Saving Seafood

Seafood Expo Asia hosting second edition of Reconnect

June 15, 2021 — Seafood Expo Asia, produced by organizer Diversified Communications, is hosting a second edition of Seafood Expo Asia Reconnect for five days of online business matchmaking.

The event, taking place from 15 to 19 November, is “designed to facilitate the meeting, trading and sourcing needs of the seafood industry in the Asian market,” Diversified Communications said. The event first took place in November 2020 after the show organizer was forced to put a pause on hosting an event in Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NEFMC June 22-24, 2021 – By Webinar – Listen Live, View Documents

June 14, 2021 — The following was released by the New England Fishery Management Council:

The New England Fishery Management Council will hold a three-day meeting from Tuesday, June 22 through Thursday, June 24, 2021.  The public is invited to listen live and provide input during designated opportunities for public comment.  Due to ongoing public safety considerations related to COVID-19, this meeting will be conducted entirely by webinar.

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

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 Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.
  • 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 (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 Tuesday, June 22 at 10:45 a.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 NOW:  Interested in speaking?  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.  Just email helpdesk@nefmc.org and we’ll get right back to you.

WEBINAR CALL-IN OPTION:  To listen by telephone, dial +1 (631) 992-3221.  The access code is 397-643-258.  Please be aware that if you dial in, your regular phone charges will apply.

AGENDA:  All meeting materials and the agenda are available on the Council’s website at NEFMC June 22-24, 2021 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.

Oyster Farmers Who Feared Going Broke Brace for a ‘Bonkers’ Summer

June 14, 2021 — A year ago, oyster growers who farm New Jersey’s marshy coastal inlets and tidal flats were fighting for survival.

Restaurants were shut down by the pandemic, and the oysters they had nurtured for two years were growing past their prime. The pricey seafood that should have been sold in raw bars or served at weddings was instead submerged in cages and racks in Barnegat and Delaware Bays, crowding out a younger crop of oysters.

“When Covid hit, that market disappeared,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society, a nonprofit dedicated to the study and conservation of marine life and habitats.

Unable to pay for boat fuel or the following year’s seed, some small aquaculture farmers in New York and New Jersey, struggling to revitalize what was once the country’s pre-eminent oyster market, braced for the worst.

But a year later, against long odds, the industry is poised for a summertime boom.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Restaurant groups applaud $60B funding bill

June 10, 2021 — U.S. foodservice industry organizations praised the introduction of federal legislation on 10 June that would provide USD 60 billion (EUR 49 billion) in additional funding to restaurants that ran into financial distress during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act, introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate, would effectively replenish the USD 60 billion (EUR 49 billion) Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Malaysia facing shortage of foreign fishers

June 10, 2021 — COVID-19 related travel restrictions have prevented foreign workers from entering Malaysia, resulting in a labor shortage in the country’s fisheries sector.

Malaysia began a two-week lockdown, or movement control order, from 1 June to contain a surge of the coronavirus infections across the country. As a result, it has been difficult for fishing companies in Malaysia to bring in crew members from other countries, The Star reported 8 June.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

N.J. fishing industry to get another $9.5M for COVID relief

June 9, 2021 — An incoming tide of federal dollars aims to lift a few boats, bait shops and seafood markets in the Garden State.

New Jersey is set to receive another $9.5 million in COVID-19 relief money for the state’s fishing industry, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-6th, announced Tuesday.

“New Jersey’s fishing communities were deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic, which is why I fought so hard to include robust funding for them in Congress,” Pallone said in a statement. “I want the hardworking men and women who make our fishing industry so strong to know they have my support. I’m glad we were able to ensure that the fishing community in New Jersey is receiving assistance to weather this ongoing economic storm.”

Commercial and recreational fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry in New Jersey, supporting tens of thousands of jobs. But the sector was hit hard by the pandemic. Prices for fish plunged as restaurant demand evaporated. Charter boats spent weeks tied to docks after COVID-19 safety measures were put in place.

Read the full story at NJ.com

US “blue economy” contributed nearly USD 400 billion to GDP in 2019

June 8, 2021 — America’s maritime economy is firmly in the black, according to the first-ever ““blue economy” report from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

According to the report, released Tuesday, 8 June, the marine economy generated USD 397 billion (EUR 326 billion) to the United States’ gross domestic product in 2019. That sector grew at a 4.2 percent clip from 2018, nearly double the growth of the country’s entire GDP over the same timeframe.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Lobster lovers feeling the pinch of high prices

June 8, 2021 — Summer weather has arrived, and New England tourists are hungry for a lobster roll or a whole cooked lobster – but they’re going to have to pay up.

