Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishermen can apply for COVID-19 relief

September 14, 2020 — Massachusetts commercial fishermen should soon be receiving their applications for the $11.8 million in federal fishery assistance funds to help offset economic damage to the industry from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries said it began sending out the applications on Wednesday to commercial fishermen at the addresses listed on their DMF-issued permits. Completed applications and appeals must be postmarked no later than Oct. 10.

The $11.8 million set aside for commercial harvesters is part of the $28 million Congress allocated to the Massachusetts seafood industry in March in the $300 million CARES Act to mitigate the financial woes caused by the unrelenting pandemic.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

The Most Dangerous Job in Fishing Isn’t Fishing—It’s Processing Fish During a Global Pandemic

September 11, 2020 — There is no such thing as a “staycation” for the people working tirelessly to fish, farm, process, package, transport, and distribute seafood in the United States. Immediately deemed an “essential service,” the $244 billion/year seafood industry supports 1.74 million jobs and is the heart and soul of seaside towns across the United States—from quaint New England harbors to Gulf Coast communities to bustling ports in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. When most people think of seafood and fishing, they picture rugged men donning bright-colored foul weather gear, bracing against waves or perhaps silently rowing a dory out into the fog—conjure the iconic Gorton’s Fisherman. However, as a proud owner of a seafood company in Maine and someone who works on the water, I personally see and rely on a diversity of individuals working onshore to get fish and shellfish from the sea to your table.

In fact, more people work across the value chain and in fish processing than in commercial fishing itself. These critical roles are filled by predominantly female, minority, migrant and foreign-born workers. Globally, an estimated 80 to 90 percent of workers in seafood processing are women, and in the United States, 62.8 percent of people employed as “Butchers and Meat, Poultry, and Fish Processing Workers” are foreign-born. According to data analyzed by the Union of Concerned Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the third quarter of 2019, there are 815 seafood processing plants in the United States in 294 counties employing tens of thousands of people nationwide.

My experience as a seafood harvester and company owner differs from those of equally important on-shore jobs in seafood processing. I set my own schedule and work outdoors, alone on a boat off an uninhabited island off the coast of Maine. I feel safe going to work and have access to the staples that so many of us take for granted (food, running water, stable housing, health care, etc.). Now contrast that to the experiences of workers in seafood processing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Work in seafood processing requires doing physically challenging work in close proximity for long hours indoors, and in the case of on-board ship processing and other seasonal fisheries, shared group housing and transportation.

Read the full story at the Union of Concerned Scientists

Philippine fishermen stranded at sea by pandemic: ‘We think about jumping overboard’

September 11, 2020 — Anthony Medina’s daughter was 5 months old when he left the Philippines and set sail for the Indian Ocean in December 2018 on an odyssey where his livelihood collided with a pandemic that has kept him adrift at sea and exiled from home.

For more than a year, his days have been a monotonous blur of endless fishing on the Oceanstar 86, a 465-foot-long vessel with a crew of about three dozen. As long as there was seafood for their nets, including tuna, crab and squid, the crew members had to haul them in, clean and freeze them.

When their boat arrived in Singapore in March, Medina planned on catching a flight home. But he was shocked to learn that a virus outbreak had closed borders and shuttered ports, keeping him out of the Philippines and trapped on the fishing boat.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

Georgia Fishing Industry Now Eligible to Apply for CARES Act Financial Assistance

September 11, 2020 — Georgia is ready to distribute nearly $2 million in funds to commercial fishermen, wholesale dealers, and others in the seafood industry who have been financially impacted by the coronavirus.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, also known as the CARES Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27. The CARES Act included $300 million in fisheries assistance funding, but it wasn’t until May that NOAA even released a breakdown of the funds by state, tribe and territory. With growing frustration from those affected by the pandemic, states have been working out how to distribute the federal relief aid. As SeafoodNews confirmed last month, Massachusetts announced that they were finally able to move forward with dispersing the money. And now, it seems like Georgia is ready to join them.

Read the full story at Seafood News

MASSACHUSETTS: Cape fishermen aid food banks with, what else – chowder

September 11, 2020 — Every New Year’s Eve, fisherman Bill Amaru makes clam chowder for about 200 people at Chatham’s Masonic Hall for First Night. He takes it very seriously, adds just the right spices – and a lot of butter.

But this year, on account of COVID-19, he won’t be making that chowder. He’s part of a more ambitious chowder undertaking — with the main ingredient haddock, in a project also born out of the pandemic.

