February 10, 2021 — Just before Joseph Biden was sworn in as president of the United States a month ago, his chief of staff, Ronald Klain, laid out the obstacles ahead for the administration.
“We face four overlapping and compounding crises: the COVID-19 crisis, the resulting economic crisis, the climate crisis, and a racial equity crisis,” Klain wrote in a memorandum issued to staff on 16 January.
February 10, 2021 — Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only 24 percent of Americans plan to dine out for the Valentine’s Day holiday, and they will spend USD 32 (EUR 26) less on gifts per person on average, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).
However, 41 percent say they are planning a special dinner or celebration at home, and a majority still believe it is important to celebrate the holiday – especially due to the pandemic, NRF reports.
February 9, 2021 — A research project looking at new and underserved markets for Maine’s aquaculture industry has been awarded $400,499 in federal funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant program.
The award, announced Friday, will go to the Maine Sea Grant, according to a news release.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous negative impact on all seafood producers,” said Sebastian Belle, the association’s executive director. “The work that will be done in this project will be critical in helping our members adapt to and recover from the challenges they are facing.”
The award will support the research of potential new and underserved markets for Maine-grown aquaculture products, and will fund efforts to seek partnerships between aquaculture and wild capture supply chains.
“Maine’s aquaculture industry has undergone significant growth and diversification in recent years, creating new jobs and economic opportunities in our state,” U.S. Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a joint statement.
February 9, 2021 — At the heart of Fishing Vessel William Lee is a miniscule area to share meals. Crew members pack around a table just a few inches from an electric stove, which is outfitted with metal guards to stop piping-hot cookware from sliding onto them as the boat rocks on the Atlantic Ocean. About seven people will spend anywhere from 10 to 12 days at a time sharing these close quarters as they search for scallops, a famously lucrative and sustainable New England fishery.
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the William Lee docks, scalloping season begins in April. But in 2020, that aligned tragically with something else arriving on U.S. shores: a deadly pandemic.
Roughly 390 million pounds of seafood a year come through this place. A third of that is fished locally, while the rest is processed here but comes from Canadian, Scandinavian, and other international waters. After New Bedford processes and packages this mega-haul, the seafood is distributed globally via Boston and New York City. Whether you’re dining on poached halibut in Milwaukee or pan-seared scallops in Copenhagen, New Bedford almost certainly set the “market value” on the menu.
But nearby transportation hubs became the nation’s earliest viral epicenters, bottlenecking the supply chain. Heavy hits to the restaurant industry soon followed, causing auction prices for seafood to plummet even as the cost of the fishing expeditions—fuel, groceries, salaries, and tons of ice—remained high.
February 9, 2021 — The global COVID-19 pandemic has been a mixed bag for the seafood industry, with retailers notching record seafood sales and the category as a whole seeing gains, even as the foodservice industry virtually collapsed.
That downturn is expected to change direction this year, with foodservice operators optimistic about 2021. Seafood company CEOs and advisors, speaking during the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference’s economic outlook panel, also expressed optimism about the industry’s recovery. While in the short-term the rebound may be slight, as trend experts have predicted, once relative normalcy returns demand could see a big boost.
February 9, 2021 — Norway’s seafood exports fell by a double-digit percentage in January 2021 compared to 2020, largely the result of ongoing downturns related to COVID-19.
Norway exported NOK 8.1 billion (USD 941.5 million, EUR 786.1 million) worth of seafood products last month, some 16 percent or NOK 1.6 billion (USD 185.8 million, EUR 155.3 million) less than it sold to overseas markets in January 2020, with reduced demand for salmon accounting for much of the downturn. Reduced exports of trout and fresh cod compared to the record month of January 2020 also contributed to the lower earnings.
February 8, 2021 — Consumer demand for Atlantic surf clams and ocean quahogs has shifted in the past six months. Most of the fleet is centered around Point Pleasant Beach and Atlantic City, N.J.; Oceanview, N.Y.; Hyannis, Mass. (surf clams only); and New Bedford and Fairhaven, Mass. There is also a quahog fishery in Maine.
Chris Shriver, general manager of Atlantic Capes Fisheries, a large processor headquartered in Massachusetts, says covid-19 has affected markets.
“A lot of our product does sell to the restaurant sector, wholesale, and to chains. All were impacted, due to the closures and limited seatings.” Shriver says some states are starting to open up a little, and that clam products from Rhode Island were still able to be sold locally in fry shacks and take-out establishments.
“But we’re all fearful for the next shoe to drop,” Shriver says. While Atlantic Capes does not produce canned products, they have substantial retail and soup manufacturing markets. The upshot is “there has definitely been an uptick in the retail sector.” But, adds Shriver, it is difficult to make up for the lost restaurant markets.
Landings for surf clams, ocean quahog and Maine quahog are short of what they were at this time last year. By mid-September 2020, 32.5 percent of the surf clam quota (3.4 million bushels) and 25.5 percent of ocean quahog quota (5.33 million bushels) was harvested. Maine’s quahog fishery had harvested 10 percent of the 100,000-bushel quota for the state.
February 8, 2021 — Despite the enormous challenges and tragedies that COVID-19 has inflicted upon the industry and the world, new National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Chair Derek Figueroa said the pandemic has been a catalyst for change for seafood.
Figueroa, the president and CEO of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.-based Seattle Fish Co., told SeafoodSource he is looking forward to “bringing diverse voices together” in his new, one-year position at NFI.
February 5, 2021 — When the covid-19 pandemic sent graphic designer Britton Spark back home to Long Beach Island, N.J., the creative void in his life had to be filled.
“I felt stalled. There wasn’t any reason to make stuff,” said Spark.
He and his girlfriend, Anna Panacek, began taking morning walks in Barnegat Light, where she had family connections at the Viking Village fishing dock. There the solution hit Spark.
“I thought, ‘How cool would it be to document this?’” Spark recalled.
Growing up in nearby Harvey Cedars, the dock was “something I always took for granted,” said Spark. But seeing the buzz of daily activity up close, he began toting his camera.
“I’m probably at the docks five days a week,” said Spark, who posts his Instagram photos @couchchronicles. He says the imagery has been a hit with readers “who never saw fishing in that light… so the response has been really cool from non-fishermen. They just love following the project.”
February 5, 2021 — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives have signed onto a letter calling for more aid for seafood processors and processing vessels.
The letter, signed by over a dozen members of Congress, calls for U.S. Department of Agriculture Acting Secretary Kevin Shea to implement a program offering grants and forgivable loans to support seafood processing facilities and processing vessels. The loans would help processors and vessel operators implement COVID-19 response measures.