Saving Seafood

MAINE: Maine lobster industry hit by harsh winter, falling catch and rising costs

March 26, 2026 — Maine’s lobster industry is facing mounting pressure after a harsh winter reduced fishing activity, slowed catches and added to rising costs across the sector.

A key driver was fewer days on the water. Maine lobster harvesters took more than 21,000 fewer fishing trips in 2025 than in 2024, the agency said. Total landings fell to just over 78 million pounds, the lowest level since 2008.

“It started in December, and in December you usually get to fish a lot of days, and we didn’t get to fish,” said lobsterman Greg Turner.

Turner, who has worked on a boat since childhood, said crews were only able to fish about half as many days as normal during peak winter months.

“If it’s zero out, and it’s blowing negative 25, you can’t go because it’s just – if something happened – you’d be done. You’d die out there, probably,” said Turner.

Read the full article at Fox Business 

Seafood inflation outpaces food inflation in January, but winter storms cause shelf-stable sales to soar in US

February 18, 2026 — Seafood sales values increased across the U.S. as a combination of environmental factors and inflation lead to double-digit percentage increases.

Winter storms across many regions of the U.S. in January led to a surge in shelf-stable seafood and other retail seafood sales, including in the fresh and frozen categories. The storms caused Americans to eat at home in larger numbers during the month, and retail food and beverage volume jumped up 18 percent for the week ending 25 January, according to Circana data analyzed by 210 Analytics in Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A., while restaurant transactions fell 6 percent that week.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Grocery trade association claims Walmart is directly contributing to raised food prices

February 4, 2026 — The National Grocers Association (NGA), a U.S. trade association that represents retail and wholesale grocers, has claimed that national grocery “power buyers” – especially Walmart – are violating antitrust laws and raising U.S. food prices.

In a late January letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), the NGA highlighted newly unsealed court filings from a previously dismissed FTC lawsuit against Pepsico.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US seafood inflation spiked at grocery stores to end 2025

January 15, 2026 — Seafood inflation at U.S. retail stores rose again to end 2025, leading to increases in sales by value but declines in sales by volume in most seafood categories in December.

The biggest price increases during the month came in frozen and shelf-stable seafood, which both jumped 8.4 percent in December, according to new data from Circana analyzed by Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics. Fresh seafood prices, meanwhile, increased 1.6 percent, led by finfish prices, which rose 3.3 percent.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Inflation drives down frozen, ambient seafood sales at US retailers in October

November 18, 2025 — Inflation on grocery prices led to drops in seafood sales at U.S. retail stores in October.

Frozen seafood prices increased 5.3 percent year over year in October, contributing to sales declines of 2.7 percent by value to USD 723 million (EUR 624 million) and 7.6 percent by volume, according to new data from market research firm Circana analyzed by Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US, Canadian retailers slash prices to entice anxious shoppers

August 26, 2025 — Retailers in both the U.S. and Canada have implemented price drops in order to entice shoppers, many of whom are seeking value wherever they can find it amid continued global trade uncertainty.

Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.A.-based retail giant Walmart rolled back prices on 7,400 items in the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year, which is 2,000 more than the same period last year, per Supermarket News.

Read the full article at the SeafoodSource

Seafood inflation at US retail increased again in July; consumers continue turning toward value

August 12, 2025 — U.S. consumers paid more for seafood – and food overall – at retail stores in July, according to new data but the increases didn’t dent fresh sales volumes.

Fresh seafood prices increased 1.5 percent year over year at U.S. retail in the month, according to Lakeland, Florida, U.S.A.-based 210 Analytics, which analyzes data from market research firm Circana.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: Maryland’s blue crabs — and its crabbers — are having a rough season

July 15, 2025 — In Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, two populations are under threat: the iconic blue crab and the crabbers whose livelihoods have depended on this fishery for hundreds of years.

This season, survey counts of the iconic crustaceans hit one of their lowest points on record. That has driven up costs at restaurants at a time when disposable income is scarce and inflation is driving up costs of food and other consumer goods.

Luke McFadden, 29, who has been crabbing since he was 18, says he’s seen a rough start to the season.

“We’re trying to offer them to the consumers as cheaply as possible, being able to cover our cost,” he said. “But I get it, you know, it’s tough out there.”

At the family-run crab house, Pit Boys, in Annapolis, a dozen crabs will cost customers between $75 and $140, depending on size, according to seafood manager Charlie George. That’s “a lot higher” than previous years, an effect he and others attributed to fewer crabs in the bay.

According to the 2025 blue crab advisory report, the total blue crab population has dropped to an estimated 238 million, down from 317 million last year. That’s the second-lowest level since the annual winter dredge survey began in 1990.

Persisting inflation woes making 2024 seafood outlook hard to predict

April 23, 2024 — At the beginning of 2023, economists predicted the U.S. was either in – or would soon be in – a recession, while the E.U. faced similar predictions of slowed growth and high inflation.

During the Global Seafood Market Conference in early 2023, Wells Fargo Senior Economist Tim Quinlan said a recession was “penciled in” for the U.S., as signs pointed to dropoffs in consumer sentiment and the highest inflation in 40 years. In late 2022, the European Commission published its economic forecast, stating the E.U. economy was at “a turning point” and predicting contracting economic activity in the first quarter of 2023, with most member states expected to “experience a technical recession” in the winter of late 2022 and early 2023.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource