Saving Seafood

Over 100 Maine seafood dealers and processors awarded more than $15 million in grants

June 30, 2022 — More than 100 Maine seafood dealers and processors have been awarded more than $15 million in grants through the Seafood Dealer and Processor COVID-19 Response and Resilience Program.

Businesses in every coastal county received awards, with more than half them coming in at over $115,000.

Gov. Janet Mills made the announcement of $15 million in grants to local seafood dealers and processors at Hollander & de Koning, a six generation, family owned and operated shellfish company in Trenton.

The company is a grant recipient, and has recently purchased a machine that will bag mussels in small quantities, allowing them access to being in grocery stores as well as restaurants.

Read the full story at WABI-TV

Shrimp starring on summer menus as restaurant sales rise

June 27, 2022 — Many U.S. restaurant operators are choosing shrimp to be the start of their summer menus, thanks to its steady pricing and availability compared to other seafood species.

Shrimp sales to the U.S. foodservice sector rebounded in 2021 from a significant drop in 2020 that was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Roughly 275 million pounds of shrimp was sold to foodservice channels in 2021, up by 50 million pounds from 2020, according to data shared during the National Fisheries Institute Global Seafood Market Conference in January 2022.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

NEFMC June 28-30, 2022 Hybrid Meeting – Listen Live, View Documents

June 21, 2022 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day hybrid meeting from Tuesday, June 28 through Thursday, June 30, 2022.  This will be an in-person meeting in Portland, ME, coupled with a webinar option for individuals who cannot or prefer not to attend in person.

COVID PROTOCOLS:  The Council continues to follow all public safety measures related to COVID-19 and intends to do so for this meeting.  Please participate remotely if you are experiencing COVID symptoms or do not feel well.  Updates will be posted on the meeting webpage as needed.

START TIME:  9:00 a.m. each day.  The webinar will end shortly after the Council adjourns each day.

HUDSON CANYON:  Under Other Business on Thursday, June 30, 2022, the Council will receive a presentation from the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries on NOAA’s initiation of the scoping process to consider designating a national marine sanctuary in the Hudson Canyon area.  The Council will discuss and approve scoping comments, which are due August 8, 2022.

PUBLIC COMMENT OPPORTUNITIES:  The Council wants to hear from you.  Here’s how you can let the Council know what you think.

  • WRITE A LETTER:  The deadline for submitting written comments for consideration at this meeting is 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 23, 2022.  Please note that written comments mustaddress items listed on the agenda for this meeting.
  • TALK TO THE COUNCIL:  You’ll be able to address the Council directly through two different avenues:
  1. By commenting on motions at the discretion of the Council chair (if commenting remotely, raise your hand on the webinar and unmute yourself when called upon); and
  2. By speaking during the open period for public comment.  Here are the Guidelines for Providing Public Comment.
  • OPEN PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT:  On Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 2:45 p.m., the Council will offer the public an opportunity to provide comments on issues relevant to Council business but not listed on this agenda.  Given the Council’s busy meeting schedule, we ask that you limit remarks to 3-5 minutes.
    • SIGN UP:  Interested in speaking?  If attending in person, fill out the sign-up sheet on the table at the entrance to the Council meeting room.  To speak remotely, email Janice Plante at jplante@nefmc.org to get on the list.

WEBINAR REGISTRATION:  Online access to the meeting is available at Listen Live.  There is no charge to access the meeting through this webinar.

  • Here are instructions in the Remote Participation Guide for successfully joining and participating in the webinar.
  • THIS IS KEY!  If you want to speak during opportunities for public comment, you need to: (1) register for the webinar; and (2) actually “join” the webinar.  People who call in by telephone without joining the webinar will be in listen-only mode.  Those who take both steps – register and then join the webinar – will see the meeting screen and be able to click on a “raise hand” button, which will let the meeting organizer know you want to be unmuted to speak.
  • We have a Help Desk in case you get stuck joining the webinar or have trouble along the way.  Phone numbers are listed on the Help Desk Poster, or just email helpdesk@nefmc.org and we’ll get right back to you.

CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone without joining the webinar, dial +1 (562) 247-8422.  The access code is 308-632-643.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.  Remember, you will not be able to speak if you do not first join the webinar as described above.  This phone number provides a “listen-only” option without the webinar component.

AGENDA:  All meeting materials and the agenda are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC June 28-30, 2022 meeting.  Additional documents will be posted as they become available.

THREE MEETING OUTLOOK:  A copy of the New England Council’s Three Meeting Outlook is available HERE.

COUNCIL MEETING QUESTIONS:  Anyone with questions prior to or during the Council meeting should contact Janice Plante at (607) 592-4817, jplante@nefmc.org.

