Saving Seafood

New bill would limit finfish aquaculture start-ups

March 8, 2019 — Alaska Rep. Don Young (R) introduced the Keep Fin Fish Free Act in early May, a bill that that would prohibit federal agencies from authorizing commercial finfish aquaculture operations in the Federal Exclusive Economic Zone unless specifically authorized by Congress.

The seafood industry is critical to Alaska’s economy, and we must be doing all we can to protect the health and integrity of our state’s wild fish stock,” said Young. “If not properly managed, industrial aquaculture operations threaten Alaska’s unique ecosystem with non-native and genetically modified fish species.

There is only one federally regulated offshore aquaculture producer currently in operations in the United States — Catalina Sea Ranch, which produces 2 million pounds of mussels a year in a 100-acre site six miles off the coast of California. But plans to establish new marine finfish operations have been discussed off and on for years.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ALASKA: Emerging mariculture industry seeks to streamline permitting

May 6, 2019 — Alaska may be famous for its wild fish, but some are working to make room in the state’s waters for more shellfish, kelp, and crabs on aquatic farms.

Mariculture is a hot topic in fisheries right now. Essentially, mariculture can be defined as the cultivation of plants or animals in controlled saltwater environments, but in Alaska, it doesn’t include finfish, as that’s illegal in the state. So mariculture farmers have stuck to primarily kelp and oysters so far, but they’re starting to get more adventurous.

As of December 2018, 58 aquatic farms were operating in the state along with five hatcheries and seven nurseries, though only 41 of the farms documented production in 2017, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Oysters are still the most widely grown product, though kelp is gaining ground; after the first operations for kelp were permitted in 2016, four farms had produced 16,570 pounds of ribbon and sugar kelp by the following year.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce 

ASMFC Seeks Proposals for Regional Pilot Projects in Support of Sustainable Aquaculture Proposals Due April 15, 2019

March 1, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission), in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is seeking proposals to develop regional pilot projects in support of sustainable aquaculture. Specifically, pilot programs should partner with industry to develop techniques and business models to grow domestic seafood production. A priority are projects that consider promising but less commercially developed technologies for species managed by the Commission or those species that contribute to healthy marine habitats, including finfish, shellfish and seaweed.

The NOAA Fisheries FY19 budget contains the “Regional Pilots in Sustainable Aquaculture” provision that authorizes the funding. In addition to this specific item, the budget also focuses renewed interest on maintaining and further developing existing aquaculture capabilities at NOAA Fisheries.

NOAA Fisheries, through the Commission, is making $525,000 available for the funding period of July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Individual proposals should fall within a range from $50,000 to $200,000. Any investigator seeking support for this period must submit, as a single file, an electronic proposal by email no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on Monday, April 15, 2019. Awards and start dates for successful projects will be announced by May 20, 2019. Please see the Request for Proposals (RFP) for complete proposal details, qualifying requirements, and submission instructions. The RFP is available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/RFPs/ASMFCAquacultureRFP_March2019.pdf.

The Gulf and Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commissions have also issued similar RFPs seeking proposals relevant to their respective regions. For more information, please contact Dr. Louis Daniel at ldaniel@asmfc.org or 252.342.1478.

Experts question value of “premium” seafood

January 30, 2019 — At the beginning of the panel on premium finfish at the 2019 Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California, on 15 January, moderator Derek Figueroa, the chief operating officer of Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.-based Seattle Fish Company, flashed a slide with the definition of both “premium” and “premium seafood.”

  • Premium: Noun – a high-value or a value in excess of that normally or usually expected. Adjective – of exceptional quality or amount.
  • Premium seafood: Species or product form whose attributes drive product preference over and above the norm.

Figueroa clarified that the second definition had been created by the seven panelists themselves, and then, amidst updates on the status of species such as mahi, tilapia, sea bass, and barramundi, he curated a discussion on how the panelists arrived at their opinions on how they define “premium” seafood.

“What can we do to position seafood as a premium product?” Figueroa asked the panel. And, more provocatively, he added, “And do we want to?”

James Berger, the director of national sales for Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.A.-based Beaver Street Fisheries, seemed to struggle to answer Figueroa’s question.

“Is premium defined by price? Is it determined by the fact that you can’t find it – that it’s rare? Or is it defined by some stigma due to its cool Hawaiian name or that it comes from South America? I don’t know the answer,” he said.

