Saving Seafood

Scallop prices took 30 percent price hit from COVID-19

June 9, 2020 — Back in late December, before the covid-19 pandemic struck, the New England Fishery Management Council presented regulations for the 2020 fishing year. At the time, around 50 million pounds of U.S. landings and an estimated ex-vessel value of around $487 million was projected for 2020.

It is yet to be determined how things will play out for Atlantic sea scallops, but so far anecdotal reports indicate scallop prices had been down 30 percent or more around New Bedford, Mass. In April, the council asked federal regulators to make changes because of the impact the coronavirus has had on the fishery.

The 2019 fishing year went as expected, says Travis Ford of NMFS. Estimates say average prices were $9.20 per pound.

“Preliminary landings data suggest the fleet landed 58.15 million pounds of scallops in 2019,” according to Ford. “The biggest surprise was the conditions in the Nantucket Lightship-West Access Area. Based on 2019 surveys there was around 50 million-pound decline in total biomass estimate from 2018-19. This made it difficult for vessels to finish their trips in the area later in the fishing year.” Regulators are investigating what is behind the decline.

Rusty Parmenter, a Maine scallop fisherman who works in both federal and Maine state waters, says things have changed as restaurant markets shuttered in response to covid-19. The bulk of larger scallops are usually sold to restaurants and receive a premium price at the dock. Now, many are being frozen instead and sold to supermarkets.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

MASSACHUSETTS: ‘A profound struggle’: South Coast fishing industry fights to hold on

June 9, 2020 — When Gov. Charlie Baker ordered all restaurants to close dine-in services on March 17 to help fight coronavirus, a shudder ran through the fishing industry along the South Coast of Massachusetts.

Roughly two-thirds of freshly caught seafood in Massachusetts is purchased by restaurants, and while takeout and delivery services have continued during the public health crisis, consumers are more apt to eat scallops, lobsters and many other edible sea species at dine-in eateries.

As a result, demand fell sharply in the fishing industry, especially for more lucrative seafood.

“When all the restaurants close up, there isn’t a market for that fresh fish,” New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said. “Prices plummet to a point where it isn’t profitable for many boatowners to send their boats out for trips, so that puts fishermen out of work.”

For Southeastern Massachusetts, the health of the fishing industry is a key concern — and it will likely be one of the topics during WPRI 12’s live 7 p.m. U.S. Senate primary debate between Democratic incumbent Ed Markey and challenger Joe Kennedy III, their only debate for this region.

Read the full story at WPRI

Fishermen say Massachusetts, Oregon fail in offshore wind planning

June 9, 2020 — Massachusetts commercial fishing groups objected to a proposed $19 million fund to compensate them for impacts on the industry from the planned Vineyard Wind 804-megawatt offshore wind energy project, saying the plan emerged without adequate input from the fishing community.

“As far as we can tell, this plan was developed by Vineyard Wind through private meetings and consultations with officials from Massachusetts government,” the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership wrote in a May 29 to the state Office of Coastal Zone Management, following an email from state officials announcing the compensation plan. “Massachusetts officials may have had the best intentions for the fishing community, but they are not the fishing community and should not have developed a plan on behalf of the fishing community.”

“The plan dramatically undervalues the fishing industry and dismisses legitimate concerns raised by the fishing community and the National Marine Fisheries Service,” the group added.

According to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, “the Fisheries Mitigation Plan will provide funds to offset economic impacts to Massachusetts fisheries across two separate funds:” $19.18 million to provide compensation for claims by Massachusetts fishing businesses for economic losses during any phase of the Vineyard Wind project, and a $1.75 million “Fisheries Innovation Fund to support programs and projects that support innovative solutions and technology development to ensure safe and profitable fishing continues off the coast of Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Trump Opens Atlantic Marine Monument To Fishing During Maine Roundtable

June 8, 2020 — President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in Bangor on Friday that he says will undo most of the fishing restrictions President Barack Obama ordered for a 5,000-square-mile swath of submerged canyons and mountains off the Atlantic coast that’s prized for its biological diversity. A legal battle is expected.

Obama established the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in 2016. It’s an area 130 miles off Cape Cod, within an much larger underwater formation called Georges Bank that plays a big role in commercial fisheries based in New England.

At the Bangor roundtable with several representatives of Maine and Massachusetts fishing interests — as well as former Republican Gov. Paul LePage — Trump said he would take the “no fishing” sign down from the Monument’s waters.

“And we’re going to send our fishermen out there — you’re going to go fishing out there in areas that you haven’t seen for a long time, I want to just congratulate you,” he said.

