Saving Seafood

San Diego Seafood Industry Flounders Under Coronavirus, But Fishing Community Finding Ways To Stay Afloat

May 18, 2020 — At San Diego’s Dockside Tuna Harbor Market on a recent Saturday, hundreds of people lined up along the pier. They came to this market to get their hands on some fresh fish, caught and butchered by local fishermen.

The restaurant business has changed dramatically in the last couple of months, and that’s made it hard for the San Diego seafood industry to stay afloat. So, fishermen are turning to the market to make up the lost profit.

But seafood businesses are also hurting. They may get some relief from a government stimulus package, but how quickly they can bounce back could depend on the types of fish they supply.

Read the full story at KPBS

Funding Process for Florida Keys Fishermen Slowly Unfolds

May 18, 2020 — Both commercial and for-hire fishermen in the Florida Keys hit hard by the economic shutdown spurred by the novel coronavirus may apply to receive a portion of $23.6 million allocated to the state through the CARES Act Stimulus.

Of the $300 million slugged for federal fisheries’ assistance, Florida is to receive about 12.7%, or the fourth largest share behind Alaska, Washington and Massachusetts.

Read the full story at Seafood News

MASSACHUSETTS: The future of fish is frozen: How the seafood industry is adapting to COVID-19

May 18, 2020 — Jared Auerbach first saw the effects of the coronavirus pandemic in early January, when seafood orders from Boston’s Chinatown — and Chinatowns across the country — slowly stopped coming in.

At first, the founder of Red’s Best, a Boston-based seafood distributor, wasn’t too worried.

“The second week of March, we were down about 20 percent,” he said. “Things were starting to get a little weird. We got through the weekend and I lost some sleep over the weekend, but I felt good.”

On March 17, restaurants in Mass. were ordered to shutdown, and Auerbach, who founded Red’s Best in 2008, saw his business fall out from under him as he made the difficult decision to furlough the vast majority of his staff. For someone who spent years intently focused on balancing the supply of the sea with the demand of the public — many of them restaurant chefs — he now wondered: “What’s our contingency plan?”

Read the full story at Boston.com

Trawl fishing in the age of the coronavirus: First, you make it through quarantine

May 18, 2020 — The spring trawl harvest for whiting is underway off the Northwest coast in an unusual year when a crucial marker of success won’t just be nets stuffed with fish but crews that stay healthy and free from the COVID-19 disease.

To try to assure that outcome, hundreds of crew members went through two weeks of shore-side quarantine coupled with testing for the novel coronavirus that did identify a few who, if they had gone out to sea, risked sickness and spreading the virus.

“There’s no silver bullet. But this is a huge deal,” said Karl Bratvold, a managing partner of Aleutian Spray Fisheries, which operates the catcher-processor vessel Starbound now harvesting whiting in open waters off the Olympic Peninsula. “We have a steady crew. And I’m glad they came back. They work in tight quarters and it’s scary out there. We had to do what we had to do to keep these people safe.”

The testing unfolds as the food industry — considered essential since the pandemic spread widely earlier this spring — has struggled with operations that often involve long hours of labor for crews who work in proximity to one another.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

COVID-19: Trump Administration Takes Actions to Assist U.S. Fishing Industry

May 18, 2020 — The Trump administration recently announced two major actions to assist the U.S. commercial fishing industry. President Trump’s Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth[1] (Order) aims to increase seafood production by streamlining regulatory permitting processes and reducing burdens on the fishing industry.

In a separate action, the Secretary of Commerce detailed how $300M in CARES Act[2] funding intended to address impacts to the seafood industry caused by COVID-19 will be distributed.

This alert outlines the impacts of the Order on U.S. fishing, as well as describes the initial details for distribution of CARES Act funds to fishing businesses.

Impacts of the Executive Order on U.S. Fishing

While the Order focuses mainly on aquaculture, it also contains several provisions aimed at assisting the U.S. fishing industry. However, important details remain to be worked out, and it is unclear how quickly the fishing industry will see benefits.

Read the full story at The National Law Review

Rutgers University Looking for Participants for Survey on Economic Impact of COVID-19

May 18, 2020 — The following was released by Rutgers University:

Scientists at the Rutgers University Center for Fisheries and Ocean Sustainability are conducting a study of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on commercial fishermen and their livelihoods in the Northeast US.

Study organizer, Dr. Victoria Ramenzoni says: “There are many media reports of fishermen suffering devastating losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated market changes and required social distancing measures. We want to hear from fishermen themselves about how they’ve been impacted, what support they’re receiving, and how they’re adapting”.

All commercial fishermen (including vessel owners, captains, and crew) in the Northeast US (North Carolina through Maine) are invited to complete the 15 minute anonymous survey online here: https://rutgers.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1MiTWJDQDt4atTf

The survey will remain open until May 31.

U.S. Department of Transportation Modernizes Hours of Service Rules to Improve Safety and Increase Flexibility for America’s Truckers

May 15, 2020 — The following was released by the U.S. Department of Transportation:

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today published a final rule updating hours of service (HOS) rules to increase safety on America’s roadways by updating existing regulations for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

“America’s truckers are doing a heroic job keeping our supply chains open during this unprecedented time and these rules will provide them greater flexibility to keep America moving,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

“The Department of Transportation and the Trump Administration listened directly to the concerns of truckers seeking rules that are safer and have more flexibility—and we have acted.