Nearly 20,000 18-ounce containers began rolling out to food banks across the state a few weeks back, with a big goal accompanying those small containers: Feed America’s hungry and keep local fishermen at sea.

Amaru is among the Cape’s fishermen out catching the haddock.

“If in the first year we can deliver 100,000 pounds of chowder to food banks while guaranteeing fishermen a fair price and a steady buyer that would be an amazing win-win,” said Seth Rolbein, director of Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, a unit of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen Alliance, in Chatham.

The even bigger hope is that the initiative, launched with philanthropic support from Catch Together, could expand into federal food programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

LOUISIANA: LDWF to begin accepting CARES Act applications for fishermen affected by pandemic

September 10, 2020 — The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will soon begin accepting applications for $14.6 million in financial assistance that will be available to Louisiana fishermen and others in the industry who have been financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds are part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Applications open at 8 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14, and must be submitted online.

To access the application, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/cares-act-assistance. The application process will be open for a six-week period. The deadline to submit applications is 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 26. Funding allocation is structured so that all applications submitted before the deadline will be considered.

“These federal funds are a great step toward helping our hardworking fishing community start to recover from the terrible financial losses the pandemic has caused their businesses and their families,” said Governor John Bel Edwards. “We will continue working with our federal partners to bring more funding to our fishing community now going through two years of economic hardships.”

LDWF is aware that Hurricane Laura may have adversely impacted many individuals wishing to apply for this program. LDWF will continually assess the application process and make adjustments as necessary.

Read the full story at KALB

Coronavirus Can Remain Infectious on Chilled Salmon For Over a Week, Per Chinese Study

September 10, 2020 — Researchers in China say the coronavirus can remain on chilled salmon and continue to be infectious for over a week.

According to Bloomberg, the research team from the South China Agricultural University and Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Guangzhou, found that COVID-19 collected from salmon can survive for eight days at 39 degrees Fahrenheit, a close temperature at which salmon are typically transported.

Read the full story at Seafood News

As more restaurants fall to pandemic pressures, others embrace new delivery and ghost kitchen models

September 10, 2020 — U.S. restaurants continue to face closures and bankruptcies as the COVID-19 pandemic makes a major impact on foodservice operators’ profitability.

Houston, Texas-based Luby’s is the latest financial victim of the coronavirus crisis, reporting in a press release that it has implemented a plan of liquidation and dissolution to dissolve the company.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

USDA UPDATES ON SEAFOOD TRADE RELIEF PROGRAM

September 9, 2020 — The following was released by the United States Department of Agriculture:

If you are a U.S. fisherman impacted by retaliatory tariffs, you may qualify for funding through the Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP).

Sign-up for the Program

Sign-up for relief through the program from September 14, 2020 through December 14, 2020 by submitting an application through your local USDA Service Center.

The application form will be available here starting September 14, 2020

Service Center Status

All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus/service-center-status.

About the Seafood Trade Relief Program

STRP is part of a relief strategy to support fishermen and other producers while the administration continues to work on free, fair and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets to help American farmers compete globally. The STRP prohibits a person or legal entity from receiving more than $250,000 from the program. In addition, an applicant’s average adjusted gross income (AGI) cannot exceed $900,000 unless at least 75 percent of the AGI of the person or entity comes from farming, ranching, forestry, seafood harvesting, or related activities.

Seafood commodities covered through STRP include:

  • Atka mackerel
  • Crab (Dungeness, King, Snow, Southern Tanner)
  • Flounder
  • Geoduck
  • Goosefish
  • Herrings
  • Lobster
  • Pacific Cod
  • Pacific Ocean Perch
  • Pollock
  • Sablefish
  • Salmon
  • Sole
  • Squid
  • Tuna
  • Turbot

Additional Resources

Read the full release here

Massachusetts Fishermen, State Leaders Fighting At-Sea Monitoring Proposal

September 8, 2020 — Massachusetts fishermen are not sitting back quietly as the New England Fisheries Management Council (NEFMC) considers a policy shift that would require 100% at-sea monitoring of commercial groundfish vessels. Fishermen, along with some state leaders, are raising concerns and making their opposition to the measures known.

Amendment23 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan would require groundfishing vessels to implement 100% at-sea monitoring or a combo of at-sea monitoring and electronic monitoring. And while the goal of the proposal is to improve catch accountability in the fishery, fishermen argue that it’s “overly burdensome and unnecessary.” In addition, with no vaccine available for COVID-19, there are also continued concerns about being able to properly social distance while at sea.

Read the full story at Seafood News