Saving Seafood

Bering Sea crabbers talk shutdown, facing biomass disaster head on

September 7, 2021 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced on Friday, Sept. 3, that the Bristol Bay red king crab fishery would be closed for the 2021-22 season, for the first time in 25 years. The announcement came in advance of the management decision-making process, providing the crab fleet time to make any possible adjustments.

“While this isn’t the news we wanted to hear, we appreciate knowing as soon as possible for our business planning purposes,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of the trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. “It helps us to know now so we can notify our crews, plan where our vessels are going to go next, plan shipyard time between seasons, and batten down the hatches on our finances.”

The announcement on Friday also reported on data that shows all major Bering Sea crab stocks are down, and the majority of the Bering Sea opilio crab stock seems to have moved or disappeared.

“We had hoped the Bristol Bay red king crab stocks would have rebounded by now, after several years of reduced and conservative harvest levels, but that is simply not the case,” said Gabriel Prout, a third-generation fisherman on the F/V Silver Spray. “Coupling this closure with the fact that snow crab harvest levels could be reduced as well, even after positive levels of recruitment in previous years, has the makings for a very frustrating and trying time for crab fishermen and the industry as a whole.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Clean needles depend on the blue blood of horseshoe crabs

August 23, 2021 — It’s one of the stranger, lesser-known aspects of U.S. health care — the striking, milky-blue blood of horseshoe crabs is a critical component of tests to ensure injectable medications such as coronavirus vaccines aren’t contaminated.

To obtain it, harvesters bring many thousands of the creatures to laboratories to be bled each year, and then return them to the sea — a practice that has drawn criticism from conservationists because some don’t survive the process.

The blood, which is blue due to its copper content, is coveted for proteins used to create the LAL test, a process used to screen medical products for bacteria. Synthetic alternatives aren’t widely accepted by the health care industry and haven’t been approved federally, leaving the crabs as the only domestic source of this key ingredient.

Many of these crabs are harvested along the coast of South Carolina, where Gov. Henry McMaster promoted the niche industry as key to the development of a domestic medical supply chain, while also noting that environmental concerns should be explored.

Read the full story at the Associated Press

Electronic tracking system considered for lobstermen in federal waters

August 13, 2021 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering requiring electronic tracking for the lobstermen who fish in federal waters.

The commission’s American Lobster Management Board initiated a draft addendum last week with the goal of collecting spatial and effort data from lobster and Jonah crab fishermen.

“In my opinion, this is the single most important thing the American Lobster Board can do to ensure the viability of the American lobster fishery,” said Dan McKiernan, the board’s chairman. “Through the proposed action, the board seeks to significantly improve our understanding of stock status, identify areas where lobster fishing effort might present a risk to endangered North Atlantic right whales and provide important information to help reduce spatial conflicts with other ocean uses, such as wind energy development and aquaculture.”

The management board has expressed interest in implementing these types of requirements over the last few years and has supported efforts to look into the systems and technology that would be needed to collect the data.

In May, the board created a working group that had representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, state and federal law enforcement and members of the board to study electronic tracking. The working group recommended that data be reported at a minimum rate of one ping per minute for at least 90 percent of the fishing trip in order to tell the difference between when the fishermen are lobstering and when they are in transit. It would also be able to calculate the number of traps per trawl.  Cellular tracking devices are the preferred technology for the tracking.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

Electronic tracking considered for offshore lobster fishery 

August 10, 2021 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering requiring electronic tracking for the lobstermen who fish in federal waters.

The commission’s American Lobster Management Board initiated a draft addendum last week with the goal of collecting spatial and effort data from lobster and Jonah crab fishermen.

“In my opinion, this is the single most important thing the American Lobster Board can do to ensure the viability of the American lobster fishery,” said Dan McKiernan, the board’s chairman. “Through the proposed action, the Board seeks to significantly improve our understanding of stock status, identify areas where lobster fishing effort might present a risk to endangered North Atlantic right whales, and provide important information to help reduce spatial conflicts with other ocean uses, such as wind energy development and aquaculture.”

The management board has expressed interest in implementing these types of requirements over the last few years and has supported efforts to look into the systems and technology that would be needed to collect the data.

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

ASMFC Lobster Board Initiates Draft Addendum to Consider Electronic Tracking for Lobster, Jonah Crab

August 6, 2021 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)’s American Lobster Board initiated Draft Addendum XXIX to Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster.

This Draft Addendum considers the implementation of electronic tracking requirements for federally permitted vessels in the American lobster and Jonah crab fishery. The potential new tracking will aim to collect “high resolution spatial and temporal effort data.

