Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Walking Fish keeps seafood moving inland despite outbreak

May 13, 2020 — While the novel coronavirus outbreak has closed many dine-in restaurants, a local community-supported fishery is still providing a link between commercial fishermen and their inland customers.

Walking Fish is a community-supported fishery based in Beaufort. This type of fishery is based on the community-supported agriculture model in which members of the fishery purchases shares of seafood caught by participating commercial fishermen. The seafood is then delivered to the fishery’s members. In Walking Fish’s case, the seafood is delivered on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, depending on the type of membership.

Walking Fish coordinator Debra Callaway said May 6 that even with restrictions and Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order requiring social distancing, Walking Fish has continued to make its regular deliveries to pickup locations in Raleigh and Durham Thursday afternoons.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

Herring fishermen challenge monitoring requirements, as study shows promise of Alaska’s fishery

May 13, 2020 — Although there was no commercial herring sac roe fishery this year in Sitka Sound due to small average fish size, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game report has provided encouraging data for the fishery to consider an eventual reopening.

Some 83 percent of this year’s guideline harvest level was forecast to be age-four herring, with an average weight of 92 grams. The size forecast for herring across all age classes was slightly larger, at 97 grams.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Homeland Security keeps H-2B cap at 66,000, leaving seafood processors facing uncertain future

May 13, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will not increase the cap on H-2B visas for the 2020 fiscal year, but the agency is implementing a new rule it said will give food processors more flexibility to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rule, scheduled to be published Thursday, 14 May, will allow companies to hire current visa holders already in the country for work, according to a statement posted on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services site.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scallop sales following seafood trend: Big drop in foodservice, but surge in retail

May 13, 2020 — The scallop market in the U.S. has largely mirrored the trends seen in virtually every other seafood category, according to information shared by Bristol Seafood.

The information came via an industry webinar the company hosted in order to provide an update on how scallops have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bristol regularly releases a “factbook” covering what to expect in the coming year, but the pandemic had understandably rendered a portion of that information obsolete.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Long Island fishing industry takes a hit during pandemic

May 13, 2020 — On Tuesday morning, commercial fishing boats sat idle in the water at the Montauk town dock—an uncommon sight, especially this time of year. But lately, it’s become the new normal.

Bonnie Brady, the executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said that the majority of East End commercial fishermen, who are essential food production workers, are reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve lost a tremendous amount of sales since many restaurants closed.

“When the restaurants closed, we lost the market with which we sold our fish,” Brady said. “We need to find ways to create markets, to create processing on the fly, long-term create mobile fish markets—anything and everything until we get our present system back in order.”

Pot fisherman Jim Auteri, who catches lobster, was hoping for a banner season.

Read the full story at Fox 5

VIRGINIA: Northam administration says federal fisheries relief ‘falls woefully short’

May 12, 2020 — Virginia’s waters are unusually still this spring.

Ordinarily, May 1 is the start of the charter boat season, a day that sees convoys of boats head out from the ports of coastal Virginia for deeper waters where fish are sought by daytrippers. By then, crabbing and oystering, which usually begin in March, are in full swing. So are the commercial fisheries, many of which operate year-round.

Not so this year. Like so many other industries, fisheries, whether commercial or recreational, have been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. And while U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Thursday announced $300 million in relief funding for fisheries around the nation, Virginia’s top natural resources official says the state’s $4.5 million allocation is nowhere near enough to stem the tide of losses.

“This funding falls woefully short of even beginning to address the devastating impacts fisheries and aquaculture businesses have suffered due to COVID-19,” said Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Matt Strickler in a statement. “The fishing industry in Virginia supports thousands of jobs and generates millions in revenue. The administration must release more funding to help our coastal communities and businesses.”

Read the full story at The Virginia Mercury

Sen. Reed Wants a Fresh Take on Federal Relief Efforts to Feed Families and Help Farmers & Fishermen

May 12, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Jack Reed (D-RI):

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Rhode Island’s farmers, fishermen, and food industry are all facing widespread market disruption and hungry families in need require additional nutritional assistance.

In an effort to assist Rhode Island’s families, farmers, fishermen and food producers, U.S. Senator Jack Reed recently helped secure federal funding — including $3,294,234 for Rhode Island fishermen and $222,750 for Farm Fresh Rhode Island.  But Reed says Congress must take additional steps to protect the food supply chain, help families put food on the table, and support family farmers, fishermen, and food workers.

Reed helped include several food-related initiatives in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Public Law No. 116-136) to help Rhode Island’s agriculture, fishing, and food industries.  Overall, the CARES Act provides roughly $49 billion for food, agriculture, and nutrition assistance related provisions.  This total includes about $24.6 billion for domestic food programs and to help support farmers; nearly $16 billion to bolster nutrition assistance programs; and about $9 billion to enhance child and senior nutrition and fund meal programs for kids outside of school.

