Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Dismal Area 2A Halibut Landings Necessitate Second Opener; Vessel Limits Create Confusion

July 7, 2020 — Fishermen harvested a mere 16 percent of the overall quota for the directed commercial halibut fishery in Area 2A in June. That means a second 3-day opener starts today.

The International Pacific Halibut Commission set extremely low vessel limits this year, noting the increase in the number of permits issued and anticipating more participation over a three-day opener. However, the low limits likely made it economically unviable for many fishermen, particularly the larger vessels. Some fishermen also reported low halibut prices this summer. The combination of low prices, low vessel limits, lower consumer demand due to COVID-19 and other market impacts created a perfect storm for low landings.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Restaurant closings, depressed Japan market push halibut, black cod prices down

June 24, 2020 — Crippled ferry service, COVID-19, and flailing Japanese markets have hurt the Alaska halibut and black cod seasons.

Alaska’s halibut fleet fished on allocations of 16.08 million pounds, but deliveries as of early May stood at just 1.46 million pounds, with the brunt of them coming out of harvest area 3A. The season opened on 14 March and will run until 15 November, with supply volumes to market lagging in the early season thanks to crippled state ferry service and the COVID-19 virus.

Read the full story from National Fisherman at Seafood Source

Alaska halibut surveys reduced 30% due to COVID

June 11, 2020 — The annual three month survey of Pacific halibut will be about 30% lighter this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Alaska Fish Radio’s Laine Welch reports.

A total of 898 stations will be surveyed by longline gear, roughly 30% fewer than the usual 1,283 stations.

“We’re going to maintain sampling in the core regions where the vast majority of the stock resides,” David Wilson, director of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), told Welch. “So while it’s important to still sample those peripheries, we still are going to be sampling about 74% of the known distribution and biomass of the stock so it’s going to be a particularly robust survey.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

IPHC Revises Area 2A Directed Fishery Vessel Quotas for 2020

June 3, 2020 — The International Pacific Halibut Commission released revised vessel quotas for the 58-hour opener June 22-24 off the West Coast Monday afternoon.

On Friday, the IPHC released information that all vessel sizes for the 207 permit applications would receive the same quota, much to the surprise of fishermen and fishery managers. By mid-morning Monday, that press release was removed from the Commission’s website.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Why the pandemic is causing seafood prices to fall

May 27, 2020 — Even if Americans are cooking at home like they probably never had before, and even if they are consuming more seafood, increased domestic demand has not been enough to offset lost income earned from restaurants, where 70 percent of seafood across the country is consumed (via Wall Street Journal). To give you an idea of how cheap seafood is these days, South Coast Today says that the price of flounder, which used to be sold to New York restaurants, had come down “quite a bit” while the price of scallops is down by 40 percent in the case of larger shellfish, and 30 percent cheaper for the smaller scallops which we find in warehouse stores like Costco and BJ’s today.

Halibut caught at Pacific fisheries used to cost more than $30 at high-end restaurants in Vancouver, but wholesale prices were down about a dollar in mid-April — and those prices are projected to go down further (via The Conversation). The scenario echoes the one experienced by the lobster industry during the early days of the pandemic when quarantines across China during the Lunar New Year period killed demand for shellfish.

One Philadelphia-based company that supplies seafood to restaurants, hotels, and casinos saw its sales plunge 75 percent in March. The situation was so dire, its owner, Sam D’Angelo told the Wall Street Journal that workers stored what they could in freezers and disposed of what they couldn’t save into landfills. The company lost about $100,000 worth of fresh lobster, clams, and mussels; and it’s a scene that’s been repeated several times over in America’s farms (via CNBC). The seafood distributor has since laid off half of its 400 employees.

Read the full story at Mashed

Alaska halibut getting battered by foreign imports

May 12, 2020 — Sales of Alaska’s most popular seafoods are being hit hard by markets upended by the coronavirus, but perhaps none is getting battered worse than halibut. Along with the big losses in the lucrative restaurant trade, Pacific halibut also is facing headwinds from increasing foreign imports.

Starting three years ago, sales of fresh Pacific halibut to established markets on the East Coast were toppled by a flood of less expensive fish flowing in primarily from eastern Canada. Trade data show that for 2019 through February 2020, total Canadian halibut imports to the U.S. topped 15.3 million pounds for which the U.S. paid nearly $107 million.

“It is taking over the eastern seaboard and also is being trucked from Boston to major middle American markets such as Chicago and Denver. It’s very hard to sell Alaska halibut to these traditional markets now. The Canadian product is cheaper and is available nearly year round,” said a marketer with more than 30 years of experience in selling halibut from Southeast Alaska, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“All of a sudden, an important market that paid a good price for fresh halibut has disappeared,” he said. “Rule of thumb is generally, sell fresh make a profit, freeze halibut, lose money.”

Earlier this year, fresh farmed Atlantic halibut was spotted for sale at $9.99 per pound at a Costco near Seattle.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

Fishermen, farmers suffering from food supply disruptions concerned for what’s to come

May 6, 2020 — Numerous meat processing plants have closed, leaving ranchers with nowhere to bring their livestock and fearing that the animals may be sold at drastically reduced prices or euthanized. A surplus in dairy and vegetables has forced farmers to dump their milk and throw out or plow under their crops. Fishermen catching sablefish, halibut and black cod are now left without restaurants — their biggest market — to buy their food, as others waiting to catch king salmon and albacore wonder whether it’s even worth going out to fish when the season opens in July.

In Sitka, Alaska, it’s the height of the longline fishing season for halibut and black cod, and Linda Behken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, has been working hard to keep her members informed on the latest regarding COVID-19.

“I would say it’s about the most exhausting month I’ve ever been through since I’ve been running [the association],” said Behnken, whose organization represents about 130 vessel owners. “Just the worry about our fleet immediately and in the long-term.”

Behnken says prices for halibut and black cod have already dropped 60% relative to recent years in large part because restaurants have closed. She expects similar price drops in king salmon when that season opens in a limited capacity in July.

“Most Americans eat their seafood at restaurants, and with restaurants closed, that higher volume, higher quality product is where we really lost markets. So the impact to the fishermen has been really significant,” Behnken said.

Behnken said a lot of people are fishing anyway, “hoping that prices will improve.”

For some fishermen, however, the risk of losing money is too high. California’s commercial salmon season began on Friday, but Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, says that with the markets “upended” and 75% of California salmon purchased by restaurants, many fishermen might not go through the trouble of fishing.

Read the full story at ABC News

As coronavirus threatens seafood economy, community fisheries find ways to stay afloat

April 15, 2020 — COVID-19 is having a significant impact on North America’s seafood economy, which is more globalized than it has ever been. Fishers, however, are scrambling to respond, adapt and share lessons with each other. Community-supported fisheries may be the ones most ready to weather this difficult time.

Major commercial fisheries, including the iconic Maine lobster fisheries, have ground to a halt. The closure of restaurants and fresh seafood counters has created a serious dent in demand. Even temporarily, this is a serious blow to small-scale harvesters and fishing communities, who often derive most of their sales from these markets.

Consider the lucrative Pacific halibut fisheries, which opened in mid-March. These fisheries largely serve fine dining restaurants. Grilled halibut entrees fetch northward of $30 at iconic Vancouver restaurants such as Joe Fortes. But with restaurants closed, wholesale halibut prices are d … of US$5.30 per pound and are expected to drop further.

Combined with the loss of sales to markets like China, seafood producers from east to west are without a market for their product.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

April 4-10, 2020 PFMC Meeting Webinar Information

April 1, 2020 — The following was released by the Pacific Fishery Management Council:

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC or Council) and its advisory bodies will meet April 4‐10, 2020 by webinar only, to address issues related to groundfish, salmon, Pacific halibut, coastal pelagic species, and administrative matters.

Information on how to access the Council meeting live stream is now available on our April 4-10, 2020 Council meeting webpage.

Please note that the evolving public health situation regarding COVID‐19 may further affect the conduct of the April Council and advisory body meetings. Pacific Council staff will continue to monitor COVID‐19 developments and will determine if there is a need for additional measures. If such measures are deemed necessary, Council staff will post notice of them prominently on our website (www.pcouncil.org). Potential meeting participants are encouraged to check the Pacific Council’s website frequently for such information and updates.