Saving Seafood

Much of America’s seafood comes through this city. Here’s how it controlled COVID-19.

February 9, 2021 — At the heart of Fishing Vessel William Lee is a miniscule area to share meals. Crew members pack around a table just a few inches from an electric stove, which is outfitted with metal guards to stop piping-hot cookware from sliding onto them as the boat rocks on the Atlantic Ocean. About seven people will spend anywhere from 10 to 12 days at a time sharing these close quarters as they search for scallops, a famously lucrative and sustainable New England fishery.

In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the William Lee docks, scalloping season begins in April. But in 2020, that aligned tragically with something else arriving on U.S. shores: a deadly pandemic.

Roughly 390 million pounds of seafood a year come through this place. A third of that is fished locally, while the rest is processed here but comes from Canadian, Scandinavian, and other international waters. After New Bedford processes and packages this mega-haul, the seafood is distributed globally via Boston and New York City. Whether you’re dining on poached halibut in Milwaukee or pan-seared scallops in Copenhagen, New Bedford almost certainly set the “market value” on the menu.

But nearby transportation hubs became the nation’s earliest viral epicenters, bottlenecking the supply chain. Heavy hits to the restaurant industry soon followed, causing auction prices for seafood to plummet even as the cost of the fishing expeditions—fuel, groceries, salaries, and tons of ice—remained high.

Read the full story at National Geographic

Glenn Cooke, Ian Smith offer timeline for COVID-19 foodservice recovery

February 9, 2021 — The global COVID-19 pandemic has been a mixed bag for the seafood industry, with retailers notching record seafood sales and the category as a whole seeing gains, even as the foodservice industry virtually collapsed.

That downturn is expected to change direction this year, with foodservice operators optimistic about 2021. Seafood company CEOs and advisors, speaking during the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference’s economic outlook panel, also expressed optimism about the industry’s recovery. While in the short-term the rebound may be slight, as trend experts have predicted, once relative normalcy returns demand could see a big boost.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Norwegian salmon prices fall as shuttered restaurant trade takes its toll

February 9, 2021 — Norway’s seafood exports fell by a double-digit percentage in January 2021 compared to 2020, largely the result of ongoing downturns related to COVID-19.

Norway exported NOK 8.1 billion (USD 941.5 million, EUR 786.1 million) worth of seafood products last month, some 16 percent or NOK 1.6 billion (USD 185.8 million, EUR 155.3 million) less than it sold to overseas markets in January 2020, with reduced demand for salmon accounting for much of the downturn. Reduced exports of trout and fresh cod compared to the record month of January 2020 also contributed to the lower earnings.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Atlantic surf clams: With restaurant sales down, processors focus on retail

February 8, 2021 — Consumer demand for Atlantic surf clams and ocean quahogs has shifted in the past six months. Most of the fleet is centered around Point Pleasant Beach and Atlantic City, N.J.; Oceanview, N.Y.; Hyannis, Mass. (surf clams only); and New Bedford and Fairhaven, Mass. There is also a quahog fishery in Maine. 

Chris Shriver, general manager of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, a large processor headquartered in Massachusetts, says covid-19 has affected markets.

“A lot of our product does sell to the restaurant sector, wholesale, and to chains. All were impacted, due to the closures and limited seatings.” Shriver says some states are starting to open up a little, and that clam products from Rhode Island were still able to be sold locally in fry shacks and take-out establishments.

“But we’re all fearful for the next shoe to drop,” Shriver says. While Atlantic Capes does not produce canned products, they have substantial retail and soup manufacturing markets. The upshot is “there has definitely been an uptick in the retail sector.” But, adds Shriver, it is difficult to make up for the lost restaurant markets. 

Landings for surf clams, ocean quahog and Maine quahog are short of what they were at this time last year. By mid-September 2020, 32.5 percent of the surf clam quota (3.4 million bushels) and 25.5 percent of ocean quahog quota (5.33 million bushels) was harvested. Maine’s quahog fishery had harvested 10 percent of the 100,000-bushel quota for the state.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NFI Chair, Seattle Fish CEO Derek Figueroa bullish on seafood industry’s 2021 outlook

February 8, 2021 — Despite the enormous challenges and tragedies that COVID-19 has inflicted upon the industry and the world, new National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Chair Derek Figueroa said the pandemic has been a catalyst for change for seafood.

Figueroa, the president and CEO of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.-based Seattle Fish Co., told SeafoodSource he is looking forward to “bringing diverse voices together” in his new, one-year position at NFI.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Viking Village: New Jersey’s storied fishing dock at Barnegat Light thrives on a century of heritage

February 5, 2021 — When the covid-19 pandemic sent graphic designer Britton Spark back home to Long Beach Island, N.J., the creative void in his life had to be filled.

“I felt stalled. There wasn’t any reason to make stuff,” said Spark.

He and his girlfriend, Anna Panacek, began taking morning walks in Barnegat Light, where she had family connections at the Viking Village fishing dock. There the solution hit Spark.

“I thought, ‘How cool would it be to document this?’” Spark recalled.

Growing up in nearby Harvey Cedars, the dock was “something I always took for granted,” said Spark. But seeing the buzz of daily activity up close, he began toting his camera.

“I’m probably at the docks five days a week,” said Spark, who posts his Instagram photos @couchchronicles. He says the imagery has been a hit with readers “who never saw fishing in that light… so the response has been really cool from non-fishermen. They just love following the project.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Bipartisan group in Congress calls for further COVID-19 aid for seafood processors

February 5, 2021 — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives have signed onto a letter calling for more aid for seafood processors and processing vessels.

The letter, signed by over a dozen members of Congress, calls for U.S. Department of Agriculture Acting Secretary Kevin Shea to implement a program offering grants and forgivable loans to support seafood processing facilities and processing vessels. The loans would help processors and vessel operators implement COVID-19 response measures.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

CARES Act money to be disbursed to N.J.’s fishing and aquaculture industry

February 5, 2021 — As of Thursday morning Capt. Rich Issaken, owner of the Isaetta commercial boat at the Belford co-operative dock, was still waiting for word on whether his application for CARES Act grant money was approved.

This is the week that New Jersey’s fishing sector is to begin receiving disbursements of CARES Act money from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

The state was awarded $11 million from the initial federal pandemic relief package that was passed by Congress last March. The DEP said it would start notifying fishermen the week of Feb. 1.

“We applied. Haven’t heard anything yet,” Issaken said.

Most of the grant funds, $6.1 million to be exact, are earmarked for the state’s commercial and aquaculture sector. The recreational fishing industry sector was allocated $1.1 million while the remaining $3.8 million was awarded to the dealer and processor sector.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

FAO: Aquaculture and Fisheries Can Expect Further Disruption in 2021 Due to COVID-19

February 4, 2021 — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) latest report has warned that fisheries and aquaculture can expect further disruptions in 2021, as the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to affect supply and demand.

Global aquaculture is expected to fall by 1.3% in the first annual decline for many years, as fish supply, consumption and revenues are all hit by the pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood News