6 million allocated to the state through the CARES Act Stimulus.
Of the $300 million slugged for federal fisheries’ assistance, Florida is to receive about 12.7%, or the fourth largest share behind Alaska, Washington and Massachusetts.
May 18, 2020 — Jared Auerbach first saw the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in early January, when seafood orders from Boston’s Chinatown — and Chinatowns across the country — slowly stopped coming in.
At first, the founder of Red’s Best, a Boston-based seafood distributor, wasn’t too worried.
“The second week of March, we were down about 20 percent,” he said. “Things were starting to get a little weird. We got through the weekend and I lost some sleep over the weekend, but I felt good.”
On March 17, restaurants in Mass. were ordered to shutdown, and Auerbach, who founded Red’s Best in 2008, saw his business fall out from under him as he made the difficult decision to furlough the vast majority of his staff. For someone who spent years intently focused on balancing the supply of the sea with the demand of the public — many of them restaurant chefs — he now wondered: “What’s our contingency plan?”
May 18, 2020 — The spring trawl harvest for whiting is underway off the Northwest coast in an unusual year when a crucial marker of success won’t just be nets stuffed with fish but crews that stay healthy and free from the COVID-19 disease.
To try to assure that outcome, hundreds of crew members went through two weeks of shore-side quarantine coupled with testing for the novel coronavirus that did identify a few who, if they had gone out to sea, risked sickness and spreading the virus.
“There’s no silver bullet. But this is a huge deal,” said Karl Bratvold, a managing partner of Aleutian Spray Fisheries, which operates the catcher-processor vessel Starbound now harvesting whiting in open waters off the Olympic Peninsula. “We have a steady crew. And I’m glad they came back. They work in tight quarters and it’s scary out there. We had to do what we had to do to keep these people safe.”
The testing unfolds as the food industry — considered essential since the pandemic spread widely earlier this spring — has struggled with operations that often involve long hours of labor for crews who work in proximity to one another.
May 18, 2020 — The Trump administration recently announced two major actions to assist the U.S. commercial fishing industry. President Trump’s Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth[1] (Order) aims to increase seafood production by streamlining regulatory permitting processes and reducing burdens on the fishing industry.
In a separate action, the Secretary of Commerce detailed how $300M in CARES Act[2] funding intended to address impacts to the seafood industry caused by COVID-19 will be distributed.
This alert outlines the impacts of the Order on U.S. fishing, as well as describes the initial details for distribution of CARES Act funds to fishing businesses.
Impacts of the Executive Order on U.S. Fishing
While the Order focuses mainly on aquaculture, it also contains several provisions aimed at assisting the U.S. fishing industry. However, important details remain to be worked out, and it is unclear how quickly the fishing industry will see benefits.
May 18, 2020 — The following was released by Rutgers University:
Scientists at the Rutgers University Center for Fisheries and Ocean Sustainability are conducting a study of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial fishermen and their livelihoods in the Northeast US.
Study organizer, Dr. Victoria Ramenzoni says: “There are many media reports of fishermen suffering devastating losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated market changes and required social distancing measures. We want to hear from fishermen themselves about how they’ve been impacted, what support they’re receiving, and how they’re adapting”.
All commercial fishermen (including vessel owners, captains, and crew) in the Northeast US (North Carolina through Maine) are invited to complete the 15 minute anonymous survey online here: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1MiTWJDQDt4atTf
The survey will remain open until May 31.