These updated hours of service rules are based on the thousands of comments we received from the American people. These reforms will improve safety on America’s roadways and strengthen the nation’s motor carrier industry,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Jim Mullen.

First adopted in 1937, FMCSA’s hours of service rules specify the permitted operating hours of commercial drivers. In 2018, FMCSA authored an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to receive public comment on portions of the HOS rules to alleviate unnecessary burdens placed on drivers while maintaining safety on our nation’s highways and roads.  Subsequently, in August 2019, the Agency published a detailed proposed rule which received an additional 2,800 public comments.

Based on the detailed public comments and input from the American people, FMCSA’s final rule on hours of service offers four key revisions to the existing HOS rules:

  • The Agency will increase safety and flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of consecutive driving and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving status, rather than off-duty status.
  • The Agency will modify the sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split, or a 7/3 split—with neither period counting against the driver’s 14‑hour driving window.
  • The Agency will modify the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by two hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.
  • The Agency will change the short-haul exception available to certain commercial drivers by lengthening the drivers’ maximum on‑duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

FMCSA’s final rule is crafted to improve safety on the nation’s roadways. The rule changes do not increase driving time and will continue to prevent CMV operators from driving for more than eight consecutive hours without at least a 30-minute break.

In addition, FMCSA’s rule modernizing hours of service regulations is estimated to provide nearly $274 million in annualized cost savings for the U.S. economy and American consumers. The trucking industry is a key component of the national economy, employing more than seven million people and moving 70 percent of the nation’s domestic freight.

The new hours of service rule will have an implementation date of 120 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The complete final rule is available here: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/hours-service-drivers-final-rule

Truckers have played a key role in getting America through the COVID-19 public health emergency. FMCSA has provided regulatory relief to commercial drivers to get critically important medical supplies, food, and household goods to Americans in need. The nation’s truck drivers have been on the front lines of this effort and are vital to America’s supply chain. The latest information, declarations, and resources on FMCSA’s response to the COVID-19 are available at https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/COVID-19

Federal funds earmarked for Maryland, Virginia, Delaware fisheries hurt by coronavirus

May 15, 2020 — About $10 million in federal funding has been set aside to assist Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware fisheries hurt by the novel coronavirus.

Virginia fisheries are set to receive $4.5 million, Maryland fisheries will receive $4.1 million and Delaware fisheries will receive $1 million, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries division.

Specifically, these funds will help address direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fishing caused by COVID-19, according to NOAA.

Fishery participants eligible for funding will be able to work with their state marine fisheries management agencies, territories or tribes to apply for these funds. In order to obtain funds, a business must have experienced a revenue loss greater than 35 percent of its prior 5-year average or experienced any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural or ceremonial fisheries

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

Update on NOAA Fisheries Observer Coverage

May 15, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has released the following updates on fisheries observer coverage requirements. The requirements are broken down by region below:

Alaska Region – The region is extending the observer waiver for vessels in the Partial Coverage Category of the North Pacific groundfish and Pacific Halibut fisheries operating from ports other than Kodiak, Alaska. This exemption does not exempt vessels using electronic monitoring, or the requirement that vessels continue to log trips in Observer Declare and Deploy System (ODDS).  This limited waiver extension is in effect from May 3, 2020 through May 31, 2020. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis for all other required fisheries.

West Coast Region – Beginning at 12:00 am on May 1, 2020, fishery observer and catch monitor coverage is again required per existing regulations for all commercial fishing vessels and first receivers in required West Coast fisheries. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis.

Pacific Island Region – Observer coverage continues in all required fisheries. Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel. International observer requirements for tuna purse seine vessels have been waived by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission until May 31, 2020.

Southeast Region – Beginning at 12:00 a.m. on May 5, 2020, observer coverage will again be required per existing regulations for the following fisheries: South Atlantic Penaeid Shrimp, South Atlantic Rock Shrimp, South Atlantic Snapper-Grouper, Southeast Gillnet, Gulf of Mexico Commercial Reef Fish, Gulf of Mexico Shrimp, Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Pelagic Longline, Shark Bottom Longline (Atlantic HMS), Shark Gillnet (Atlantic HMS). Waivers of observer coverage will continue as needed on a vessel by vessel basis.

Greater Atlantic Region – The region is extending the existing observer waiver exemption for all vessels issued Greater Atlantic Region permits from the requirements to carry an observer or at-sea monitor. This waiver is in effect from May 3, 2020, through May 30, 2020.

FLORIDA: Fishermen come together to feed the unemployed

May 15, 2020 — There’s no study of rocket science in making the statement that fishing has a long, illustrious history in Port St. Joe.

And it continues to this day: what is a fundraiser in Port St. Joe without some fresh mullet supplied by local fish houses?

Now, a group of commercial fishermen are taking that concept to another level, pledging a percentage of every mullet catch to those who have lost their jobs to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group is undertaking incorporation as Fishermen for Florida, Inc. with the stated mission of providing disaster relief to the county’s unemployed due to coronavirus.

“It is really the people’s natural resource,” said J. Pat Floyd, attorney and representative of the new organization.

The board includes the folks at St. Joe Shrimp Co., Mark Moore, Clint Moore, Eckley Sander and their staff and fishermen; and Harold, Eugene, Joey and Randy Raffield and the folks at Raffield Fisheries.

Read the full story at The Star