Saving Seafood

FLORIDA: Funding process for Keys fishermen slowly unfolds

May 13, 2020 — Both commercial and for-hire fishermen in the Florida Keys hit hard by the economic shutdown spurred by the novel coronavirus may apply to receive a portion of $23.6 million allocated to the state through the CARES Act Stimulus.

Of the $300 million slugged for federal fisheries’ assistance, Florida is to receive about 12.7%, or the fourth largest share behind Alaska, Washington and Massachusetts.

While Capt. Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, says the Keys fisheries have been slighted, he remains optimistic about the upcoming lobster season.

“This pales in comparison to what was made available to the agriculture and livestock industries, but this is what we have to work with,” he said Monday. “We have a lot to be concerned over. It was the importance of the Keys fishermen that helped us out [in Monroe] of the 2008 recession fairly well. We could have the same rebound if we, in fact, maintain a strong fishery. We export 80% of live lobster to China, and when that fishery reopens on Aug. 6, we don’t know what the market in China will be. We’re hoping for a strong market.”

NOAA will administer the funds through the interstate marine fisheries arms. For here, that’s the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which will, in turn, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to identify and establish a plan for fishermen to apply for funds.

Read the full story at Florida Keys News

Mark Your Calendar – SAFMC Meeting June 8-11, 2020

May 12, 2020 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Members of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold its quarterly meeting Jun 8-11, 2020 via webinar. The meeting, originally scheduled to be held in Key West, Florida was rescheduled via webinar due to the coronavirus and concerns for public safety.

“This was a tough decision and a first for our Council,” said John Carmichael, the Council’s Executive Director. “We always look forward to quarterly in-person meetings and seeing constituents in each state in the region but given the circumstances, this approach was our best option,” explained Carmichael. “Council members and staff are experienced with meetings via webinar and we will work with members of the public to ensure access to the meetings as they occur each day. We welcome public participation and comment.” The meeting week begins on Monday, June 8th at 10:30 a.m. with a series of committee meetings and concludes with a meeting of the Full Council on Thursday, June 11.

A formal public comment session will be held on Wednesday, June 10th beginning at 4:00 PM. Meeting materials and an online comment form will be available for written comments beginning May 22, 2020. The meeting will be available via webinar each day as it occurs. Registration is required and can be completed in advance for each meeting day.

Agenda Highlights:

  • Best Fishing Practices – The Information and Education Committee will receive updates on the Council’s Best Fishing Practices campaign including input from its I&E Advisory Panel.
  • Dolphin Wahoo – Work continues on draft Amendment 10 to the Dolphin Wahoo Fishery Management Plan to address revisions to recreational data and catch level recommendations, redefine Optimum Yield for the dolphin fishery, modify accountability measures, and other revisions to the dolphin and wahoo fisheries. The Committee will also provide recommendations on management options to add bullet and frigate mackerel to the Dolphin Wahoo FMP as Ecosystem Component Species.
  • Snapper Grouper – The Council is scheduled to approve measures to designate existing artificial reefs in federal waters off NC and SC as Special Management Zones at the request of the state marine resource agencies. In addition, the Snapper Grouper Committee will review results of stock assessments for Red Porgy and Greater Amberjack and provide recommendations for catch levels.
  • Coastal Migratory Pelagics – The Mackerel Cobia Committee will review the results of a recent stock assessment for King Mackerel and provide recommendations for catch levels.
  • Citizen Science – The Citizen Science Committee will provide feedback on Program goals and objectives, evaluation plan options, and receive updates on current CitSci projects including FISHstory and SAFMC Release.

Additional Information:

The impacts of COVID-19 on fisheries will be discussed during each species-specific committee meeting and during Full Council, including updates from individual states, updates on COVID-19 relief funds, and staff operational updates. The Council will discuss these impacts and consider any necessary response.

Additional meeting information will be available from the Council’s website at: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/ as it becomes available. Briefing book materials, including the meeting agenda, committee agendas/overviews, and the public comment form will be available by May 22, 2020.

US harvesters seek to fix ‘oversight’ blocking crew payroll from COVID loans

May 11, 2020 — The Seafood Harvesters of America (SHA) has written US senators Marco Rubio (a Florida Republican) and Ben Cardin (a Maryland Democrat) — the chairman and ranking member of the Small Business Committee respectively — to fix what the group believes was “an oversight” that’s now blocking fishermen from taking full advantage of the small business loans made available in the recently passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

In a letter sent Thursday, SHA, a group that represents 18 US fishing-related trade associations, seeks to allow “fishing businesses to include payments to fishing vessel crew members reported as fishing boat proceeds on Form 1099- MISC as eligible payroll costs under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)”.

The PPP refers to the new program that authorized up to $349 billion in forgivable loans to small businesses to pay their employees during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We believe it was an oversight that fishing vessel crewmember wages cannot be considered in the fishing business’s PPP loan application as submitted by the vessel owner or captain, and hope it can be easily fixed as [the Department of] Treasury completes their final rule for the PPP,” wrote Robert Dooley and Leigh Habegger, SHA’s president and executive director, respectively.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

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