April 26, 2021 — On a recent sunny afternoon in April, groups of people sat on the edge of the dock at Anglers Marina in Lewes, where large charter and fishing boats loomed on blocks behind them.
The captains, crew members and other anglers at the marina are preparing for an expected busy spring and summer after the COVID-19 pandemic spurred activity in some parts of the industry, while slowing and suspending it in others.
April 22, 2021 — The seafood industry’s managing of the COVID-19 crisis can be used as a blueprint for how it can meet other challenges it will face in the future, according to IFFO, The Marine Ingredients Organization Director General Petter Martin Johannessen.
In an IFFO webinar on 20 April, Johannessen said COVID-19 presented the seafood industry with unprecdented challenges, but also gave an opportunity to adapt the way that it works. And with the expectation that there will be continued – or possibly accelerated – market growth once the pandemic subsides, the industry has the ability to lock in improved practices for the future, he said.
April 22, 2021 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) released its 2020 annual report today, titled Staying the Course, which presents the organization’s tuna-fishery sustainability achievements during an unprecedented year of challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The ISSF team did more than just ‘keep on keepin’ on,’ although that would have been accomplishment enough for any individual or organization in 2020,” ISSF President Susan Jackson remarks in the report. “We undeniably hit our stride. We marshalled the discipline, tools, and resourcefulness that we long ago developed as a decentralized, global team. To stay informed and connected while sheltering in place, we made the most of technologies both innovative and tried-and-true.”
Staying the Course reviews ISSF’s continued cross-sector collaborations, marine research projects and advocacy efforts to identify and promote best practices in tuna and ocean conservation with fishers, tuna companies, and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). The report also covers ISSF’s activities with environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), scientific agencies and more.
Staying the Course Highlights
Two members of the ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee and Environmental Stakeholder Committee contributed feature articles for the report on timely topics. Dr. Andrew A. Rosenberg. Director, Center for Science and Democracy, Union of Concerned Scientists and Member, ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee, authors “Transparency Matters.” Sara Lewis, Director, Traceability Division, FishWise and Member, ISSF Environmental Stakeholder Committee, contributes “Social Responsibility & Sustainable Seafood.”
Video content and downloadable graphics are available throughout Staying the Course. The report also explores these milestone accomplishments:
Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report
Also included in Staying the Course are key findings of the ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which ISSF has published in coordination with the annual report.
The ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report shows a conformance rate of 99.4 percent by 26 ISSF participating companies as of March 2021. It tracks companies’ progress in conforming with ISSF conservation measures (CM) like these:
Three measures were newly in effect for the 2020 audit period, and all 26 companies were in full conformance with them:
As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to audit participating companies to assess their compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures. MRAG Americas conducts independent auditing based on a rigorous audit protocol.
In addition to a summary report, MRAG Americas issues individual company reports that detail each organization’s compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures. ISSF publishes these individual company compliance reports on its website.
April 20, 2021 — There appears to be significant pent-up demand for Americans wanting to dine out, but restaurants and foodservice distributors face a weighty new dilemma: how to find enough employees to service returning customers. Food and seafood distributors are also facing a myriad of transportation and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Warmer weather, stepped-up vaccinations, economic stimulus payments, and people just wanting to get out of the house after quarantine are pushing up traffic to restaurants, Technomic Managing Principal Joe Pawlak said during the Food Institute webinar, “State of the Industry – 2021 Supply Disruption” this week.
April 20, 2021 — A spring tradition resumed in Sitka on Friday (4-16-21) — on what felt like the first real day of spring in Southeast: The Annual Blessing of the Fleet.
Southeast Alaska Women in Fisheries organizes the event, in conjunction with the Sitka Lutheran Church and St. Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral. Last year the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the blessing, and this year the traditional large ceremony at Crescent Harbor was replaced with a scaled-back ceremony at the Mariner’s Wall at ANB Harbor.
April 19, 2021 — Chad Coffin has spent the coronavirus pandemic much as he has the previous several decades: on the mudflats of Maine, digging for the clams that draw tourists to seafood shacks around New England.
But he’s running into a problem: few clams.
“There just isn’t the clams that there used to be,” Coffin said. “I don’t want to be negative, I’m just trying to be realistic.”