Lobster is more expensive than usual this season due to a limited supply, high demand and the reopening of the economy as the nation moves past the coronavirus pandemic. Consumers are headed back to seafood restaurants and markets for the first time in months, and the lobsters there to greet them are at a premium.

Some Maine stores charged $17 or $18 per pound for live lobster in May, and that was about twice the price a year ago. Prices are lingering in the $13 or $14 range this month. Lobster is usually expensive in late spring, but this season has seen prices that are higher than typical.

The wholesale price for live, 1.25-pound lobsters in the New England market was $9.01 per pound on May 1, business publisher Urner Barry reported. That was about $2.70 per pound more than the previous May 1, and the highest price for that date in at least five years, the company reported.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Portland Press Herald

Returns & rebounds: Electronics suppliers and installers are ready for service, following a year of restricted global supply chains

June 7, 2021 — Regardless of where one stands on the mask mandate for commercial fishermen, it’s safe to say coronavirus has affected almost every aspect of fisheries. The marine electronics market is working a double-edged sword.

“Demand is through the roof,” says Furuno’s Matt Wood. “And we have products back ordered.”

Furuno is not alone. More than 18 months of restrictions aimed at combating the pandemic resulted in a significant slowdown of imports from Asia, including marine electronics products. But as fishermen gear up for a return to something more like normal, suppliers and installers of the latest fishfinders and transducers have their hands full.

Among the rising stars in the Furuno line is the DFF3D echosounder, introduced three years ago. Fishermen are using the split-beam sounder with different transducers in a variety of applications.

“These have really caught fire,” says Wood. “And we’ve just scratched the surface of what they can do. In the East they are using them with Time Zero for bottom building, in Southeast Alaska, too.”

Some salmon trollers have reported good results with the DFF3D. “They can use it to steer side to side,” says Wood. “Salmon are hard to see on any sounder, but if you look at it long enough, you can see them.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Northern Lights: The covid trail

June 7, 2021 — America’s largest seafood producing state kept working through the covid-19 pandemic, but under difficult and constantly changing conditions. Seafood consumers were unable to eat out but became hungrier than ever for everything from king crab to Alaska pollock fish sticks to canned salmon. For at least nine months retail seafood sales were up 20-30 percent above pre-pandemic levels — a higher sales bump than all other parts of the grocery store. Those increases tell the story of high demand, but also of the hard work and sacrifice that kept boats fishing, processing lines operating, and shippers moving products to where they were needed.

To better understand how covid-19 is affecting the industry, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute commissioned McKinley Research Group (formerly known as McDowell Group) to produce a series of surveys and briefing papers.

Mitigation and Response Costs

Fortunately, Alaska’s winter/spring Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands fisheries were already underway when covid hit in early 2020, limiting initial impacts in those massive fisheries. Heading into the peak summer salmon season, processors and harvesters scrambled to set up new protocols and spent heavily to protect workers and communities. Sporadic outbreaks occurred, but fisheries that were once in question were widely heralded as successful.

Our research indicates that Alaska seafood processors spent roughly $70 million in 2020 to mitigate the spread of the virus through quarantines, chartered travel, and other measures. Seafood harvesters who responded to a separate ASMI survey reported spending an average of $9,350 per vessel on covid mitigation in 2020, while 82 percent said they expect covid-19 costs to be the same or higher in 2021. Uncertainty also resulted in fewer fishermen on the water. Crew license sales data from Alaska Department of Fish and Game show a 31 percent drop in commercial crew license sales from 2019.

Unfortunately, covid-19 cases exploded across the country at the end of 2020, just before the start of the 2021 winter/spring fisheries. Despite extensive precautions including prework quarantines, chartered travel and regular testing, several of Alaska’s largest seafood processors experienced outbreaks. Rapid responses and expanded vaccine distribution contained and mitigated the spread of the outbreaks. However, because of the high costs of bringing thousands of workers for these winter fisheries, as well as the response costs associated with outbreaks and mitigation measures that will continue throughout the year, the mitigation price tag for processors in 2021 is expected to exceed $100 million.

Read the full story at National Fisherman