Read the full story at Maine Public

Markey and Warren Seek $500M in Additional Fisheries Aid

June 8, 2020 — U.S. Sens. Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren on Friday called on U.S. Senate leadership to include $500 million in additional fisheries assistance in the next coronavirus recovery package.

In their June 5 letter, the senators said $28 million in fisheries assistance already allocated to Massachusetts should be supplemented as the pandemic continues to affect demand through the summer month’s peak harvests.

“Compared to the previous five-year average, in March and April of this year, Massachusetts bivalve shellfish landings lost 60 percent of their value, lobster landings lost 40 percent of their value, recreational head boats have been completely shut down, and seafood processors have lost their usual restaurant market,” the letter stated.

In Massachusetts, four sectors – commercial fishing, aquaculture, seafood processing, and for-hire recreational fishing – expect pandemic-related losses of 35 percent, leading to approximately $500 million in lost revenue over the year, the letter said.

“The $28 million in CARES Act fisheries assistance allocated to Massachusetts is not sufficient to help the four fisheries sectors survive revenue losses beyond April, and the pandemic is far from over,” the two wrote.

Read the full story at WBSM

In another step to reduce environmental regulations, Trump allows commercial fishing in nation’s only marine monument in the Atlantic

June 6, 2020 — Overturning one of his predecessor’s more far-reaching environmental measures in New England, President Trump on Friday signed a proclamation allowing commercial fishing in nearly 5,000 square miles of protected waters off Cape Cod.

The decision undermines one of the main goals of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a controversial preserve about 130 miles southeast of Provincetown that President Barack Obama designated in his final year in office. It was the first marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Connecticut-sized area features a range of unique coral, rare fish, endangered marine mammals, and sea turtles. It contains three underwater canyons deeper than the Grand Canyon and four underwater mountains.

Fishing groups had lobbied for the change, saying the restrictions had cost the industry millions.

“This action was deeply unfair to Maine lobstermen,” Trump said shortly before signing the proclamation during a meeting with commercial fishermen in Maine. “You’ve been treated very badly. They’ve regulated you out of business.”

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

US scallop company Northern Wind forges ahead with traceability tech

June 5, 2020 — Scallop producer Northern Wind is partnering with fellow Massachusetts company Legit Fish to make its products traceable to the source.

The technology provided by Legit Fish, which the company is making available to any interested foodservice and retail customers, will track Northern Wind’s product supply chain from its vessel to the processor.

Northern Wind’s Co-CEO George Kouri told IntraFish the technology has been more than a year in the making, and is customized for the seafood business.

“We now believe as things begin to open up, and we’re in the early stages of the new scallop season, that now is the time to make this announcement,” he said.

Read the full story at IntraFish

MASSACHUSETTS: Kennedy: Coronavirus aid for fisheries ‘insufficient’

June 4, 2020 — The $28 million in COVID-related federal assistance to help the Massachusetts seafood industry is insufficient “and will not address the economic pain felt throughout the commonwealth,” U.S. Senate candidate Joseph P. Kennedy III stated in a letter to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Kennedy, who represents the state’s 4th congressional district, blamed the insufficiency on the lack of employment data in the funding methodology used by NOAA Fisheries to distribute the $300 million in federal fisheries assistance to individual states.

In May, NOAA Fisheries, which is part of the Commerce Department, announced Massachusetts will receive $28,004,176, or 9.3% of the $300 million contained for fisheries assistance in the Coronavirus Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

US lawmakers calling for more fishery relief funding and changes in allocation

June 4, 2020 — U.S. lawmakers are continuing the call for more funding for the seafood industry, which has been battered by the COVID-19 crisis. However, the window for such funding may be closing.

States with seafood industries received a collective USD 300 million (EUR 264.2 million) in funding through the CARES Act in March, and officials from the Trump administration announced the allocation splits of those funds last month. However, even before those allocations were announced, elected officials from both parties and fishing sector leaders were saying it would not be enough to cover the damage the coronavirus has wreaked on the industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Equinor names New England offshore Beacon Wind

June 2, 2020 — Norwegian energy company Equinor has given the name Beacon Wind to a planned offshore wind farm off the US New England coast.

Beacon Wind will be located about 32km south of Massachusetts and 112km east of New York.

Wildlife surveys for the project kicked off last year and this summer more surveys will be undertaken to characterise conditions of the lease area, the company said.

These include looking at the geologic conditions, benthic habitat and checking for the presence of obstructions and sensitive resources.

Equinor Wind said its Boston-based team is actively engaged with commercial fishermen and their representatives to ensure that the development of Beacon Wind coexists successfully with traditional northeast maritime industries.

“Insights and feedback from the fishing industry are critical to the collaborative development of Beacon Wind,” the company said.

Read the full story at ReNews