Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Pandemic, new NOAA rules sink tuna tourney

May 21, 2021 — The COVID-19 restrictions on personal protections and public gatherings are easing. They just didn’t ease in time to save this summer’s Bluefin Blowout tuna fishing tournament.

The organizers of the popular Gloucester-based tournament, which raised $366,000 in charitable donations in the last year the tournament was held in 2019, have canceled the 2021 tournament that was to run July 29 to 31 at the Cape Ann’s Marina Resort off Essex Avenue.

It would have been the ninth year the tournament was held. Now, it is the second consecutive year it has been canceled because of the pandemic and its impacts.

“As restrictions to the COVID pandemic loosen up, it is apparent that we have to make a decision based on current conditions facing the tournament,” Warren Waugh, the producer and driving force behind the Bluefin Blowout, said Wednesday in a statement. “Presently, we understand that NOAA regulations are very restrictive for a weekend tournament and there are changes proposed that would make the tournament very difficult to pull off.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

US West Coast is vanguard of direct-to-consumer seafood phenomenon

May 20, 2021 — COVID-19 permanently changed how consumers buy seafood – and food in general. Many Americans now want to receive delivery of their favorite food items at their homes, providing significant new business for seafood suppliers and wholesalers.

Moss Landing, California, U.S.A.-based Santa Cruz Fish Company and Honolulu, Hawaii-based Honolulu Fish Co. are two companies benefiting from the direct to consumer (DTC) trend.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaska seafood marketing arm hopes to finally benefit from federal pandemic relief dollars

May 18, 2021 — Alaska’s lone seafood marketing arm gets zero budget from the state and to date has received no pandemic funds.

The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is hoping to get a breather from the more than $1 billion coming to Alaska in the latest round of federal relief dollars under the American Rescue Plan (ARP).

The influx also provides $518 million of nondiscretionary funds to Alaska and $220 million for public health and safety, workforce development, education, transportation and emergency management.

ASMI put in a $20 million request two months ago, but Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy made no mention of it in mid-April when he released his proposals for the ARP money nor anything since.

Dunleavy did include $150 million for Alaska Tourism Revitalization, citing the need for “industry relief to promote tourism and adapt services for potential loss of cruise ship season.”

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

LOUISIANA: An oysterman’s new worry: Will state’s coastal plan wash out his business?

May 18, 2021 — Sun-kissed lines frame Terry Shelley’s face like high tide stains a fishing dock. Today, those creases seem deepened by anger, but it’s the tone of his voice that gives it away.

Mr. Shelley has spent his entire working life as a commercial fisherman. Before he was a full-time oyster farmer and harvester, he spent the first part of his career harvesting shrimp and reef fish. He’s seen a lot, but not a pileup of challenges like now.

Back in September, Hurricane Zeta rumbled over small-town Port Sulphur, Louisiana, where the family’s oyster farm and processing center are based. The Shelleys lost half their cages, and they only managed to retrieve about half of that. Already by then, the COVID-19 pandemic had temporarily halted the supply lines Shelley Farms uses to sell its oysters.

Now, after losing most of his oyster crop last year, Mr. Shelley has another worry on his mind.

Louisiana coastal planners are pushing a $2 billion project proposal designed to fight back against the trend of persistent coastal erosion.

Read the full story at The Christian Science Monitor

States Begin Work on Second Round of COVID-19 Funds as Some First Round Funds Falter

May 17, 2021 — Last year’s $300 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding was intended to help fishermen, processors and tribes as the COVID-19 virus disrupted markets, displaced workers and generally created havoc around the globe.

But some of that funding has yet to be distributed, even as a second round of federal funding is pending. An additional $255 million in fisheries assistance funding was provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, and announced by NMFS in late March.

Read the full story at Seafood News

ALASKA: Copper River salmon harvest set to begin May 17

May 17, 2021 — Alaska’s 2021 salmon officially starts on Monday, May 17 with a 12-hour opener for reds and kings at the Copper River.

All eyes will be on early Cordova dock prices for Alaska’s famous “first fresh salmon of the season” as an indicator of wild salmon markets. COVID-forced closures in 2020 of high-end restaurants and seafood outlets tanked starting prices to $3 per pound for sockeyes and $6.50 for king salmon, down from $10 and $14, respectively the previous year.

But early signs are looking good.

