Saving Seafood

National Fisheries Institute Statement on COVID-19 Recovery and Relief Legislation

December 22, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The House and Senate have passed a bipartisan $900 billion economic relief package to aid the nation’s pandemic recovery.

The final legislation allows forgivable loan funds to be used for covered business expenses that include accounts receivable debt.  NFI has consistently urged Congress to address this issue by classifying accounts receivable debt as a forgivable expense under the Paycheck Protection Program. We are pleased that this new package includes a provision that does just that.

The seafood industry, and the 1.7 million Americans jobs along its value chain, has been saddled with approximately $2.2 billion in outstanding debt since the beginning of the pandemic. The vast majority of that debt is held by small businesses that have struggled to survive.

The relief package illustrates that Members of Congress heard NFI’s message about our members’ supply chains and acted on the critical need for access to this funding.  This is a win for the seafood community that will provide badly needed relief to restaurants and the seafood processors and distributors that supply them.  NFI applauds Congress for this achievement.

Seafood groups praise passage of COVID-19 relief package

December 22, 2020 — U.S. seafood organizations are praising Congress’s passage of its Omnibus/COVID-19 relief package. The bill has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and has been sent to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The USD 900 billion (EUR 740 billion) stimulus package includes USD 300 million (EUR 247 million) in additional fisheries assistance and the inclusion of seafood as an eligible use for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food purchases, along with additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Pacific Island Nations Wary of Chinese Fishing Fleets

December 21, 2020 — Long a topic discussed in connection with the South China Sea, illegal Chinese fishing vessels are of increasing concern for Pacific Island nations.

As recently as early this week, the archipelago nation of Palau, east of the Philippines and north of New Guinea, announced that it had intercepted and detained a Chinese fishing vessel and six smaller boats in its territorial waters after it was confirmed the vessel had entered unlawfully and was illegally fishing sea cucumber.

The fishing vessel was apprehended in Helen Reef, Palau’s most southernmost region, by a Guardian-class patrol boat that Australia had delivered to Palau in September.

“They did have sea cucumber on there… it’s estimated about 500 pounds (225 kilograms),” Victor Remengesau, director of Palau’s division of marine law and enforcement, told reporters. “It’s unlawful entry. We may care about COVID and the spread of COVID, but we can’t just let people do whatever they want, and disguise [illegal activity].”

Read the full story at The Diplomat

UK travel ban hits seafood exports

December 21, 2020 — With a growing number of countries introducing bans on people and goods arriving from the United Kingdom because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus, the seafood industry has warned that businesses and livelihoods are now at risk.

On the evening of Sunday, 20 December, France shut its border with the U.K. for 48 hours, meaning that no trucks or ferries could sail from the port of Dover. Meanwhile, India, Hong Kong, Canada, Switzerland, and Germany have suspended flights from the U.K., with more countries announcing their intention to follow suit.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NEW YORK: LI fishermen see tough days ahead as NYC restaurants back in lockdown

December 21, 2020 — With New York City restaurants back in lockdown, Long Island fishermen once again face the loss of one of the biggest markets for their fish as a choppy 2020 comes to a close.

A small measure of relief is being offered with federal stimulus finds, but fishermen have only till year’s end to apply.

Fishermen in the spring saw most wholesale prices tumble with restaurant closures statewide, then regain as summer opened outdoor dining and limited capacity at restaurants. The latest closure comes atop other setbacks, including the die-off for the second year in a row of Peconic Bay scallops, the sharp decline in the oyster industry, also tied to restaurant closures, and pressures such as ever-changing fishing quotas.

Read the full story at Newsday

Pandemic disrupted commercial fishing in Northeast, study finds

December 21, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted commercial fishing activities in the Northeastern U.S. and Mid-Atlantic, according to a new study.

Though many fishers suffered a decline in income, survey results — published Thursday in the journal PLOS One — suggest many were able to adapt and continue fishing through the market disruptions triggered by the pandemic.

With indoor dining services restricted across much of the country, restaurants have been especially hard hit by the pandemic’s economic consequences. When restaurants falter, those that supply them suffer, too.

Between March and June, researchers at Rutgers University surveyed commercial fishers from Maine through North Carolina to find out how those who make their living on the water were coping as demand for fine dining dried up.

Read the full story at UPI

COVID-19 pandemic had big impact on commercial fishing in Northeast

December 18, 2020 — With restaurants and supply chains disrupted due to the global coronavirus pandemic, two-fifths of commercial fishermen surveyed from Maine through North Carolina did not go fishing earlier this year, according to a Rutgers study that also documented their resilience and adaptation.

Of those who kept fishing, nearly all reported a decline in income compared with previous years, according to the survey of 258 fishers in the Northeast published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The study, which covers March to June, also examined data on fish landings and found that the catch for some species, such as squid and scallops, decreased compared with previous years. But the catch for other species, such as black sea bass and haddock, was on par with or higher than previous years, suggesting that many fishermen fished as much as they had been before the pandemic, while earning less income.

“They may have kept fishing to pay their bills or crew, or to maintain their livelihoods or their quotas until markets rebound,” said main author Sarah Lindley Smith, a post-doctoral associate in the Department of Human Ecology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “Most of the fishermen who stopped fishing during the early months of the pandemic planned to resume fishing instead of leaving the industry.”

Read the full story at PHYS.org

ALASKA: AFDF Announces 2021 Seaweed Farm Start-up Training Program

December 18, 2020 — The following was released by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation:

The Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation (AFDF) and partners released the registration for a Seaweed Farm Start-up Training Program to be held for Alaska residents interested in starting their own seaweed farm in Alaska. Registration for the program is now available on the Alaska Sea Grant website and will remain open until February 1, 2021. In 2020, this program was held in Kodiak, Ketchikan, and Sitka as part of Phase 2 of the Alaska Mariculture Initiative. In February of 2021, this program will be held again for a new cohort of participants, and will be conducted virtually via Zoom due to COVID-19 health and safety mandates. This virtual format will allow significant expansion of the training program, from 48 participants in 2020 to over 100 in 2021. Registration for the training program will be completed in two parts: 1) all interested Alaska residents are invited to register for a webinar to be held on February 2, 2021 at 4:00pm-6:00pm AST; and 2) webinar attendees will then be eligible to register for an in-depth series of virtual technical multi-day workshops over one week beginning on February 22 (2-3 hours each session). Participation in the February 2 webinar is required to be eligible for the technical workshop series. Please see below for more information.

Read the full release here

HAWAII: City details food assistance efforts amid coronavirus pandemic

December 17, 2020 — The City launched a slew of programs this year with aims to help Oahu families and individuals struggling to access food during the pandemic.

Programs included “Farm to Food,” which offered free meals from farmers to residents in need. A similar program called “Fish to Dish” extended support to Hawaii’s fishing industry while also distributing fresh fish to communities across Oahu.

Other programs included 20 free food distribution events and 127 smaller food pop-up events. The City has also partnered with the Hawaii Longline Association, the Honolulu Fish Auction, the Hawaii Seafood Council and the Hawaii FoodBank to help feed people in need.

Read the full story at KHON