Figueroa identified seven characteristics that can help define a species as premium: branding, price, sustainability, harvest method, country of origin, story/provenance, and whether it’s local or regional. He also pointed out the fact that harvesters, suppliers, retailers, and consumers each have their own distinct ideas of what defines a species of fish as premium. For harvesters, it could be demand, seasonality, and the labor involved. For suppliers, it could be harvest methods and availability. For restaurants or retailers, price, flavor, versatility, and sustainability play a role. For consumers, price and whether a fish is wild or farmed appear to be the main factors.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Whole Foods reviewing aquaculture feed standards, could challenge RAS suppliers

January 25, 2019 — Whole Foods Market, one of the world’s largest organic and natural food retailers, is reviewing its standards for feed served to the aquaculture fish products it sells and — depending on the changes it adopts — that could make life more challenging for its North American suppliers.

The group that has the most to worry about: land-based producers of salmon and other finfish.

Growing fish in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) comes with lots of hefty, upfront development and technology costs, generally forcing these companies to charge a premium for their products. But RAS producers also have the advantage of being able to promote what they say is a cleaner and more sustainable approach than growing fish in an open net pen.

So, there isn’t a seafood counter or freezer that RAS producers covet gaining access to more than those maintained by Whole Foods’ nearly 500 locations across the US, Canada and UK. The roughly $16 billion per year retailer has customers that are both selective and willing to pay a bit more for products they know will be healthier to consume and better for the environment.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Science Center for Marine Fisheries Continues Work with New National Science Foundation Grant

January 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Science Center for Marine Fisheries:

Following the completion of its initial 5-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Science Center for Marine Fisheries (SCeMFiS) has been awarded a new Phase 2 grant by the NSF to continue its work. SCeMFiS will use the new grant to further its track record of quality, collaborative research with its fishing industry and academic partners.

The grant is part of NSF’s Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) program, which was developed to initiate long-term partnerships among industry, academia, and government. SCeMFiS is the only Phase 2 IUCRC program dedicated exclusively to fisheries and marine science research.

“Our new Phase 2 grant will allow SCeMFiS researchers to continue our collaborative work with the fishing industry,” said Center Director Dr. Eric Powell, of the University of Southern Mississippi, one of the academic members of SCeMFiS. “The Phase 2 grant will enable SCeMFiS to continue to fund the groundbreaking research necessary to maintain healthy fish stocks and healthy fisheries at a time when reliance on the best available science is increasingly critical.”

As it moves into Phase 2, SCeMFiS will focus on reducing scientific uncertainty; the effects of climate change on fish stocks and fishing communities; resolving issues between fishing and offshore energy interests; and developing sound ecosystem-based fisheries management.

“Our priorities for Phase 2 reflect the biggest challenges in the future of the fishing industry,” said Center Site Director Dr. Roger Mann, of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, another SCeMFiS academic institution. “To meet these challenges, the industry and fisheries managers will need the kind of innovative research that SCeMFiS has regularly produced over the last 5 years.”

In its first 5 years, SCeMFiS has done groundbreaking research on finfish and shellfish. Among other projects, the Center produced the first age-frequency distributions for ocean quahog, one of the longest-lived species in the ocean. SCeMFiS scientists conducted the first benthic survey on important ocean habitat east of Nantucket, and mapped the shifting range of surfclams, documenting how climate change is beginning to affect the species.

SCeMFiS has also designed a pelagic survey for Atlantic menhaden and provided recommendations to improve port sampling for the species, carried out the only scientific work to date on Atlantic chub mackerel, and carried out an economic analysis for longfin squid.

All of these projects were reviewed, approved, and funded by the industry members on our Industry Advisory Board, who rely on sound science for the health of their fisheries and businesses.

“Fisheries management is only as good as the science it’s based on,” said Greg DiDomenico, Executive Director of the Garden State Seafood Association and a member of SCeMFiS’ Industry Advisory Board. “That’s why it’s so important for the fishing industry to maintain its partnership with SCeMFiS. We need to promote the best available science.”

ALASKA: Nushagak and Naknek-Kvichak Advisory Committees will oppose permit stacking

November 14, 2018 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries Bristol Bay Finfish meeting is two weeks away, and public comment is due by Wednesday. The state board that regulates commercial, subsistence and sport fishing the region will convene in Dillingham at the end of November. It will take up the 47 proposed regulation changes. In October, the Naknek-Kvichak and Nushagak advisory committees met to decide which proposals they will support.

Permit stacking, subsistence and gear restrictions are hot topics on the table. Both committees made it clear that they prioritize subsistence and that they want to protect the interests of local commercial fishermen.