Heading into Mother’s Day on May 9, demand for seafood was “fanatic” said Mitch Miller, vice president of national upscale seafood restaurants Ocean Prime in Nation’s Restaurant News.

National Retail Federation President Matthew Shay said there is a lot more consumer optimism this year as more people are getting vaccinated and stimulus checks are being distributed, and friends and family are moving about more freely.

Alaska’s 2021 salmon harvest is projected to top 190 million fish, a 61% increase over the 2020 catch. The breakdown includes 46.6 million sockeye salmon, 3.8 million cohos, 15.3 million chum salmon, 296,000 Chinook and 124.2 million pinks.

Read the full story at The Cordoba Times

Alaska’s seafood processors expect to spend more this year than last on the pandemic; seafood market looks promising in some areas

May 17, 2021 — Alaska’s seafood industry has a lot of moving parts. There are the fishermen, the processors, the market, as well as the fish themselves.

By all accounts, the pandemic has been hard on the processors. Last year, they spent about $70 million in mitigation measures and responding to the pandemic. But this year it’s expected to be even more…over $100 million.

In fact, a lot of it has already been spent this year.

“There were challenges and some plant closures that happened despite all these protocols,” Lesh said.

Dan Lesh is with McKinley Research Group that surveyed processors and others in March about the effects of COVID on Alaska’s seafood industry. He says the flat fish industry was hit hard with outbreaks in January causing expensive plant closures. Those costs are in addition to the ongoing price for pandemic mitigation.

“A lot of these costs are already baked and my understanding is that most the mitigation measures will be continued.”

So, basically there are more months this calendar year dealing with the pandemic.

Read the full story at KFSK

USDA Helps Struggling Pacific Seafood Industry With Historic Purchase

May 14, 2021 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced a first-time purchase of several West Coast seafood products for its food assistance programs.  The news is being well received by the regional seafood industry.

Over the past year, the nationwide closure of restaurants has caused a 70 percent drop in the seafood market, according to Lori Steele.  She’s executive director for the West Coast Seafood Processors Association, which represents Oregon, Washington, and California.

Now Steele says out of $160 million the USDA is using to buy domestic products, $17 million will go towards seafood commercially harvested on the West Coast.

“The exciting part is they want to purchase all three of the products that we requested:  Pink shrimp, rock fish, and whiting,” adds Steele. “$17 million is a really great start to this relationship.”

Read the full story at KLCC

Direct marketers: These funds are for you

May 14, 2021 — Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $92.2 million in competitive grant funding through the 2018 Farm Bill’s Local Agriculture Market Program as part of USDA’s Pandemic Assistance for Producers Initiative.

The Local Agriculture Market Program includes $77 million for the Farmers Market Promotion Program and Local Food Promotion Program. What does this mean for the fishing industry? Both grant programs are open to seafood businesses, tribes, NGOs, and fishing associations who are involved in local, regional, and direct seafood marketing and distribution. This injection of funding represents a major opportunity to strengthen the resilience of our nation’s food system and put domestic seafood on our country’s menu in a meaningful way.

The United States is a major producer of seafood. However, an estimated 71 to 90 percent of the seafood we consume is imported. Our reliance on seafood trade makes our seafood economy vulnerable to socioeconomic, political and environmental shocks. No more apparent has this been than during the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. According to NOAA Fisheries, landings were down by an astonishing 29 percent during the first seven months of the pandemic in the United States. This affects everyone from the fishing crews to captains, dealers, processors, and shoreside communities.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

As sushi buyers come back, Gulf of Mexico yellowfin producers foresee a good season ahead

May 14, 2021 — A series of strong storms roiling the Gulf of Mexico this winter and early spring – coupled with a slow reopening from COVID-19-related restrictions – has dampened yellowfin tuna production in the Southeast U.S., with boat prices hovering at about the same levels as this time last year.

David Maginnis, who runs Jensen Tuna in Houma, Louisiana – the gulf’s largest yellowfin producer – said boat prices for the premium quality No. 1 tuna average USD 6.50 (EUR 5.43) per pound, while the No. 2 fish are about USD 3.50 (EUR 2.87). According to the latest landings data provided by NMFS, fishermen have harvested 30.7 metric tons (67,584 pounds) between 1 January and 28 February — way down from the same period in 2020 when 76.7 metric tons (169,137 pounds) were harvested.

Read the full story at Seafood Source