Saving Seafood

Pallone, Kim Lead NJ Delegation in Call for Fishing Industry Aid in Next Coronavirus Package

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ):

“The men and women of New Jersey’s fishing communities dedicate their lives to putting food on our tables and now it’s time for us to ensure there’s food on theirs.”

Washington, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) and Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-3) led their New Jersey colleagues in a bipartisan letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy today calling for funding to help the fishing industry in the next coronavirus relief package. A decline in tourism and a reduction in restaurant operations have been deeply harmful to New Jersey’s fishing industry. The pandemic also arrived in New Jersey at the start of the critically important Striped Bass and Black Fish season.

“The commercial and recreational fishing industry in our home state of New Jersey has felt the devastating economic impacts of the pandemic. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn, restaurants that serve seafood have either closed or reduced operations. This reduction along with a decline in tourism have caused significant disruptions throughout the seafood supply chain and created substantial economic hardship for both commercial and charter fishing operations in our state,” the letter stated.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that Congress passed and was signed into law in March allocated $300 million in fisheries assistance. In April, Pallone sent a letter with the New Jersey delegation calling on the Trump Administration to fairly and quickly distribute financial aid to the fishing industries in states like New Jersey that incurred greater economic losses as a result of the pandemic. Pallone later announced New Jersey would receive $11 million in federal funding to help the state’s fishing industry.

New Jersey’s commercial fishing industry generates over $8 billion annually supporting over 50,000 jobs and has one of the largest saltwater recreational fishing industries in the United States.

A copy of the letter is available here.

Covid-19 outbreaks keep sidelining vessels owned by one of Seattle’s largest fishing companies. No one’s entirely sure why.

August 6. 2020 — Late last month, sickness took hold of a fishing trawler that had left port in Seattle in June. The sick crewmembers spurred the American Triumph, part of a fleet of six vessels owned by American Seafoods (ASF), to dock in Alaska, where more than 80 crewmembers soon tested positive for Covid-19.

This wasn’t the first Covid-19 outbreak aboard a vessel owned by ASF, a Seattle-based seafood company that bills itself as one of the largest at-sea processors of fish in the world. In early June, three of the company’s Seattle-based fishing trawlers—including the Triumph—were forced to dock in Bellingham, a college town a couple hours north of the Emerald City, after crewmembers fell ill with Covid-19.

Any outbreak on a commercial fishing vessel—many of which are roughly the length of a football field, with the ability to process and freeze hundreds of tons of fish right on board—is noteworthy. But what makes the recent Alaskan outbreak aboard the American Triumph particularly noteworthy is that it represents the second such outbreak aboard that same vessel during this fishing season. That’s despite ASF having taken seemingly thorough precautions against Covid-19 before the company’s vessels left port in May. The company had screened crewmembers for the virus, tested them for antibodies, and quarantined them prior to setting sail. Other Seattle-area seafood companies have screened and quarantined crews on their vessels, too, and none have experienced outbreaks so far.

So why—even after imposing stricter measures—did the American Triumph experience a second outbreak? While some critics panned ASF’s earlier preventative steps as half-measures, the latest outbreak occurred only after ASF appeared to follow industry and government recommendations for preventing outbreaks of Covid-19 aboard fishing vessels. Just what went wrong?

Read the full story at The Counter

KENNEDY: COVID-19 PACKAGE MUST PUT ESSENTIAL WORKERS & LOW-INCOME FAMILIES IN MASSACHUSETTS FIRST

August 6, 2020 — The following was released by The Office of Congressman Joe Kennedy III (D-MA):

Guided by conversations with constituents and local leaders across Massachusetts, Congressman Joe Kennedy III today called on Congressional Leadership to put essential and frontline workers, and low-income families first in the next COVID-19 emergency funding package. In a series of letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader Mitch McConnell, Kennedy demanded the inclusion of specific funding for firefighters, teachers, child care providers, postal workers and fisheries, as well as billions more for programs protecting low-income families, including more than $1.5 billion for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and $2.5 billion for the Legal Services Corporation. Building on his recent calls with Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal to guarantee Medicare coverage to all recently unemployed people and direct funding to food insecure and environmental justice areas, Kennedy has continuously led efforts to focus recovery efforts on the most vulnerable communities.

“Working families have been hit hardest by this pandemic. They can’t just be a consideration in our efforts to recover and rebuild, they must be at the heart of the actions we take, policies we write and relief we provide. By intentionally providing funding for firefighters, teachers, child care providers and postal workers, we can support the people on the frontlines of this pandemic with more than just words of gratitude. By offering relief to fisheries, we can support the fishermen and fisherwomen who keep our Commonwealth’s economic lifeblood alive along the coast. By investing in the Legal Services Corporation and LIHEAP, we can help families keep their homes and their heat as we brace for the fall and winter, and the potential of another wave of infections.

“Now is not the time to shy away or to allow hypocritical Republicans to hide behind fake concerns about the debt, we need to be big and bold. Our people deserve nothing less.”

In his series of letters to Congressional leaders, Kennedy called for the inclusion of at least:

NOAA cancels several more ecosystem and fishery surveys due to COVID-19

August 6, 2020 — NOAA Fisheries has announced that is canceling more fishery and ecosystem surveys that were supposed to take place in 2020, citing the complications created by COVID-19.

The new survey cancellations will add to the growing list of surveys that won’t take place in 2020 due to COVID-19. Earlier this year, NOAA Fisheries cancelled five of the six large-scale research surveys scheduled to take in the waters off Alaska, along with the Atlantic sea scallop and surfclam/ocean quahog surveys, among others.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US restaurant industry facing “extinction event”

August 6, 2020 — The economic crush of the coronavirus pandemic is continuing to take a serious toll on U.S. restaurants and bars, and many expect they will have to close permanently unless they receive government funding quickly, according to a new survey.

Just 66 percent of operators of independent bars and restaurants across the United States recently surveyed by the James Beard Foundation and the Independent Restaurant Coalition had confidence they could stay operational through October without government help

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishing council plans in-person meeting on monitoring

August 6, 2020 — The New England Fishery Management Council is exploring the possibility of hosting an in-person meeting for the last public hearing before it takes final action on the Northeast groundfish monitoring amendment in September.

The council has set three more public hearings before public comment closes Aug. 31 on Amendment 23, which will set at-sea monitoring levels throughout the fishery. The first two — this Thursday and Aug. 10 — will be via webinar, as were the first four.

The final public hearing on Aug. 26 could be switched to an in-person, outdoor session under a tent at a greater Boston location — but only if it can conform with current Massachusetts COVID-19 safety restrictions for public gatherings. If not, the final public hearing will proceed as a webinar.

“The decision whether to hold the meeting in-person and outdoors primarily will depend on the guidance of Gov. (Charlie) Baker of Massachusetts and whether Massachusetts changes its restrictions on public gatherings,” Janice Plante, council spokeswoman, said Tuesday. “We don’t want to put anybody in a compromised position.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Application process begins for federal fisheries relief funds

August 6, 2020 — Massachusetts is one of the first four states to have its plan approved for distributing federal fisheries relief funds and has initiated the application process for the $28 million designated for Bay State-based seafood and fishing businesses.

NOAA Fisheries approved the Massachusetts spending plan last week. On Monday, applications went out to prospective beneficiaries among aquaculture permit holders and the for-hire charter boat operators. Completed applications and appeals from aquaculture businesses must be postmarked by Aug. 21. For-hire charter operators have until Aug. 22.

Next up are commercial harvesters and seafood processors, which will receive the lion’s share of the $28 million. The Division of Marine Fisheries said the overall funding designated for processors is $13.8 million, while commercial fishermen will receive $11.8 million.

“Applications are still being finalized for the seafood processor and commercial harvest sectors, with an anticipated mailing date of mid to late August,” the state DMF stated on its website on the fisheries relief package. “DMF is delaying sending applications to seafood processors for another two weeks and commercial fishermen, the largest sector, will see their applications mailed in about three weeks.”

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

LOUISIANA: USDA to buy $30 million pounds of domestic shrimp

August 6, 2020 — The federal government will buy $30 million worth of domestic shrimp to distribute as part of its emergency food assistance efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Lawmakers say the action will also benefit Louisiana’s shrimp industry as fishermen struggle with decreased sales amid restaurant closures states have enacted to slow the coronavirus’s spread.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the purchase this week under a law that allows it to provide food assistance to states and food banks nationwide during emergencies.

“This is great news for the U.S. shrimp industry, including Louisiana shrimpers, who tirelessly work to provide their delicious, world-class product,” said U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, whose district includes southern Terrebonne and Lafourche, home to many shrimp fishermen and processors. “This program will support our shrimpers who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic while providing U.S. shrimp proudly produced in Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast to the families who need it most.”

U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also praised the action.

Read the full story at Houma Today

Northeast Groundfish Retail sales recovering, but prices stay down

August 5, 2020 — “Well, we’ve had an interesting first part of the fishing year,” says Bert Jongerden, general manager of the Portland Fish Exchange on Maine’s waterfront. “Prices have been very weak — I’m surprised by how much the lack of restaurant markets is impacting the pricing of groundfish.”

Generally, Jongerden notes, “a groundfish trawler averages around $2 a pound. But, right now, trawlers are getting around $1.25 to 1.30 a pound. It’s about 65 percent off this year, compared to last year.” Amid the continuing covid-19 closures, supermarket retail has been steadier, but it hasn’t made up for restaurant demand.

As New York City markets are beginning to open back up, “pollock, haddock and hake are moving along pretty well, but at reduced prices while flatfish like dabs, grey sole and monk tails are weak,” says Jongerden.

It’s been challenging to find markets for flatfish, which are typically popular in restaurants as full-plate fish. Jongerden says challenges for flatfish markets are compounded by the fact that processors along the northeast coast are having difficulty getting flatfish cut and processed.

“Finding cutters was challenging before covid-19 hit, but the pandemic has exacerbated things,” he says. “Processors have to be careful now, using screens and adjusting so workers aren’t close to one another. It all has a trickle-down effect.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Massachusetts Begins Distribution Process of CARES Act Funds to Fishing, Seafood Industries

August 5, 2020 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries announced on Tuesday that they have begun the process of distributing federal disaster relief aid related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The CARES Act was passed in March with $300 million earmarked for the  fisheries assistance fund. However, at the time of the announcement, there had been no agency named to oversee the disbursement of the fund. Frustrated with the situation, fishermen wrote to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asking that the Department of Commerce and NOAA “clearly articulate their distribution process for the $300 million in fisheries assistance funds to ensure it is public and transparent.”

Read the full story at Seafood News