July 29, 2021 — Another state is moving forward with distributing the second round of CARES Act funding provided for fisheries relief.
Last week SeafoodNews reported that Massachusetts began sending out applications to distribute their $23.6 million in fisheries relief funding. Now, Louisiana is getting ready to begin accepting applications for the funds, which are part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
July 29, 2021 — The Alaska summer salmon season is riding another large catch of Bristol Bay sockeye and a recent spike in pink salmon harvests to decent overall harvest numbers, but surging numbers of COVID-19 cases have created some concern for the state’s seafood processors.
According to figures provided by McKinley Research, the summer’s total salmon harvest is already up 5 percent over last year, driven in part by a second straight week of good pink harvests after a slow start.
July 29, 2021 — In 2020, the price per pound for Bristol Bay, Alaska, sockeye salmon dropped to some of the lowest prices fishermen have seen in several years. The famed fishery, like most industries, wasn’t insulated from complications brought on by COVID-19.
Large fish processing companies struggled to operate at full capacity last year. Roughly a dozen major fish processors operate out of Naknek, Alaska. More than a dozen others operate out of six more small, roadless and remote communities in the Bristol Bay region.
Each summer, these companies hire thousands of workers from all over the world, but in 2020 they were hamstrung by quarantine and travel restrictions. The processors simply didn’t have enough people to cut, package and ship fish worldwide, so they bought less. In turn, fishers harvested fewer salmon.
This year, optimism among those who are out fishing is bolstered by forecasts. Bristol Bay is home to the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run. Prices are way up from last year and biologists believe they might see the largest run of Alaskan sockeye on record this summer.
July 28, 2021 — Chicken of the Sea is encouraging vaccinated Americans to gather together for family occasions with a new promotion.
Consumers can enter to win one of twenty USD 500 (EUR 423) “Reunion Grants” – a total of USD 10,000 (EUR 8,500) – to ensure their outdoor gatherings “are the most memorable yet for family and friends,” Chicken of the Sea said in a press release.
July 28, 2021 — U.S. retailers continued to experience strong sales of fresh and frozen seafood in the first half of 2021, 210 Analytics Principal Anne-Marie Roerink said she expects continued strong growth through the rest of the year.
“Yes, people are going out to restaurants and take-out continues to be strong, but they are still buying more fresh and frozen seafood,” Roerink said at the 28 July Seafood in U.S. Retail webinar, sponsored by animal health company Elanco. “There is a lot less concern [about COVID-19], so there are a lot more people coming into the store and spending more time shopping [and] browsing for new ideas and new recipes.”
July 28, 2021 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) will soon begin accepting applications for $12.4 million in financial assistance that will be available to Louisiana fishermen and others in the industry who have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applications for these funds will open at 8 a.m., Monday, August 9.
Applications can only be submitted online. To access the application, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cares-act-assistance. The application process will be open for a three-week period. The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. August 29. Funding allocation has been structured so that ALL applications submitted before the deadline will be considered. The funds, part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CARES 2.0), will be distributed as direct aid payments by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission to those applicants who qualify.
“These federal funds are another step in alleviating some of the financial impacts of the pandemic on our state,” said Gov. John Bel Edwards. “While we know these funds are not a cure-all, we are grateful for the relief they will provide to our hardworking fishing community.”
July 27, 2021 — Through the past year-and-a-half, the U.S. government issued hundreds of billions of dollars in rescue funding for companies facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But its efforts have come under criticism from those who feel their businesses were unfairly excluded from the rescue programs and from entities that received less funding than their competitors.
In the latest round of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund passed by U.S. Congress and administered by the Small Business Administration, many large U.S. restaurant groups received grants of more than USD 1 million (EUR 845,000). New York City’s Momofuku Restaurant Group received USD 6.8 million (EUR 5.7 million) and Peter Luger Steakhouse took in USD 5 million (EUR 4.2 million). An analysis by The Counter, an independent and nonprofit news outlet, found 5 percent of RRF awardees received 40 percent of the program’s funding total.
July 27, 2021 — There are signs that China’s economy is cooling, as economic data for the second quarter of 2021 showed China’s GDP growth slowed due to slower state-led investment and weaker consumption growth. China’s exports in Q2 2021 rose 20 percent, but higher prices for oil and other imports are eroding China’s strong trade balance.
Meanwhile, seafood prices are soaring across the country. Wholesale prices for freshwater seafood surged 20 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021 in China, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics. The climb in prices is 13.1 percentage points higher than the rise seen in the first half of 2020 and has added 0.12 to China’s overall consumer price index (CPI). The overall seafood price index was up 17.2 percent in the first six months, suggesting tightened supply.
July 26, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
Juneau, Alaska is one of the most popular whale watching tourism destinations in the world. Roughly 1.3 million tourists visited the city in 2019 via cruise ship, and more than 330,000 of those visitors participated in local whale watching trips during their port-of-call.
In 2020, cruise ships did not visit Juneau due to COVID-19, and whale watching companies lost a majority of their business. This provided a rare opportunity for scientists to study humpback whale behavior and health in the absence of vessel traffic and heavy whale watching tourism.
Heidi Pearson of the University of Alaska Southeast partnered with Shannon Atkinson of the University of Alaska Fairbanks and NOAA scientists Suzie Teerlink and John Moran to collect baseline data during this unusual time. Their research will help us understand how changes in vessel activity potentially impact whale behavior and health.
The scientists are currently in the second year of the study. Field crews from the UK’s BBC visited Juneau during last year’s field season to collect footage of the collaborative research project that they have now compiled into a featurette that is being circulated around the globe.
July 26, 2021 — The next time you snooze your alarm clock at a very modest 8 am, think of Mike Sargent. Before you pour your first cup of coffee in the morning or maybe even get out of bed, this fourth-generation lobsterman has already traveled at least a dozen miles off the shore of Steuben, Maine and hauled in a few hundred pounds of lobster.
As one of the lobstermen powering the state’s $1 billion lobstering industry, Sargent works sunup to sundown to bring this seafood delicacy to people across the country. The fisherman has 800 traps—the maximum a commercial fisherman can own in the state of Maine—covering the ocean floor where he collects lobster about five or six days a week in the summer months.
Like most Maine fishermen, Sargent says he was “kind of born into it.” He got a student lobstering license at the age of 10 and started fishing with his dad, and ever since, Sargent has spent summers on the water while others were feasting on lobster dressed up on rolls and boiled at backyard parties. He does manage to sneak in a few lobster feasts here and there. “We’’ll have big family clambakes and I probably eat it three or four times throughout the summer,” Sargent says, but adds that some of his fellow fisherman refuse to eat lobster because they’re surrounded by it day in and day out.
The days are long and the work is taxing, but after a year rocked by COVID-19 and uncertainty about the demand for lobster and the ability to go fishing, lobstermen like Sargent are grateful for a busy summer. “[Last year] was gnarly,” Sargent says. “A lot of people don’t realize, for all of us in these Northern communities, fishing is the lifeblood of this town. If I’m successful, the entire town is successful.”