Saving Seafood

NJ fishing community says virus aid helps keep it afloat

March 8, 2021 — With New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry about to receive a second round of federal coronavirus aid, boat owners and those who run fishing-related businesses say the extra money is helping keep them afloat amid a sea of red ink.

The state’s fishing industry received $11 million last March under the CARES Act, an early aid bill passed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

And it should get roughly the same amount under a second bill passed by Congress in December, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. said Monday. Pallone, (D-NJ) held a news conference Monday at the Belford Seafood Cooperative in Middletown with boat owners and those who run related businesses.

Many said the extra money could make the difference between working and not working this spring and summer. They declined to say how much each individually received under the measure.

“I’ve been on a boat with my family since I was 7 years old,” said Capt. Richard Isaksen, president of the fishing cooperative. “We still haven’t recovered from Superstorm Sandy that hurt us badly with eight feet of water on the dock and (which) wiped everything out.”

The 2012 storm caused widespread devastation in New Jersey, New York and other northeastern coastal states.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Study: Seafood’s response to COVID-19 can pave the way for future resilience

March 8, 2021 — The impacts of COVID-19 on the globalized seafood sector may offer crucial lessons for making the industry more resilient and capable of minimizing economic threats to food and nutrition security, seafood-based livelihoods, and local economies caused by global pandemics.

Published in Global Food Security, “Emerging COVID-19 impacts, responses, and lessons for building resilience in the seafood system” acknowledges the seafood sector is highly globalized, and that fish and other aquatic foods are among the world’s most-traded commodities, with an estimated value of more than USD 162 billion (EUR 134.7 billion) in 2018.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

West Coast Seafood Processors ‘Cautiously Hopeful’ for the Remainder of 2021

March 5, 2021 — The West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA) said seafood processors are hoping to see improvements in 2021 as the vaccination process rolls out nationwide and restaurants begin to reopen.

Both fishermen and seafood processors are often the backbones of coastal communities, the WCSPA explained. The industries provide economic stability and generate thousands of local year-round jobs.

Read the full story at Seafood News

CARES Act support for fishermen, seafood dealers may come this spring

March 5, 2021 — Commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and others who make their living on the water may get federal aid sometime this spring to help make up coronavirus-related loses.

N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Deputy Director Dee Lupton informed the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Feb. 25 during the commission’s online Webinar meeting that division staff is processing Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act financial aid applications from commercial and for-hire fishermen, seafood dealers and processors.

The application period for the $5.4 million in federal aid for North Carolina watermen closed Nov. 30, and according to an email Feb. 23 to the News-Times from DMF Communications Director Patricia Smith, the division received 290 applications, of which 216 were from commercial fishermen and aquaculture operations, 35 were from seafood dealers and processors and 39 were from for-hire operations.

“As of this past Monday (Feb. 22), we’ve reviewed all of them,” Ms. Lupton said at the Feb. 25 commission meeting. “One hundred and ninety-eight have been approved. We’re in the process of notifying those determined not-eligible, they will have an appeal opportunity.”

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

Alaska safety inspectors tried to fine Copper River Seafoods $450,000. Their commissioner blocked it.

March 4, 2021 — Department of Labor commissioner Tamika Ledbetter blocked nearly $450,000 in fines against a seafood plant her own inspectors said willfully violated COVID-19 workplace safety standards, according to internal documents.

Now, state lawmakers are investigating.

House Rep. Zack Fields, an Anchorage Democrat who used to work for the Department of Labor, said he and his Labor & Commerce committee co-chair got a complaint from a whistleblower that Ledbetter was blocking enforcement of state workplace safety standards.

“Alaskans have to work to provide for their families,” Fields said. “When they go to work, they shouldn’t have to risk their lives to put food on the table.”

Fields’ committee is holding a hearing to address questions about a Copper River Seafoods plant in Anchorage and Juneau-based Alaska Glacier Seafoods. Both companies had large COVID-19 outbreaks last year.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media

Lawmakers propose 5-year extension of Maine’s lobster marketing group

March 3, 2021 — A year after the coronavirus pandemic devastated Maine’s usual lobster markets, and as the industry braces for yet another onslaught of changes brought about by right whale regulations, state legislators are proposing a bill to reauthorize the organization that markets Maine’s signature shellfish for at least five more years.

The Maine Lobster Marketing Collaborative, created in 2013 to replace the Lobster Promotion Council, promotes Maine lobster to restaurants, cruise ships, casinos, hotels and, especially within the past year, to grocery stores and home cooks.

Its $2.2 million annual budget is funded by surcharges on state-issued lobster licenses. The surcharges are not set to change under the proposed legislation.

The collaborative’s five-year authorization is set to expire in October, but according to Patrick Keliher, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources, it’s more important than ever that the group’s work continues.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Maryland oyster industry may be forever altered by COVID-19 pandemic

March 3, 2021 — The pandemic-impacted oyster season has been difficult for the industry in Maryland, causing farmers and watermen to rethink how they sell their product and changing how programs conduct oyster restoration.

After restaurants reduced their capacity and a stay-at-home order was issued last spring, restaurant sales essentially went to zero within a matter of a week, said Scott Budden, founder of Orchard Point Oyster Co. headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland.

Pre-pandemic, Orchard Point Oyster Co. would primarily sell to restaurants, either directly to the chef or through regional distributors and wholesalers. Since April, they have transitioned to directly selling to the public, through local pickups and cold shipping, Budden said.

Read the full story at Delmarva Now

Gorton’s adapting itself to new seafood’s new retail reality

March 3, 2021 — Gorton’s Seafood is stepping up production and is embarking on a new marketing campaign to cement the significant sales growth it garnered through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the past year, Gorton’s retail sales surged 34 percent, with its breaded and battered wild Alaska pollock entrees snaring the highest sales increases, Kurt Hogan, the president and CEO of the Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based processor, told SeafoodSource.

Read the full story at Seafood Source