“Pandemic or not, people have to eat and farmers and fishermen have to be able to earn a living.  The next disaster relief package must addresses the hardships local and regional food producers are facing and keep the food supply chain steady, healthy, and intact,” said Senator Reed.  “Farmers and fishermen are resilient, but everyone has their breaking point, and without additional federal assistance, a lot of family farms and fishing boats could be forced to go under.  As food banks feed more families, the federal government can step up and ensure they are purchasing fresh, local produce, seafood, and dairy products at a fair price.  We are a bountiful country, and no American should be forced to go hungry because of this pandemic.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), nearly 38 million Americans participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2019, receiving an average monthly benefit of approximately $1.40 per person per meal.  In Rhode Island, over 140,000 residents are eligible for SNAP and Senator Reed helps direct about $244 million annually in federal funding to the state to help feed Rhode Islanders.  According to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s annual Status Report on Hunger, the average household SNAP benefit in Rhode Island is $223 per month.

Read the full release here

How Purchasing Local Fish Can Support Communities and the Economy

May 12, 2020 — The spread of the COVID-19 virus has caused uncertainty for global food supply chains. Poverty and food insecurity are on the rise as a result of the pandemic. Yet, for many, these crises predate the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Overwhelming evidence demonstrates the vulnerability of global food supply chains and long-distance transportation networks embedded in a “just enough, just in time” approach.

This recent instability will affect everyone, but the impact will be far more severe for Indigenous people, precarious and low-wage workers and people living in poverty, struggling to meet their basic needs. While we must develop ways to address the immediate concerns, enhancing the resilience of local food systems has taken on new urgency.

The structures that underpin the modern food system and the resulting food insecurity are evident in northwestern Ontario. Thunder Bay, the region’s largest city, serves as a hub for food, social services and other basic amenities for those living in surrounding communities, including dozens of First Nations.

The city is perched on the shores of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, which has more than 30 native species of fish and a long history of productive commercial and subsistence fisheries. Nevertheless, our research has shown that local fish is almost impossible to find on the shelves of regional grocery stores.

Read the full story at The National Interest

The story of Louisiana and its oyster farmers who have no place to sell their crop

May 12, 2020 — Natalie Gerdes’ family owns Casamento’s, the Uptown restaurant famous for its oysters and tile decor. The restaurant switched to takeout when the coronavirus stay-at-home order began in mid-March, but it has seen a 75% drop in business, Gerdes said.

“We’re just trying to get by,” she said. “Some days are a struggle.”

Few people are ordering raw or chargrilled oysters these days, and those who do are mostly regulars, Gerdes said. “I’m sure that a lot people would prefer to eat them here and have the experience,” she said.

More than almost any other food, oysters tend to be consumed in restaurants. And that means oyster farmers are struggling mightily to keep their businesses afloat while restaurants are closed or running at limited capacity. The pandemic is just the latest blow inflicted on an industry already reeling from environmental disasters.

Most Louisiana oyster farmers lease areas of the sea floor from the state. The farmers plant “cultch” — a hard material for oyster larvae to latch onto — and harvest the oysters when they mature.

The crop is sold to processors, who sell to distributors, who sell to restaurants. When the restaurant industry screeched to a halt, processors froze the product they had on hand. With freezers full of oysters, they stopped buying.

Read the full story at NOLA.com

Global Commercial Fishing Falls 6.5% to End-April Due to Coronavirus

May 12, 2020 — Global commercial fishing activity for 2020 fell by around 1 million hours as of end-April, a 6.5% decline over the two previous years, the result of plummeting demand caused by coronavirus lockdowns, according to Global Fishing Watch.

Fishing fleets spent 14.4 million hours on the water for the year so far to April 28, a decline from an average of 15.4 million hours for the same year-to-date periods of 2018 and 2019, according to the nonprofit organization that tracks fishing operation worldwide.

Global Fishing Watch collects and analyses data from onboard identification systems known as AIS, which is used by large ships to broadcast their position and avoid collisions.

The closures of many hotels and restaurants – a large market sector for fisheries – and the logistical challenge of accessing necessary port services contributed to declining prices and plummeting demand, said Tyler Clavelle, a data scientist at Global Fishing Watch.

Much of the drop can be traced to China. While China’s industrial fleet started January more active than years past, there was a large drop after the Lunar New Year holiday in late January. For the two months to March 25, China’s fishing activities fell by 1.2 million hours, a 40% percent drop from the average for the same period the previous two years.

Read the full story from Reuters at The New York Times