It’s a familiar problem experienced by New England’s clamdiggers. More New Englanders have dug in the tidal mudflats during the last year, but the clams aren’t cooperating.
The coronavirus pandemic has inspired more people in the Northeastern states, particularly Maine and Massachusetts, to dig for soft-shell clams, which are also called “steamers” and have been used to make chowder and fried clams for generations. The era of social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic is conducive to the often solitary work, said Coffin, the president of the Maine Clammers Association, which represents commercial clammers.
But the U.S. haul of clams has dipped in recent years as the industry has contended with clam-eating predators and warming waters, and 2020 and early 2021 have been especially difficult, industry members said.
April 19, 2021 — A group of 10 West Coast lawmakers have reached out to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to see why fishermen and processors in their region have largely been left out of a program created through COVID-19 relief measures.
Led by U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the Senators and House members sent a letter to Vilsack noting that the fishing industry in California, Oregon, and Washington state account for more than USD 500 million (EUR 417.5 million) in seafood products produced in the country, roughly about 13 percent of all domestic seafood goods.
April 19, 2021 — The global seafood market is a huge industry that employs millions of people. Valued at $159 billion in 2019, it will grow to almost $200 billion by 2027. The system is a network of formal and informal producers and distributors, retailers and consumers. In low-income countries, the fishing industry is especially important as a way to reduce poverty. Developing countries employ 97% of the people, directly and indirectly, working in the fishing industry. About 90% of the fishing workforce are small-scale fishermen. By exporting seafood, low-income countries can boost their economies through the oceanic sector. The fishing industry also helps to increase nutrition and food security for the impoverished. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has devastated the fishing industry, just as it has most other industries.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Fisheries
The pandemic has disrupted supply chains and lowered demand, reducing profits in the industry. Lockdowns and curfews have also reduced catch sizes, which in turn means that fisherfolk make less per day of work. What they do not sell often goes to waste as cold storage is expensive and not widely available to small-scale fishermen. The most affected groups are small and medium-scale fisheries, especially in rural areas, as they lack the resources that large-scale fisheries have to be able to transition and adapt during COVID-19. Furthermore, they do not have the safety net of social protection programs that large-scale fisheries may have.
Many developing countries with large fishing sectors have been struggling to offset the effects of COVID-19. In Thailand and India, migrant fish workers were met with lockdowns and nowhere to sell their products. Traders in India and Myanmar reported a 15% drop in fish prices post-lockdowns. In China, a shift to frozen and processed seafood left fresh-catch fishers floundering.
April 16, 2021 — Demand for seafood at the retail grocery level has soared during the pandemic, as stay-at-home chefs desperate for variety realize that they really can cook fish at home —it’s not a restaurant-only proposition.
That increase in demand has shown a spotlight on three aspects of the seafood industry that are closely related: food safety, traceability and transparency.
All three are at the top of the agenda for the seafood industry in Norway, said Anne-Kristine Øen, US director of the Norwegian Seafood Council.
It’s hard to talk about one, she said, without bringing in the others.
“The topics are strongly interconnected in the sense that the consumer is increasingly aware of the origin of the food on their plate, and they want to be able to find out its journey and origin story. Consumers depend on trustworthy and easily accessible sources of information.”
The Norwegian seafood industry, many of whose products wind up in US grocery stores, enjoy the support of strong systems that secure tight control quality and safety, Øen said. The Norwegian system for catch information, the internal control systems and HACCP plans for the various production plants all provide details on the fish, its journey and the sustainability efforts that were in place to raise and catch the fish.
April 16, 2021 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has adopted ocean salmon season recommendations for 2021. The seasons provide recreational and commercial opportunities for most of the Pacific coast and achieve conservation goals for the numerous salmon stocks on the West Coast.
The recommendations will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for approval by May 16, 2021.
“There will be some restrictive commercial and recreational seasons this year along much of the coast,” said Council Chair Marc Gorelnik. “Forecasts for some Chinook and coho stocks are quite low, which made our job more challenging this year.”
The Council heard reports from commercial, recreational, and tribal representatives on the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as ways the Council could provide meaningful fishing opportunities and economic support for coastal communities.