June 16, 2021 — Chicken of the Sea has announced the launch of several new products into U.S. foodservice and retail channels, centering on shrimp and crab.
The Thai Union Group-owned seafood giant has debuted a line of seven frozen value-added shrimp products, along with crab cakes.
June 16, 2021 — A new comprehensive fishery improvement project (FIP) has been launched by New Brunswick and Quebec seafood processors and fishermen associations, which they hope will lead to reduced entanglements with North Atlantic right whales.
The main objective of the new FIP is to regain Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the fishery, which was suspended for Area 12 and Sub-Areas 12 E and 12 F in 2018 due to incidents resulting in right whale deaths. As part of the launch of the new FIP, the fishery has “decided to withdraw” from the MSC program to focus its efforts on the improvements needed to regain certification – in part because the FIP would run past the expiration date of the suspended certification – according to a release by the recently launched “snow crab zone 12.”
June 7, 2021 — For four generations Kevin and Taunette Dixon’s families have followed the rhythm of the sea: Harvesting groundfish, such as cod and pollock, early in the year. Pink shrimp beginning in April, sometimes followed by albacore in the fall. Then, Dungeness crab, Oregon’s biggest and most lucrative fishery, just in time to bring in holiday cash.
It’s been the same for fishing families up and down the Oregon Coast.
But the ocean is changing, and with it, life in tight-knit coastal communities.
For the past six years, Oregon’s traditional Dec. 1 Dungeness opening has been significantly delayed because elevated domoic acid levels make the crab unsafe to eat.
The toxin comes from harmful algal blooms caused by marine heatwaves, which are increasing in frequency and intensity.
The warming planet can actually fill the catch with poison.
And this is only one effect of climate change.
Oregon now has a regular “hypoxia season,” when ocean oxygen levels near the sea floor plummet and some sea life flees the region or dies.
In 2017, a huge hypoxia event occurred off Washington. The next year it extended into Oregon, resulting in almost no halibut caught. Over the next two years, Oregon commercial crabbers reported pulling up pot after pot of dead, suffocated crabs.
Read the full story from the Salem Statesman Journal at USA Today
May 25, 2021 — California crabbers must pull their gear by noon June 1, with a decision by state officials to end the season, anticipating movement of humpback whales from their breeding grounds back to coastal waters.
The closure will shorten the season by four weeks in the central management zone and six weeks in the northern management zone. But the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Risk Assessment and Mitigation Program – developed after court challenges from environmental groups seeking to prevent gear entanglements – is working, state officials say.
The agency made its preliminary determination a week before the announcement, said Ben Platt, president of the California Coastal Crab Association.
“What’s extremely frustrating is that the Whale Working Group voted 10-2 to keep the state open with a 30 fathom depth restriction. The only whales spotted were outside of this depth,” said Platt. “This was already the management in the northern half of the state for the past two week period.
May 25, 2021 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is ending the Dungeness crab fishing season early on June 1 because of an increase in humpback whales in the Pacific Ocean.
On May 18, Charlton Bonham, director of the state agency, announced that recent survey data indicated an increase in humpback whales returning from their winter breeding grounds to California fishing grounds.
In a press release, Bonham said that considering the data and recommendations from the Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group and other stakeholders, he assessed the entanglement risk under the Risk Assessment Mitigation Program (RAMP) and announced the early closure of the commercial Dungeness crab fishery.
All commercial crab traps must be removed from the fishing grounds by noon on June 1.
May 21, 2021 — An order to end the current crabbing season six weeks early in Northern California will deliver another blow to crab fishermen in Humboldt County after seeing record low landings this season, fishermen said.
Harrison Ibach, a crab fisherman and president of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, told the Times-Standard on Wednesday that many fishermen rely on the late-season price surge for their livelihood.
“The price on crab is very high right now. There might not be the most participation (out of the season) but there are still a lot of people who rely on springtime crabbing at a very high price,” he said. “It is quite unfortunate and sad that it is going to be closed earlier than normal.”
