Saving Seafood

Commerce Department Sending Stimulus Funds to Help Fisheries Across Florida

May 11, 2020 — Last week, U.S. Commerce Sec. Wilbur Ross announced $23.6 million will be headed to fisheries across Florida.

As part of the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act,” the $2.2 trillion stimulus deal approved by Congress and the White House at the end of March, $300 million is going to fisheries and the seafood industries.

“Commercial fishing, charter/for-hire businesses, qualified aquaculture operations, processors, and parts of the seafood sector in coastal states and territories are among those eligible to apply for funds. Tribes are also eligible for funding including for any negative impacts to subsistence, cultural, or ceremonial fisheries. The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will work with the three Interstate Marine Fishery Commissions, organizations with a demonstrated track record of success in disbursing funds, to quickly deliver financial assistance into the hands of those who need it,” the Commerce Department noted.

“This relief package will support America’s fishermen and our seafood sector’s recovery,” said Ross. “Thank you President Trump, Secretary Mnuchin, and our congressional leaders of both parties for your work to pass the historic legislation that is bringing much-needed relief to America’s fishermen. This administration stands with the men and women working to provide healthy and safe seafood during this uniquely challenging time, while our U.S. fisheries work to continue to support 1.7 million jobs and to generate $200 billion in annual sales. The nation is grateful to our fishermen for their commitment.”

Read the full story at Florida Daily

US restaurant chains closing, filing bankruptcy due to COVID-19

May 4, 2020 — Some U.S. restaurant chains have filed for bankruptcy, and many other U.S. restaurant seafood chains have been forced to temporarily close their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

West Palm Beach, Florida-based TooJay’s Original Gourmet Deli, which operates 24 restaurants, has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The chain, which offers a number of seafood dishes, said that two of its restaurants are closed, while the others remain open for takeout and delivery, Restaurant Business reported.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

May 1st Triggers Opening of Shallow-Water Grouper and Other Species in the South Atlantic

April 29, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

If you are fortunate enough to be out on the water this spring, fishing can be a great way to ease stress while practicing social distancing and other safe measures to ensure public safety. Beginning May 1st, fishermen will have a few more species to target in South Atlantic federal waters (greater than 3 nautical miles off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the east coast of Florida).

May 1st marks the beginning of the shallow-water grouper season, following the annual spawning season closure from January 1st through April 30th. The one exception is the Red Grouper season in federal waters off the coasts of North Carolina and South Carolina, which will open for harvest on June 1st.

Regulations also change for Greater Amberjack, Snowy Grouper, Hogfish and several other species.

Check out the latest blog for details.

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Fueled a Gulf Science Bonanza

April 23, 2020 — After the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded a decade ago this month, killing 11 workers and spewing a massive black curtain of crude oil across the Gulf of Mexico, thousands of first responders and cleanup workers arrived on the scene. So too did an army of scientists. Aboard seagoing research vessels and wading along beaches and marshes, they came to assess the catastrophe and track it over time. British Petroleum, owner of the rig, agreed to fund a scientific stimulus package of $500 million just a few weeks after the April 20, 2010, blowout.

The 134 million gallons of oil devastated wildlife from Texas to Florida, killing thousands of marine mammals, such as dolphins and sea turtles, according to federal officials, and destroying shoreline and underwater habitats for commercially important fish, crabs, shrimp, and oysters. More than 25,000 fishermen and seafood industry workers were suddenly out of work, with a 10-year price tag of $4.5 billion in total economic losses, according to a 2019 study by a trio of researchers funded in part by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at Wired

In a tiny explosion of birth, coral scientists see hope for endangered reefs

April 23, 2020 — Keri O’Neil almost missed the tiny grains expelled by the ridge cactus coral that she studies at the Florida Aquarium’s Center for Conservation.

The small pellets, measuring just one-eighth of an inch long, were easy to miss against the colorful backdrop of knobby ridges and creases of the unusual species.

“That first day, we weren’t even sure what we were looking at,” said O’Neil, a senior coral scientist at the aquarium.

What O’Neil and her colleagues had witnessed was a ridged cactus coral giving birth.

The scientists say it’s the first time this type of coral — which can look vaguely like a cross between a head of lettuce and a human brain — has reproduced naturally in a lab. The successful births offer hope for conservationists who are racing to save Florida’s endangered coral reefs.