WTO agrees deals on Covid vaccines and overfishing

June 20, 2022 — The group of 164 countries spent five days negotiating deals which included pledges on health and food security.

The partial intellectual property waiver deal for coronavirus jabs will allow developing countries to produce and export vaccines.

But it will only last five years, and excludes disease treatments and tests.

Director-general of the WTO Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the agreements, reached at a conference in Geneva, would “make a difference to the lives of people around the world”.

“The outcomes demonstrate that the WTO is in fact capable of responding to emergencies of our time,” she added.

The package of the two highest profile deals on the table – aimed at reducing overfishing and sharing Covid vaccine knowledge – was described as “unprecedented” by Ms Okonjo-Iweala.

Read the full story at BBC News

US Senate nixes restaurant industry rescue package

May 24, 2022 — The U.S. Senate ended the restaurant industry’s hopes of receiving additional government funding to compensate it for COVID-19-related operational difficulties on 19 May.

The Senate voted against passing the Small Business COVID Relief Act of 2022 (S. 4008), ending any realistic possibility it will replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Strict COVID-19 controls posing long-term challenge for Chinese economy

May 20, 2022 — The closure of a major seafood market in the Chinese capital looks set to disrupt seafood trade as Beijing edges towards an extended lockdown to contain the spread of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Chinese capital.

Beijing’s Jingshen Seafood Market has been closed since 17 May, after workers there were sickened by a COVID-19 strain traced back to seafood imported into the nearby city of Tianjin. The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce and the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a ban on any activity in the market while also setting stringent testing requirements for truck drivers entering Beijing with food and seafood products.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

NOAA says status report shows U.S. fisheries ‘on track’ with rebuilding

May 18, 2022 — The federal government’s 2021 annual report on the state of U.S. fisheries portrays progress in managing the nation’s marine resources – even with the massive wallop the seafood industry took with the covid-19 pandemic.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Marine Fisheries Service released the annual summary on May 12, updating the status of 460 fish species in U.S. waters.

“NOAA’s annual Status of Stocks report shows that the United States continues to be a global leader in sustainable fisheries management, as we work to understand how climate change is affecting fisheries and the communities that this sector supports,” said NOA Administrator Rick Spinrad. “The report demonstrates that we remain on track to maximize marine fishing opportunities while ensuring long-term ecological and economic sustainability in our changing world.”

Updated stock assessments and other metrics show improvement “in the face of climate change” and the economic value of fisheries “remain strong” at $4.8 billion in 2020 with 8.4 billion pounds landed, said Janet Coit, NOAA’s assistant administrator for fisheries, in a May 12 conference call with news reporters.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

European exporters avoiding China due to pricing, access problems

May 17, 2022 — There are signs that European exporters are turning away from the Chinese market, according to numerous seafood executives interviewed at the 2022 Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, Spain in late April.

Difficulties with port backups due to more-stringent food safety checks and the threat of being banned from the Chinese marketplace if traces of COVID-19 are found on their products have scared some suppliers away from shipping to China. Others are simply realizing higher prices in the European market.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

US fishing haul fell 10% during first pandemic year

May 13, 2022 — America’s commercial fishing industry fell 10% in catch volume and 15% in value during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal regulators said Thursday.

The 2020 haul of fish was 8.4 billion pounds, while the value of that catch was $4.8 billion, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. The early months of the pandemic posed numerous challenges for the U.S. fishing industry, which has remained economically viable despite the difficult year, NOAA officials said.

“It was fishery closures, boats not going out due to COVID, border closings due to COVID, lots of disruption in the flow of goods and services,” said Michael Liddel, NOAA’s commercial fishery statistics branch chief.

NOAA made the announcement as it unveiled its “Status of the Stocks” report, which provides details about the health of the nation’s commercial fishing industry.

The report said there were 51 fish stocks on the federal government’s “overfished list” in 2021. That list includes stocks that have been depleted by excessive fishing and the number was an increase of two from the previous year.

Read the full story from the Associated Press

 

US seafood landings in 2020 hit hard by COVID-19, NOAA Fisheries reports

May 12, 2022 — A pair of fishery status updates released by NOAA Fisheries on Thursday, 12 May, 2022, have revealed the profound impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the U.S. fishing industry, which experienced double-digit percentage decreases in landings and value.

According to an update made to NOAA Fisheries’ “Fisheries of the United States 2020” report, U.S. fishermen reported 8.4 billion pounds of landings for 2020, down 10.4 percent from 2019. The value of those products was reported at USD 4.8 billion (EUR 4.63 billion), down 14.6 percent from the year before.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource