Saving Seafood

MAINE: Lobster industry hopes for stability after tumultuous Trump era

November 23, 2020 — President Donald Trump positioned himself as a friend of New England’s lobstermen, but members of the industry said they are looking forward to something that has been lacking in the crustacean business: stability.

Trump’s trade war with China led to a rocky few years for the industry, which is based mostly in Maine. Trump, who campaigned hard in Maine and won an electoral vote in the state, touted economic aid and environmental reforms intended to benefit the business. The Republican Party even had Maine lobsterman Jason Joyce speak at he its national convention.

What the industry really needs is assurance that it will be able to sell lobsters to other countries without punitive tariffs, said Stephanie Nadeau, owner of The Lobster Company, an Arundel, Maine, dealer. She and others said they are hopeful that assurance will arrive under Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

“You can’t plan. You can’t live in chaos,” she said. “The trade war, was it going to last a week, was it going to last a month, was it going to last four years? How do you operate around that?”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at Boston.com

ALASKA: Pebble Partnership quietly submits mitigation plan amid political shifts opposing the mine

November 18, 2020 — The day after a record number of Americans voted in the Nov. 3 election, the Pebble Partnership submitted a plan for how it would mitigate damage to wetlands when building the country’s largest open-pit mine, completing one of the final requirements needed before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decides whether or not to issue a federal permit for the project.

Though the permitting process is intended to be science-based and apolitical, candidates for both the presidency and Alaska’s congressional seats addressed a mine that has become controversial as it sits at the headwaters of the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

In late August, one month after the Army Corps published the project’s final environmental impact statement, the Army Corps said the project could not be permitted as proposed and gave the Pebble Partnership 90 days to provide a compensatory mitigation plan. Before the company would submit its mitigation plan, undercover recordings would lead to the resignation of the company’s CEO, both Alaska senators would state their clear opposition to the project and then-candidate Joe Biden pledged that his administration would block the project.

Despite the string of public relations setbacks, the company maintains that it will be able to move forward with the project, but with a transition in the executive branch expected to bring tighter environmental regulation, the company faces several potential threats during the home stretch of its federal permitting process.

Read the full story at Alaska’s News Source

Pebble mine submits final report, setting stage for Trump administration decision on permit

November 17, 2020 — The developer behind the proposed Pebble mine on Monday announced that the final report needed to potentially win approval for a key permit has been submitted to federal regulators.

President Donald Trump’s administration could make a decision on whether to permit the copper and gold prospect before he leaves office on Jan. 20, either allowing the controversial project to advance or stopping it. A decision could also come later, under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

The mine would be built about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Bristol Bay region.

The so-called mitigation plan from Pebble Limited Partnership is meant to address a requirement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In August, the agency said that Pebble must select lands in the region for protection to offset damage the mine would cause, if it is built.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

National Fisheries Institute Statement on EU Parliament Removing Tariffs on US Lobster

November 11, 2020 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) welcomes today’s announcement that lawmakers in the European Parliament’s trade committee have voted in favor of removing tariffs on U.S. lobster and encourage the full Parliament to back the deal when they vote.

The duties on live and frozen U.S. lobster shipped to the EU had been between 8 and 20 percent, but as part of a mini trade deal announced by the Trump Administration in August, the rate will drop to zero.  The deal passed in the Parliament committee with 40 votes in favor and 2 against, illustrating the overwhelming interest of the EU in opening the market to delicious, sustainable American lobster.

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the entire seafood supply chain, including U.S. lobster, so this trade triumph could not come at a more pivotal time. It will directly help the men and women on the water, in the processing plants, and the folks who play a role in the distribution and logistics that get lobsters from our waters to dinner tables in the EU.

NFI applauds President Trump and Ambassador Lighthizer for focusing on U.S. seafood exports. We also commend Senator Susan Collins on her steadfast advocacy for the U.S. seafood community.

US election results could have big impact on the restaurant industry

November 10, 2020 — The results of the recent U.S. election is expected to both positively and negatively impact restaurants, which are already struggling to remain open due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The National Restaurant Association has applauded the election of President-elect Joe Biden – who beat out current U.S. President Donald Trump, who was seeking a second term – but the organization stressed the urgency of Washington delivering financial help to the foodservice industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As Biden emerges as likely election winner, seafood industry prepares for potential changes

November 6, 2020 — Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is increasingly poised to win the presidency with several key battleground states tilting his way in the Electoral College on Friday, 6 November.

In response to Biden taking the lead in the presidential contest, and a high likelihood that Republicans have retained the majority in the U.S. Senate while Democrats retained control of the U.S. House,  the seafood industry – and its advocates – are preparing to work with new leadership in Washington D.C.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

On Election Day in the US, much hangs in the balance for the seafood industry

November 3, 2020 — Tuesday, 3 November is Election Day in the United States, and the results of the national election could have a significant impact on the nation’s seafood industry and the global economy.

Thus far, the tenure of U.S. President Donald Trump – who is up for reelection to a second and final four-year term – has been marked by both positives and negatives for the seafood industry. The Trump administration instigated an ongoing trade war with China by placing tariffs on Chinese goods in July 2018, a move that China reciprocated by placing its own tariffs on U.S. goods – including seafood. Those tariffs had drastic impacts on certain parts of the seafood industry, such as Maine’s lobster industry, which saw an 84 percent drop in exports to China. Total estimates of the impact in 2018 found the trade war cost U.S. seafood exporters USD 350 million (EUR 299 million) that year alone.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Election Will Decide Fate of Alaska Gold Mine, Electric Cars

October 29, 2020 — Oil drilling in the Arctic and the Pebble gold mine in Alaska aren’t actually on the ballot — but they might as well be.

The controversial projects are hanging in the balance of the presidential election, with Joe Biden’s vow to scuttle them. And dozens of other oil, gas and mining ventures planned across the U.S. face heightened risk of rejection or longer permitting times as the Democratic nominee focuses on promoting cleaner alternatives.

The threat extends even to some projects that already have federal permits. Lawsuits challenging government approvals create an opening for settlement agreements that result in more analysis and possibly canceled authorizations, said Height Securities LLC analyst Josh Price.

Conversely, Trump’s re-election would pose uncertainty affecting some renewable energy developers that would fare better under Biden, including companies seeking to build multibillion-dollar wind farms off the U.S. coasts.

There’s a “sliding scale of risk,” said Christi Tezak, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners. “Where you arrive on that scale is going to be increasingly influenced by the carbon intensity of the activities you’re engaged in.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

Seafood companies sue federal government, claim Trump administration plays favorites with tariff relief money

October 26, 2020 — The Trump administration was taken to court on 21 October by three seafood-related companies that claim the federal government’s trade policies has harmed their businesses.

Texas-based Houston Seafood Company, LLC along with Gulf Marine Product Co., Inc. and Ningbo Trading Company, LLC, both based in Louisiana, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for Southern Texas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Suit: Feds ignore risk of huge spills to endangered species

October 22, 2020 — Environmental groups asked a federal court Wednesday to throw out the Trump administration’s assessment of oil and gas activity’s likely effects on endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, saying it dismisses the chance of another disastrous blowout like the BP spill of 2010.

The National Marine Fisheries Service’s 700-page analysis greatly underestimates both the likely number and size of oil spills, according to the suit filed by Earthjustice for the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, and Turtle Island Restoration Network.

Even though the study was prompted by the 2010 spill, it “essentially pretends the Deepwater Horizon spill never happened — that there was nothing to learn from that disaster,” Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton said in an interview Tuesday.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier