March 17, 2021 — U.S. President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law on Thursday, 11 March, almost one year after the CARES Act established the country’s first federal coronavirus relief bill.
The USD 1.9 trillion (EUR 1.6 trillion) American Rescue Plan Act is the largest spending package in U.S. history and contains significantly less relief for the commercial fishing and seafood industries than the CARES Act included, though much of that funding is yet to be distributed.
May 13, 2019 — Alaska’s seafood industry is exploring strategies to reduce damage from the Trump administration’s trade dispute with China, officials said.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute plans to explore how Alaska can enter additional markets to expand the state’s seafood brand, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday.
The U.S. plans to raise tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports from 10% to 25% Friday.
China is the largest export market and re-processor of Alaska seafood, with about $989 million worth of sales to China in 2017 alone. That is more than 50% of the state’s seafood products, the institute said.
The institute is looking at “both traditional and nontraditional markets” for seafood globally, Executive Director Jeremy Woodrow said.
April 1, 2019 — Chinese tariffs are forcing Alaska’s seafood industry to look for markets beyond the Asian giant, according to an industry marketing organization.
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is exploring how to expand the state’s seafood brand in response to a 25 percent tariff on Pacific Northwest seafood imposed by China in summer 2018, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Wednesday.
Alaska’s seafood sales are off by more than 20 percent so far this year and could take a big hit in China, said Jeremy Woodrow, the institute’s interim executive director.
“Because of the conflict, it makes our product less competitive in that marketplace,” Woodrow said.
A $5.5 million, three-year federal agricultural trade promotion grant awarded in January will be used to develop nontraditional markets such as Japan, Southeast Asia and parts of South America, according to Woodrow. The funds will also aid continued marketing in China and other established markets such as Germany, he said.
December 7, 2018 — The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) is crossing its fingers that its request goes through for several million dollars in federal aid to defray costs of the trade war between U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and China.
ASMI, a state-run entity, has requested USD 9 million (EUR 7.9 million) over three years as tariffs threaten to undermine the market for Alaskan seafood in China. The request was submitted to the Agricultural Trade Promotion (ATP), a U.S. Department of Agriculture program designed in part to mitigate the adverse effects of tariffs.
The organization has been getting around USD 4.25 (EUR 3.74) million a year in federal aid for over a decade, according to Jeremy Woodrow, ASMI’s communications director and current interim executive director. This new aid money would be on top of that.
August 27, 2018 — Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute recently received clarification about tariff changes, which went into effect on July 6, for Alaska seafood products going into the Chinese domestic market, an organization spokesperson said.
The public-private marketing organization promotes Alaska’s seafood industry.
“We previously thought that fish meal would not be included and we now know that fish meal products will be included in those proposed tariff increases from China,” communications director Jeremy Woodrow said.
Woodrow says $69 million in fish meal products — mostly used in animal feed — were exported to China last year.
Woodrow said one of the largest generators of fishmeal is the Alaska pollock industry.
The fishmeal market is important to Alaska because it ensures full utilization of seafood and helps generate revenue.
“The more that you can get out of the fish, the more everybody benefits,” Woodrow said. “That’s right down to the fishermen, to the processors, as well as the communities.”
Many fishing communities rely on a variety of fish taxes.
March 20, 2018 — “It’s what’s on the inside that counts” is the message Alaska crab marketers are pushing to encouraging their customers to put appearances aside.
“We’re telling them to ‘get ugly,'” said Tyson Fick, executive director of the trade group, Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, speaking of the new campaign launched partnership with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute last week at the big Seafood Expo in Boston.
The promotion showcases Alaska crabs with darker, discolored shells, or those that are scarred or adorned with barnacles that may be less visually appealing to shoppers.
“It’s the initial step in a campaign to raise awareness among retailers, restaurants and consumers,” said Jeremy Woodrow, ASMI communications director. “We’re saying ‘go ahead, tell your customers to get ugly. After all, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.”
“Ugly crab is safe and delicious to eat, it just isn’t as pretty,” says a flyer distributed at Boston, explaining that shell appearance varies based on crab maturity and timing of the molt. It says that shell variations demonstrate “the authentic nature of seafood caught in the wild,” and that “purchasing ugly crab is a way to support our planet’s wild resources.”
The Get Ugly team is modeling Alaska crab after similar image enhancement efforts underway by farmers.
“We’re taking a page out of the book of what some fruits and vegetable have done — that a blemish doesn’t affect the taste of the thing, and with crab, the meat fill might even be better,” Fick said, adding that avoiding food waste and improving sustainability are also part of the message.
Creating more customers for less-attractive crab also would improve fishermen’s bottom lines, as the less-pretty product drags down prices.
“It is graded at the processor and may be graded further at the repacker. There may be several grades for off-color shells depending on the species, quantity and other factors. It varies from year to year,” said Jake Jacobsen, director of the Inter-Cooperative Exchange which negotiates prices for most Bering Sea crabbers.
Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News