Saving Seafood

Ørsted Establishes Virtual Port Access Hours for Mid-Atlantic Fishing Community

July 23, 2020 — With traditional face-to-face meetings and individual forms of contact reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind has been offering virtual port hours to answer questions and field comments from the recreational and commercial fishing community about the company’s offshore wind projects in the Mid-Atlantic region.

According to a release, interested parties may reach a member of the Ørsted marine affairs team by calling 1 (213) 458-8466 ID: 5690795#, on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. 

Ørsted has assembled the largest and most proactive marine affairs team of any offshore wind developer in the U.S. The company seeks to minimize disruption of fishing activities during all phases of development while focusing on access and safe navigation for vessels during wind farm operations.

Read the full story at the Cape May County Herald

Alaska fishing communities feared getting COVID-19 from industry. They haven’t.

July 23, 2020 — As this year’s summer fishing season approached, local leaders across Alaska issued dire warnings about the thousands of plant workers and fishermen headed to their communities.

They feared the workers could bring COVID-19 in with them, quickly overwhelming small local hospitals and clinics. In Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery, some residents called on Gov. Mike Dunleavy to cancel the season, citing the region’s traumatic experience with the 1918 pandemic flu, which killed at least 30% of its population.

In the month since the Bristol Bay season kicked off, some seafood companies have experienced isolated cases among workers in their processing plants. And other outbreaks have infected dozens of seafood workers elsewhere in the state — most recently, 85 crew members on board a Bering Sea factory trawler.

But midway through summer, with the Bristol Bay season winding down, seafood company executives and public health authorities can point to a remarkable fact: The industry has been almost completely successful in keeping its seasonal workers and fishermen from infecting Alaska residents.

“We haven’t seen any evidence of jumping the fence from the seafood industry to the community,” Bryan Fisher, a top state emergency response official, said in an interview earlier this month.

In the Bristol Bay Borough, home to the region’s largest concentration of fish processing plants, there have been dozens of cases of COVID-19 among nonresident seafood workers — but just one case among residents.

Read the full story at KTOO

Foodservice Associations, NFI Praise PLUS Act Aimed at COVID-19 Relief for Distributors

July 23, 2020 — Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) introduced the Providing Liquidity for Uncollectible Sales (PLUS) Act. The legislation, which provides a tax credit to offset uncollectable debt incurred due to COVID-19 shutdowns, received support from the United Fresh Produce Association, the International Food Distributors Association (IFDA), and National Fisheries Institute (NFI).

Shutdowns lead to significant losses in the foodservice distribution sector as restaurants and other entities were unable to pay distributors for products. According to the NFI, these losses piled up to over $12 billion, with seafood distributors noting that $2.2 billion in debt owed to them, produce noted a $5 billion tab and broadline distributors also saw a $5 billion number.

Read the full story at Seafood News

PPP loans helped buoy Maine’s lobster industry through the spring

July 22, 2020 — Maine lobster businesses, both large and small, received emergency funding through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program to help them survive the economic crisis wrought by the coronavirus’ global spread this spring.

The lobstering sector was the top recipient in Maine of forgivable PPP loans of less than USD 150,000 (EUR 130,000), with around USD 14.9 million (EUR 12.9 million) offered to 1,358 Maine lobstermen, according to the Portland Press Herald. But the average loan to lobster fishermen was USD 10,900 (EUR 9,400) each, a total that won’t help many survive the season if low dock prices and weak export markets continue, according to Ben Martens, executive director of the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ALASKA: A fishing boat docked in Dutch Harbor with 85 COVID-19 cases

July 21, 2020 — More than two-thirds of the crew of a huge factory fishing vessel docked in the Aleutian fishing port of Dutch Harbor has tested positive for COVID-19, local authorities announced Sunday.

The 85 cases are on board the American Triumph, owned by Seattle-based American Seafoods — one of the biggest players in the billion-dollar Bering Sea pollock fishery.

The Triumph arrived in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor on Thursday, with seven crew members reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

All seven were tested for the virus upon arrival, and six of those tests came back positive, officials announced Friday. That prompted staff from Unalaska’s clinic, Iliuliuk Family and Health Services, to test the remaining 112 crew.

All crew members were restricted to either the vessel or their isolation locations while in Unalaska, city officials said.

Read the full story at KTOO

Whales Get A Break As Pandemic Creates Quieter Oceans

July 21, 2020 — When humpback whales migrated to Glacier Bay in Alaska this year to spend the long summer days feeding, they arrived to something unusual: quieter waters.

As the COVID-19 pandemic slows international shipping and keeps cruise ships docked, scientists are finding measurably less noise in the ocean. That could provide momentary relief for whales and other marine mammals that are highly sensitive to noise.

Through networks of underwater hydrophones, scientists are hoping to learn how the mammals’ communication changes when the drone of ships is turned down, potentially informing new policies to protect them.

“More needs to be done,” says Jason Gedamke, who manages the ocean acoustics program at NOAA Fisheries. “When you have animals that for millions of years have been able to communicate over vast distances in the ocean, and then once we introduce noise and have increased sound levels and they can’t communicate over those distances, clearly there’s going to be some impact there.”

Read the full story at NPR

Fishing industry seeks relief from observer coverage

July 21, 2020 — West Coast trawlers and fishing industry leaders looking to minimize the risk of exposure to the coronavirus are asking for an emergency waiver from a requirement to carry human observers.

The National Marine Fisheries Service provided a two-week waiver from observer coverage in the spring. Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, clarified in a message posted Thursday that waivers remain available on a vessel-by-vessel basis.

According to a spokesman, the federal agency has issued some individual vessel waivers for trips in the past three months — all were for times when observers were not available, not for other reasons, such as a vessel operator’s concerns about the coronavirus.

Industry representatives argue that further steps are needed as the threat of the pandemic continues and case numbers rise.

Read the full story at The Astorian

ALASKA: GAPP: Positioning pollock as value item could be key post-COVID-19

July 21, 2020 — As the number of nations that have been able to successfully manage the COVID-19 pandemic increases, positioning seafood items like pollock as a value proposition will become increasingly important, according to the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP).

That perspective was shared earlier this month during GAPP’s fitfth webinar in its summer series. The webinar – titled “COVID-19 Consumer Insights: A Look Forward” – was hosted by Bill Romania and Sharon Ripps of R3 Consulting, and addressed the COVID-19 situation and its impact on consumer spending habits.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Mobile COVID-19 unit goes where New Bedford people need it

July 20, 2020 — Free mobile testing for COVID-19 is popping up all across the Whaling City.

Southcoast Health started the trend back in May when it partnered with the city and The Port of New Bedford to offer testing for commercial fishermen on the waterfront.

On Thursday, thanks to funding from wind energy developers, the program was able to relaunch and will continue for several weeks, according to Southcoast Health Public Information Officer Shawn Badgley.

The Port of New Bedford is scheduling the testing appointments for fishermen and Executive Director Edward Anthes-Washburn called the testing wonderful.

Anthes-Washburn said there is no real social distancing on a fishing vessel because you cannot operate safely without having the crew within six feet of each other.

“This testing will allow fishing crews peace of mind during a pandemic so they can focus on what they do best — safely harvesting and landing sustainable fish for consumers around the world,” Anthes-Washburn said.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times