January 7, 2022 — United States mayors and legislators are urging the government to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), but it is looking increasingly unlikely.
A senior official with President Joe Biden’s administration said there will likely not be additional economic stimulus packages this year, but there may be some relief for restaurants, per The Washington Post.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
January 5, 2022 — Indy Walton of Soldotna has resigned from his seat on the state Board of Fisheries, the seven-member board that makes decisions about fish allocation and management in Alaska’s waters.
Walton said he’s dealing with a confluence of health issues that have been exacerbated by stress and a bout of COVID-19. While he thought he could balance those issues when he accepted Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s nomination in September, he said he has since had to reconsider.
“I hoped when I accepted the position that things would be different and change as far as my schedule, and I didn’t realize some of the health issues that I was being faced with until doing some tests,” he said. “And I know now I’ve got to alleviate some of the stress and lighten my load a little bit.”
December 30, 2021 — Consumers are becoming more interested in the sustainability credentials of the seafood they eat, a long-awaited trend the COVID-19 pandemic may have served to accelerate.
Data from GlobeScan found that in 2020, 38 percent of the consumers surveyed possessed a willingness to reward companies they perceived as responsible, a significant leap up from the roughly 20 percent the firm had historically tallied since 1999.
December 23, 2021 — “The check is in the mail” for Alaskan fisheries approved for the first round of funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Securities Act, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G).
Eligible participants should receive their checks in a few weeks, the ADF&G said in a news release Wednesday.
Alaska received $50 million of the $300 million of CARES Act funding set aside for the U.S. fisheries industry. The approved Alaskan applicants will split $49,371,189 of the funds after administrative costs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received $349,700 for the “assessment on federal grants,” the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission received $201,121 for administrative fees and ADF&G received $68,900 in administrative fees, according to information on ADF&G’s website.
December 22, 2021 — From Alaska to California to New York to Maine, hyper-local seafood purveyors throughout the United States have seen a boom in interest the COVID-19 pandemic – and federal, state, and local governments are taking notice.
As the result COVID’s drastic impact on seafood supply chains and the U.S. consumer market for seafood, the local seafood trend has thrived in the pandemic, from direct-to-consumer seafood subscription services, to community supported fisheries (CSFs), to fishermen banding together to form sales cooperatives such as Real Good Fish and Get Hooked Seafood in California, Local Catch Network in New England, and Louisiana Direct Seafood.
December 22, 2021 — This month NOAA Fisheries released a report analyzing the impacts that COVID-19 had on the U.S. seafood and for-hire fishing sector in 2020. The report looked at wild harvest and aquaculture, as well as the recreational charter/ for-hire sectors. And according to NOAA, their analysis showed that the COVID-19 public health crisis “created a turning point for the U.S. and the global seafood industry.”
Here are 4 key takeaways from the report:
Commercial Fishing Landings Revenue Declined in 2020
Regional landings revenue from March to December 2020, relative to the 5-year-baseline (2015-2019), declined 15% in the Atlantic HMS, 18% in the Northeast, 27% in the Southeast, 29% in Alaska and the West Coast; and 36% in Hawaii. There was no increase in monthly landings revenue relative to the baseline until October 2020. At that point the Northeast posted a 4% increase. The following month the Atlantic HMS fishery posted a 21% increase.
December 21, 2021 — The city of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. has implemented a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for indoor spaces including the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, the host location of the 2022 edition of Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America.
Beginning 15 January, 2022, individuals will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 in order to enter certain indoor spaces in Boston, including convention centers and exhibition halls, as part of the city’s “B Together” initiative. The 2022 Seafood Expo North America, operated by Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based Diversified Communications, is scheduled to take place 13 to 15 March, 2022.
December 21, 2021 — An updated analysis of the covid-19 pandemic’s effect on the U.S. fishing and seafood industry shows an across-the-board 22 percent decline in commercial landings revenue during 2020 compared to the previous five-year average, NMFS experts said.
The previously growing aquaculture sector “continued to struggle despite the incremental re-opening of restaurants beginning in May 2020,” while the recreational sector saw a 17 percent decline in trips during 2020, the NMFS report states.
“Our analysis shows that the covid public health crisis created a turning point for the U.S. and the global seafood industry,” agency officials said in releasing the new report, updating the original analysis from January 2021. “It created new long-term challenges to expanding our sustainable domestic seafood sector.”
Food service sales fell 40 percent in the “first quarter of covid-19,” defined as March through May 2020, relative to average sales in the three preceding quarters, the report states.
December 17, 2021 — NOAA Fisheries released an updated report, U.S. Seafood Industry and For-Hire Sector Impacts from COVID-19: 2020 in Perspective. It provides an economic assessment of COVID-19 effects on the U.S. fishing and seafood industry in 2020. This includes analyses of the wild harvest, aquaculture, and the recreational charter/for-hire sectors. Our analysis shows that the COVID public health crisis created a turning point for the U.S. and the global seafood industry. It created new long-term challenges to expanding our sustainable domestic seafood sector. The pandemic also created significant challenges for the U.S. recreational for-hire industry.
Read the full story at NOAA Fisheries
December 16, 2021 — Mounting difficulties in bringing seafood processed in China into the United States has created an opportunity for U.S. processors, including Portland, Maine-based Bristol Seafood.
China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed China’s seafood-processing sector’s production, and related logistical and transportation issues have impeded delivery of their products to the U.S. Those issues, along with the continued imposition of U.S. tariffs as high as 25 percent on seafood imported from China, have made China a less-attractive option for processing for U.S. seafood buyers, according to Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy.