Saving Seafood

Washed ashore and reborn: Fishing gear and plastics get new life

June 10, 2025 — Commercial fisheries entities are collaborating with a rising star in plastics recycling, Net Your Problem, to keep thousands of pounds of worn-out fishing gear and washed-ashore plastic debris out of landfills and get it refurbished into useful products.

“Fishing gear doesn’t last forever, but it also doesn’t have to go to waste,” said Tim Fitzgerald, chief sustainability officer at American Seafoods, part of the catcher-processor sector of the Alaska pollock industry. “As we continuously improve our nets and gear, it is encouraging to know that the gear that has served one useful purpose can now serve another one,” he said.

American Seafoods collaborated on May 28 with Arctic Storm Management Group, Coastal Villages Region Fund, Glacier Fish Company, and 150 volunteers for an inaugural net recycling day at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 9, each spending several hours to clean one of their groundfish nets, which yield on average 20,000 pounds of plastic.

“The nets are expensive enough that we take very good care of them,” said Fitzgerald. “We try to use them as long as possible.” As for the event itself, “we are really excited about it,” he said.

Read the full article at The National Fisherman

U.S. At-sea Processors Association fleet wins global labor certification

August 30, 2022 — Afleet of American fishing vessels has become the second ever to earn the Fairness, Integrity, Safety, and Health (FISH) Standard for Crew certification, a move deemed to be a major advance for the recognition of the importance of labor standards in the seafood industry.

The 14 Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting catcher-processors are operated by the U.S.-based firms American Seafoods, Arctic Storm, Coastal Villages, Glacier Fish, and Trident Seafoods, collectively operating as the At-sea Processors Association (APA). It is the second group to earn FISH Standard for Crew certification, after Nueva Pescanova’s Namibian subsidiary, NovaNam, received certification for its 11 fishing vessels in July 2022.

“Our employees are at the core of our operations,” Glacier Fish Company President and CEO Jim Johnson said. “It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that crew members are treated with the utmost fairness at every stage of the recruitment and employment process. We are proud to have voluntarily committed to this additional layer of scrutiny, which should give buyers and consumers continued confidence that we are doing right by the men and women who produce our seafood.”

FISH Standard for Crew is an accredited, global, third-party certification program launched in 2021 providing assurances that labor practices on vessels in certified wild-capture fisheries are using ethical labor practices and provide proper treatment of crews. The highest level of the standard includes adherence to four major principles: socially responsible labor practices and ethical behaviors, establishment of fair conditions of service for all fishers, assurances of the safety and health of all fishers, and the provision of decent accommodations, water, and food.

The FISH audit process includes vessel inspections; private interviews with crews; a review of company recruitment practices, pay records, and grievance logs; an examination of company safety protocols; and a review of company operations relating to crew welfare.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Another bumper year coming for seafood M&A after 2019 spend rockets past $5bn

January 15, 2020 — With deals for two massive US seafood firms set to close early this year, there’s a good chance that 2020 will be another bumper year for seafood mergers and acquisitions (M&A), after 2019 saw a surge in both deal values and quantities.

A total of $5.16 billion was spent on seafood mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2019, over $1bn more than 2018 ($3.86bn), according to data compiled by Undercurrent News from transactions where the sale value was revealed or could be estimated.

Last year has therefore replaced 2018 as the second-most lucrative year for seafood deals on record, behind only the $5.83bn spent in 2015, driven by the sales of aquafeed giants EWOS Group and Nutreco.

Had the sales of US megafirms American Seafoods Group (ASG) and Bumble Bee Foods been closed before the end of December, last year may even have beaten 2015’s record. ASG is reputedly valued upwards of $1.5bn, and possesses a pollock quota holding of 250,000 metric tons.

As of Nov. 12, 2019, a pollock consortium — comprised of Aleutian Spray Fisheries, Arctic Storm Management Group, Glacier Fish Company and Trident Seafoods — is the frontrunner for ASG’s business, but there still remains a possibility that Bregal Partners, the largest shareholder in the firm, chooses not to sell its stake.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News