Read the full story at NBC News

Coronavirus Impact: Florida FIshing Industry Smacked Hard By Pandemic

April 23, 2020 — The Florida fishing industry has been smacked hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19 is the latest in a wave of major impacts on the $1.7 billion economic mainstay.

Tom Hill, owner and manager of the Key Largo Fisheries says, “The effect of Irma here and Michael up north and down here dealing with an algae bloom, as well as, the red tide.”

“Hurricanes you can wrap your head around, but the coronavirus is the silent hurricane.”

The fish wholesale and retail business is in flux as consumers shy away from perishables.

“…Have lost their ability to sell the fish to fishing houses, processors because they have no idea where to go to sell the stuff,” Hill says.

Those dealing within the Florida lobster business still have lobsters in tanks.

Read the full story at CBS Miami

FLORIDA: UF survey assesses coronavirus effect on marine businesses, aims to help industries

April 23, 2020 — A Fort Pierce commercial fishing wholesaler has begun selling freshly caught seafood directly from its boats, docked on the northwest side of the North Causeway.

Walk-up customers can buy fresh snapper, swordfish and yellowfin tuna at discounted rates as long as supplies last each day.

It’s how Day Boat Seafood LLC is adjusting to a drop in demand caused by closed restaurants and fewer dinners being sold by those that remain open for takeout or delivery, said managing partner Scott Taylor.

“Fortunately, we did see some grocery store chains step up to buy more domestically caught seafood, since imported seafood sources have not been able to deliver product,” said Taylor. About 80-90% of seafood bought in the U.S. comes from other countries, he said.

Such effects of the coronavirus pandemic on marine businesses are what a University of Florida research branch is trying to learn about through a new survey open until May 15.

Read the full story at TC Palm

10 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, oil pollution found in thousands of fish, study says

April 21, 2020 — Oil pollution has been detected in thousands of fish in the Gulf of Mexico, including higher levels in popular seafood choices like yellowfin tuna, tilefish and red drum, according to a new study.

The research was carried out between 2011 and 2018, sampling more than 2,500 individual fish that belonged to 91 species living in 359 different locations in the Gulf. All of them contained oil exposure.

When the Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred 10 years ago, millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico’s waters over 87 days. The BP oil spill became the largest accidental oil spill in US history.

After the explosion, researchers, like those at the University of South Florida, raced to study the spill and its environmental effects in real time.

Weeks later, BP made a 10-year, $500 million commitment to fund research. While the funding comes to a close this year, research done over the last 10 years is being released.

Read the full story at CNN

Florida’s charter fishing industry is hurting, and operators don’t see any relief coming

April 21, 2020 — Kit Mobley’s phone starting ringing in mid-March. That’s not unusual for a charter boat captain based in the Florida Keys, especially with peak fishing season approaching. But these calls were different.

“It started with, like, one a day,” Mobley recalled. “Then two a day. And then the phone just kept ringing — six, seven calls a day. All of them canceling.”

The novel coronavirus pandemic forced most captains in the country’s unofficial fishing capital to dock their boats indefinitely. Tourists disappeared, and business dried up. But unlike in many other industries, fishing boat captains say government relief probably won’t make them whole, and many fear a lost fishing season will sink their small, tourist-dependent businesses.

“Right now we’re just hoping this blows over as quickly as possible,” said Mobley, who hasn’t had a client since March 20 — after taking 45 trips in the previous month. “This time of year is when we make our money.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

FLORIDA: First, a hurricane, Then, an algae bloom. Now, Keys fishermen try to weather a pandemic

April 20, 2020 — Ernie Piton and his crew unloaded traps filled with stone crab claws at a Key Largo dock Wednesday afternoon.

The claws were placed in two large steel vats and steamed by propane heat before Piton’s sons, Travis and Ernie III, iced them down and spread them on a white cleaning table to be sorted.

This day’s haul was a good catch — hundreds of claws ranging in size from large to “colossal.”

But this was among the last trips the crew of the Risky Business II will make this season to harvest the Florida delicacy. With restaurants mostly closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Piton and most other Keys commercial anglers are calling it an early season, which is scheduled to end May 10.

Piton, 54, has been in the lobster and crab business for nearly 40 years and is among the most successful operators in the Keys. He said he’ll be able to weather the pandemic, but he feels for the many other commercial anglers who won’t.

“Fishing is like farming,” he said. “You have to plan ahead.”

Read the full story at the Miami Herald