Saving Seafood

Fulton Fish Market Cooperative rallies to urge Trump to halt Empire Wind project

July 18, 2025 — Bronx, New York City, USA-based Fulton Fish Market Cooperative held an emergency rally on 16 July to urge U.S. President Donald Trump to halt the Empire Wind offshore wind project that seafood industry stakeholders claim will put their livelihoods at risk.

Seafood industry stakeholders gathered at the event – many of whom were unionized employees of the market – said the project threatens their livelihoods and those in New York’s seafood industry. Fulton Fish Market Cooperative CEO Nicole Ackerina said the project will heavily damage the industry and push it out of the region.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Meet the Star of Sushi-Con: A 400-Pound Tuna

September 30, 2024 — “It’s coming! It’s coming!” someone yelled. It was before dawn on a recent Sunday, and a dozen men in matching navy-blue T-shirts were waiting by a loading dock in Manhattan for the headliner of Sushi-Con, which bills itself as the largest expo of Japanese cuisine in the United States.

A truck backed into the brightly lit bay. The rear doors opened and a white Styrofoam box appeared, roughly the shape of a coffin and nearly as wide as the truck itself. Written at one end was the word “head.” Inside was a 399-pound bluefin tuna, a fish that when prepared as sushi can be among the most expensive forms of seafood in the world.

Sangsu Choe, a manager at True World Foods, a wholesaler of sushi-related products and a co-sponsor of the event, began waving his arms and directing. “Take it easy! Don’t rush,” he yelled as the men tried to move the box with a manual forklift. Several times, the white container, now more than six feet in the air, teetered and appeared close to crashing to the ground. Everyone shouted and laid their hands on it to steady it.

The eagerly awaited fish had left Barcelona on Friday morning packed in ice. It spent a night and a day in a New Jersey warehouse before arriving at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea, the site of the $120-a-ticket event.

Part trade show and part consumer-facing forum, the event has taken place four times since 2018. This was the first year it had been branded Sushi-Con. True World Foods was sponsoring it with Noble Fresh Cart, a start-up developing a direct-to-consumer delivery service for sushi-grade fish. The all-you-can-eat event featured over 50 vendors offering samples of their fish and other products. Though the cuisine is Japanese, the fish came from all over the world.

But only one was the star of the “Ultimate Tuna Cutting Show,” the main event where the bluefin tuna, roughly the size of a torpedo and with shimmering silver scales, would be carved up and served to the gathered attendees.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Opening up the world of canned seafood

November 27, 2023 — To the casual observer, canned seafood, or “tinned fish,” appears to be having a moment.

Stacks of tins, filled with everything from mackerel to octopus, have been filling social media feeds, complete with intricate, colorful, and Instagram-friendly packaging. Brands like Fishwife, founded in 2020, tout “responsibly sourced tinned fish” for “heavenly hors d’oeuvres” and “charming charcuterie.”

In August, a colorful shop that specializes in canned seafood called The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine opened in New York City’s Times Square.

“The theme is kind of this magical library,” says Joanna Quaresma, the project manager for the shop. The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine is packed with floor-to-ceiling shelves of tinned fish, known as “conservas” in Portuguese culture.

“It’s something that is very, very cherished in our culture,” Quaresma tells ABC Audio.

Read the full article at ABC News

NEW YORK: Hundreds of undersized lobsters found in New York City supermarkets

January 23, 2023 — Authorities in the U.S. state of New York have discovered hundreds of undersized lobsters for sale in several New York City supermarkets.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Division of Law Enforcement conducted an inspection of an unidentified supermarket in the borough of Queens on 24 December, 2022, and found 128 undersized live lobsters for sale. On 26 December, 245 undersized lobsters were found for sale at a market in the borough of Brooklyn. Both supermarkets were issued violation notices, according to a DEC press release, with each violation coming with a fine of between USD 400 and USD 600 (EUR 368 and EUR 552). The lobsters were confiscated and donated to a food pantry in New York City.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NEW YORK: LI fishermen see tough days ahead as NYC restaurants back in lockdown

December 21, 2020 — With New York City restaurants back in lockdown, Long Island fishermen once again face the loss of one of the biggest markets for their fish as a choppy 2020 comes to a close.

A small measure of relief is being offered with federal stimulus finds, but fishermen have only till year’s end to apply.

Fishermen in the spring saw most wholesale prices tumble with restaurant closures statewide, then regain as summer opened outdoor dining and limited capacity at restaurants. The latest closure comes atop other setbacks, including the die-off for the second year in a row of Peconic Bay scallops, the sharp decline in the oyster industry, also tied to restaurant closures, and pressures such as ever-changing fishing quotas.

Read the full story at Newsday

NEW YORK: US restaurant industry group protests shutdown orders

December 15, 2020 — As restaurants around the United States continue to suffer economic losses from renewed indoor and outdoor dining shutdowns in several states, restauranteurs are holding rallies, sending letters to Congress, and filing lawsuits in an effort to survive.

On 15 December, the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar & Lounge Association – along with numerous celebrities and other supporters – held a “Tuesday Super Rally” in New York City to protest the closure of indoor dining in the city. Restaurants around the country went “dark” on their Instagram pages to support the rally.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Extended: Slow Speed Zone Southeast of New York City to Protect Right Whales

November 30, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In Effect Through December 15

NOAA Fisheries is extending a Slow Zone (voluntary vessel speed restriction zone), southeast of New York City.

This Slow Zone was first triggered on November 17, when the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute acoustic monitoring buoy detected right whales in the New York Bight, New York. The buoy detected right whales again on November 30.

Mariners, please go around this areas or go slow (10 knots or less) inside this area where right whales have been detected.

Southeast of New York City Slow Zone is in effect through December 15.

40 41 N
40 01 N
073 03 W
073 55 W

See the coordinates for all the slow zones and dynamic management areas currently in effect.

Read the full release here

How This Seafood ‘Sourcerer’ Runs New York City’s Lobster Game

September 2, 2020 — “Selling lobsters is definitely a complicated process,” says Steven Wong, owner of Aqua Best Seafood Market in New York City. “I’ve eaten so much lobster in my life I can actually taste the difference in where they caught it.” Wong and his family have been selling and shipping diverse seafood to customers, many of whom are restaurateurs for some of NYC’s best restaurants, for over 30 years. In that time, Wong has become known for his sourcing of high-grade lobster, so much so that he earned the nickname “the lobster ‘sourcerer’”

“A lobster’s not just a lobster. A lobster is just like a diamond,” says Wong of the many different types of lobsters he sources from all over the country. “There are different cuts, different grades, different sizes, there are different areas from where you catch lobster that have different qualities.”

Before COVID-19, the shop went through an average 60 to 80 thousand pounds of lobster per week, and during the holidays that number could be up to 150 thousand pounds. Wong’s company sells lobster and other fish to 175 restaurants in the northeast, and they ship anywhere in the world in under 24 hours; “even in Singapore,” he notes, “which has the longest flight, like 19 hours.”

Read the full story at Eater

Landmark New York City wholesaler struggling to survive

July 8, 2020 — Already struggling to stay in business since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the owner of a fourth-generation New York City seafood wholesaler was devastated to hear the news last week that restaurants in the city cannot open for indoor dining – only outdoor.

To top it off, Broadway theaters will remain closed through the end of this year, and nightclubs remain closed.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New York City seeks private support to keep crucial food distributors afloat

April 16, 2020 — New York City is seeking philanthropic support for its food distributors, raising some concerns about the viability of the merchants that sell fruit, vegetables and meat to groceries and bodegas in the epicenter of the United States coronavirus epidemic.

Food distributors are facing such “a significant liquidity issue,” that City Hall has asked the philanthropic and financial sectors to create a fund to support the merchants, according to a confidential memo acquired by POLITICO. While philanthropic dollars have been devoted to meals for the poor and vulnerable, the city is asking for donations to bolster a private industry crucial to the food supply of more than 8.6 million people.

“We’re completely dependent on the food distribution network,” said Kathryn Garcia, who serves as both the city’s Covid-19 food czar and its sanitation commissioner, in an interview Wednesday. “That’s how we eat. We need them to be resilient. We need them to be healthy.”

Read the full story at Politico