Read the full story at Seafood News

While demand for seafood is high, inflated costs are proving too pricey for some restaurants

August 4, 2021 — Rising inflation costs have walloped restaurateurs, forcing many to raise prices or scale back on offerings. For some restaurants, that’s meant pulling plates of scallops, crab, lobster, and fish as business owners say pandemic-driven price hikes and shortages have left them little room to make a profit. Bloomberg reports that congested ports and labor shortages have caused big delays and higher seafood prices.

On average, U.S. fishermen are older than 40, and Covid-related disruptions caused many to leave the industry for fields like construction. Seafood prices have risen 11 percent since July 2020, while demand has skyrocketed. One Georgia restaurant owner said he paid an Atlanta seafood distributor $18 for a pound of blue crab before the pandemic; now it would cost him $44. Not an ideal catch.

Read the full story at The Counter

OREGON: Factors converge to make crab scarce on the North Coast

August 3, 2021 — It’s one of the most popular seafood items on the North Coast and a valuable local fishery, but Dungeness crab has never been harder to find, or more expensive.

At restaurants, portions may be smaller, prices are steep and crab may be off the menu completely this summer.

Seafood distributors, sellers and processors point to a number of factors that converged to create a perfect storm: the coronavirus pandemic, labor shortages, product shortages, supply chain issues and market demands. All have contributed to drive prices up from the usual $25 or so per pound to as much as $52.

“There’s a lot of theories and a lot of possibilities and a lot of reasons for things and it’s kind of, ‘Take your pick,’” said Tim Novotny, a spokesman for the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission.

Read the full story at The Astorian

Mysterious blue crab shortage spawns big-time sticker shock

July 22, 2021 — Crab cakes were the top seller for Clyde’s Restaurant Group, but the chain decided this summer to yank them off the menu after crab prices tripled.

Bart Farrell, the vice president of food and beverage for the company, said jumbo lump crabmeat that normally would have cost his company about $18 to $22 at this time of year is now selling for $60 a pound.

“We couldn’t justify the price that we would have had to charge. … We’re already absorbing high prices across the board on all food items, but when you’re talking about a 300% increase on your No. 1 item, there’s just no way that that has any sustainability,” said Farrell, whose company operates about a dozen restaurants in the Washington region.

While the coronavirus pandemic shuttered restaurants and battered the blue crab industry last year, 2021 has brought more bad news: Prices skyrocketed due to a shortage of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, long a top producer of the “beautiful swimmer,” a species distinguished by its bright blue claws (Greenwire, April 22, 2020).

The cause of the shortage is something of a mystery.

A winter dredge survey showed the overall population fell from 405 million in 2020 to 282 million in 2021, driven largely by a sharp drop in the number of juvenile crabs, which hit their lowest level since 1990. While it’s normal for the blue crab population to fluctuate from year to year, no one’s certain what caused this year’s steep decline.

Read the full story at E&E News

NFI Red Crab Council Renews Commitment to Improving Chinese Crab Fishery

July 20, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute’s Red Crab Council and its partners –  Ocean Outcomes (O2) and Tao Ran on the ground in China – have renewed their annual contract to keep the comprehensive Red Crab Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) on track.

“For a number of years the Red Crab fishery has faced adversity from things like the pandemic, the market and tariffs,” said Newport International President Anjan Tharakan, the NFI Red Crab Council Chair. “But none of the companies we partner with, and certainly not O2 nor Tao Ran, have lost sight of the importance of working hard towards the most sustainable fishery possible. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If nothing, this is one committed group.”

The FIP is focused on improving crab production in Fujian Province, the leading harvesting region in China for red crab.

The NFI Red Crab Council funds the work by assessing a fee on its members based on the number of pounds they import each quarter.

“Despite all the external challenges this FIP has faced, we’ve never changed our ultimate objectives,” said O2 Founder and CEO Rich Lincoln. “We have dedicated companies supporting the work and experts on the ground executing it. Continuing this contract keeps us on track to seeing the best science-based strategies driving Red Crab fisheries management in the Fujian region”

The status of the Fujian Zhangzhou Red Crab FIP is updated biannually on fisheryprogress.org.

Alaska’s Dungeness crab prices double, halibut and blackcod also on the rise

July 16, 2021 — Catches for Dungeness crab at Southeast Alaska are going slow so far for 163 boats, but prices of $4.20 a pound are more than double last year’s. The crab fishery will run through mid-August and reopen in October.

Kodiak crabbers were getting $4.25 for their Dungeness, also more than double.

Norton Sound opened for king crab on June 15 with a 290,000-pound catch limit. Concerns over the depleted stock resulted in no buyers and only one participant who is selling crab locally.

Prince William Sound’s pot shrimp fishery remains open until mid-September with a catch limit of 70,000 pounds. A lingcod fishery opened in the sound on July 1 for a catch of nearly 33,000 pounds.

Ling cod also opened at Cook Inlet with a 52,500-pound catch limit. The Inlet also opened July 1 for rockfish with a 150,000-pound harvest.

Read the full story at National Fisherman