California Department of Fish and Wildlife director Charlton Bonham ordered the state’s commercial dungeness crab fishing fleet to end its activities at noon on June 1, approximately six weeks earlier than the normal July 15 end for Northern California crab fishermen. All crab lines must be cleared by the end time set.
May 21, 2021 — With the higher number of humpback whales descending on Central Coast waters, and out of concern with them becoming entangled in crab lines, state officials said this week that they will close the Dungeness crab season on June 1, four weeks early.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which regulates the state’s crab fishery, issued the decision Tuesday following agency Director Charlton Bonham’s assessment of entanglement risk to humpback whales and critically endangered leatherback sea turtles.
The closure will begin statewide at noon on June 1.
“It has been a very difficult year for many in our fishing communities and I recognize that every day of lost fishing further impacts families and small businesses,” Bonham said in a statement.
May 4, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
More than 90 researchers and local community members contributed knowledge and information to help NOAA Fisheries scientists generate an ecosystem status report for the Gulf of Alaska ecosystem last year. This new video captures some of the high points of that report.
“We are excited to offer another way of sharing what we learned about ecosystem conditions in the Gulf of Alaska last year,” said Bridget Ferriss, Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Status Report editor. “This video is a nice complement to our other communications products.”
For decades, scientists at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center have been pulling together data for numerous indicators of ecosystem health including water temperature, plankton abundance, and seabird reproductive success. NOAA Fisheries and other scientists from other organizations monitor these indicators for the four marine ecosystems that surround Alaska–the Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Arctic.
Every fall, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council sets catch limits for groundfish and crab in federal waters off Alaska for the upcoming fishing year. They base these decisions on scientific research and analysis including fish stock assessments, economic information on the commercial fishery, and these annual ecosystem assessments.
“Ecosystem assessments help us understand the context by explaining, among other things, how changes in the ecosystem might affect present and future abundance of commercially important fish and crab stocks,” said Ferriss.
For each of the Alaska Ecosystem Status Reports, a variety of indicators are evaluated annually. All of this information helps fisheries managers to determine what steps to take to ensure sustainable fish and crab fisheries while preserving the health of the overall ecosystem.
The goal of this video is to communicate our updated summary of ecosystem information beyond the Council, to the broader community.
April 20, 2021 — “Insatiable” is the word being used to describe the demand for snow crab as the world’s largest fishery got underway on April 5 in eastern Canada. And while more snow crab will be available this year, buyers expect a tight supply.
Global seafood supplier Tradex said snow crab and other “premium crab” saw huge growth at retail in 2020 and demand is even higher this year.
Seafoods like crab and lobster are now perceived as being affordable to buy and cook at home compared to the cost in restaurants. Tradex spokesperson Tasha Cadence said that shift has spawned a new pandemic-inspired word by market experts.
“It’s ‘premiumization,’ or customers recognizing a higher value for a product and paying a higher price,” she said, referring to comments by industry veteran Les Hodges in his April Crab Update.
The combined Canadian catch for snow crab through September, most of which is sold to the U.S., tops 157 million pounds, 11 million pounds higher than 2020. The Canadian crab makes up 62% of the U.S. market share, according to Urner-Barry which has provided information for the food industry since 1858.
April 7, 2021 — A coalition of California fishing and seafood groups is grappling with environmental groups and animal welfare activists over state legislation to mandate the adoption of ropeless gear in commercial and recreational fisheries to protect whales.
The struggle is closely watched on the East Coast, where Massachusetts state fisheries officials are embarking on a one-year experiment with ropeless or “pop-up” gear aiming to reduce entanglement danger for endangered right whales.
One tack taken by California Dungeness crabbers when talking to state lawmakers is to portray ropeless gear as unreliable – and potentially increasing the danger that lost gear poses to marine mammals.
“We have a pretty strong argument on our side,” said Ben Platt, president of the California Coast Crab Association. “I think the thing that resonates most is that anyone on the fishing industry side worked with pop-up gear thinks it is unworkable.”
“There’s at least a 20 percent failure rate,” said Platt. If used widely that could lead to “tangles of lost gear…not only a huge marine pollution issue,” he said. “That’s really our number-one argument and that’s what they (state legislators) seem to key in on.”