In that vein, they voted against extending vessel length from 32 to 42 feet.

The Naknek-Kvichak committee supports all subsistence proposals.

“Dip netting, more time to fish, having a subsistence fishery in a different location in Egegik, using hook and line. All priority fisheries in the bay. We were in support of all of them,” said committee Chair Everett Thompson.

Five proposals related to permit stacking generated some controversy at the Naknek-Kvichak AC meeting. Permit stacking refers to one fishermen owning and operating two permits.

“Even though we have voted in the prior cycle to support permit stacking, with the price and trying to keep local vested interest in the fishery, we didn’t support the permit stacking proposals,” Thompson said. “But there were some on the committee that felt it was still a pretty good way to do business in the fishery. With that said, we also felt that we should shoot down the new language in proposal 23 that would prohibit this from being a discussion in the future.”

A dual permit configuration currently allows a Bristol Bay drift gillnet vessel with two permit holders on board to operate 200 fathoms of gear. That’s 50 more fathoms than a boat with one permit holder is allowed. Proposal 23 would make it explicit in the regulations that a person couldn’t own two drift permits and operate them on the same boat. In other words, an individual couldn’t use extra gear by stacking permits.

The Naknek-Kvichak AC also submitted several proposals to protect sport fishing for trout and Chinook in the Naknek river. They voted against ending postseason aerial counting of king salmon in the Alagnak River special harvest area. Thompson says they want to continue counting to promote conservation. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has recommended that the aerial surveys be discontinued because they say the surveys don’t provide reliable escapement estimates.

Like the Naknek-Kvichak AC, the Nushagak Advisory Committee spent much of their meeting considering subsistence proposals. The committee supported allowing subsistence fishing with drift gillnet, hook and line, and dipnet gear. It also supported extending subsistence fishing periods.

“We voted all for them,” said Nushagak AC Chair Frank Woods. “We do want to carry a message that subsistence is a priority, whether the board or sports fisheries or commercial fisheries participants agree or not. Access to resource for the local residents is a concern, but there’s a conservation concern too. That’s what the majority of the meeting time took up – where do we draw that balance and where do we draw the line?”

Read the full story at KDLG

Driven By Lobster, Value of Maine Fisheries Landings Rises

May 10, 2017 — Landings of finfish and shellfish in Maine accounted for over $588 million in revenue in 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, and more than 39,000 jobs, according to numbers released Tuesday by NOAA Fisheries.

The total landings in Maine for 2015 were up more than $40 million compared to 2014 and up more than $112 million compared to 2013.

Rita Curtis, a NOAA Fisheries division chief for economics and social analysis, says American lobsters drive Maine fisheries.

“Maine lobster was up again, about $40 million. Prices were up we’ll say about 10 percent, more or less. Soft shell clams were up,” she says.

Curtis says, across the board, there was a lot of good news for Maine.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Navy sonar that harms whales and dolphins was improperly approved, US court finds

July 19, 2016 — The US Navy is now using a particular type of sonar in more than half of the world’s oceans under an illegal permit. That sonar harms marine mammals like whales, dolphins, seals, and walruses. On Friday, the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in California found that a 2012 regulation that allowed the Navy to use a low-frequency active sonar for training and testing violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

“The court found that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), which gave the authorization, isn’t doing enough to avoid harming or killing marine mammals under the law. The Marine Mammal Protection Act calls for the “least practicable adverse impact” on marine mammals and their habitats. The court also found that the federal agency failed to protect areas of the world that its own government experts had flagged as “biologically important” to protect marine life. Such areas include the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off of Hawaii, and Challenger Bank off of Bermuda.

The Navy had been authorized to use the high-intensity long-range sonar — called low-frequency active sonar, or LFA — for five years across more than 70 percent of the world’s oceans, in areas of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. The NMFS has to set certain limits to activities, like military training, that could harm marine mammals. The goal is to reduce the impact on marine life to its lowest possible level.

Read the full story at The Verge

Report shows North Carolina fishermen caught and sold a rising number of fish in 2015

June 22, 2016 — MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — A new report says North Carolina’s commercial fishermen caught and sold an increasing number of fish for the second year in the row.

According to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, 66 million pounds of finfish and shellfish were sold to seafood dealers in 2015, which was 6.8% more than in 2014. The five-year average is 60.5 million pounds. Revenues also increased, with the value of the fish at $104 million, which also tops the five-year average.

The agency credits the mild weather for allowing the fishermen to work late in the year into the early winter of 2015.

Read the full story at NBC Morehead City