Saving Seafood

Reprocessed state seafood exports exempted from Chinese tariffs

July 12, 2018 — It appears the blowback from President Donald Trump’s trade dispute with China will fall on some, but not all of Alaska’s seafood exports to the country.

The Trump administration’s 25 percent tariff on an estimated $34 billion of goods imported to the U.S. that took effect July 6 prompted Chinese leaders to respond with their own 25 percent tariff on U.S. goods headed for their country, including seafood, Alaska’s primary export.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Director of International Affairs John Henderschedt said June 28 that seafood products destined to be reprocessed and re-exported from China will be exempt from the tariffs after agency officials discussed the issue with the U.S. Embassy there.

While a positive development for Alaska fishermen and processors, the cumulative impact the tariffs could have on the commercial fishing industry in the state is still unknown, Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Technical Program Director Michael Kohan said in an interview.

Overall, Alaska exported more than $4.9 billion of goods in 2017, of which more than $2.4 billion was seafood, according to the state Office of International Trade.

China bought $1.3 billion worth of Alaska’s exports last year, including $796 million — nearly a third — of the state’s total seafood exports.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce

 

US hits back at China with more tariffs; most seafood hit with 10 percent duty

July 11, 2018 — The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on USD 200 billion (EUR 170 billion) of Chinese goods on Wednesday, 11 July – the latest escalation in the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

The move will add 10 percent tariffs to a wide assortment of Chinese goods, with seafood featuring prominently. The 6,031 items included in the list published by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer include a litany of seafood items, including many categories of shrimp, tilapia, salmon, pollock, tuna, flatfish, crab, scallops, squid, and fishmeal.

“As a result of China’s retaliation and failure to change its practices, the President has ordered USTR to begin the process of imposing tariffs of 10 percent on an additional USD 200 billion of Chinese imports. This is an appropriate response under the authority of Section 301 to obtain the elimination of China’s harmful industrial policies,” Lighthizer said in a press release. “USTR will proceed with a transparent and comprehensive public notice and comment process prior to the imposition of final tariffs, as we have for previous tariffs.”

If and when they are imposed – scheduled for 60 days from their announcement – the new tariffs will cover almost 40 percent of the USD 505 billion (EUR 430 billion) worth of products China shipped to the United States in 2017. Retaliatory tariffs recently put in place by China on USD 50 billion (EUR 42.6 billion) worth of U.S. goods equate to about 38 percent  of the USD 130 billion (EUR 111 billion) worth of goods the U.S. sent to China in 2017.

According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. imported USD 2.7 billion (EUR 2.3 billion) of Chinese seafood in 2017, while sending USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.1 billion) worth of seafood to China.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Reminder: Review Continues for Red Snapper Opening in the South Atlantic for 2018

July 10, 2018 — The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

Fishermen are reminded that harvest and/or possession of red snapper is prohibited in federal waters off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the east coast of Florida. The fishery remains closed as NOAA Fisheries and the Secretary of Commerce continue final review of Amendment 43 to the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan for the South Atlantic Region. A Fishery Bulletin regarding approval is expected from NOAA Fisheries and the Secretary within the next two weeks. Given the timeline for the review process, it is likely that, IF the amendment is approved, a red snapper season would begin in August 2018.

The amendment specifies a total annual catch limit (ACL) for red snapper of 42,510 fish, with 29,656 fish allocated to the recreational sector. The bag limit for red snapper would be 1 fish per person/day with no minimum size limit. The recreational season would be weekends only (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The number of weekend openings for the recreational fishery would be determined by NOAA Fisheries and announced in advance. The commercial fishery would open with a 75-pound trip limit (gutted weight) with no minimum size limit, and close when the commercial ACL is met or projected to be met. The Council approved Amendment 43 for Secretarial review in September 2017. A benchmark stock assessment for red snapper will be conducted in 2020.

Sign up for E-News from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s website at www.safmc.net and receive Fishery Bulletins from NOAA Fisheries’ Southeast Regional Office at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/index.html.

Feds might allow fishermen to catch more skates

July 10, 2018 — The federal government is looking to allow fishermen to catch more Northeastern skates, which are caught for use as food and bait.

Skates are bottom-dwelling fish that are often sold in fish markets as “skate wing.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing to increase the annual catch limit for skates by about 8 percent, to nearly 70 million pounds.

The proposed rule changes would apply to a management plan for Northeastern skate fishery.

The biggest skate producing states are Alaska, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, though the fish are brought to land as far south as California on the West Coast and North Carolina on the East Coast.

The full proposed rule may found at https://bit.ly/2NDexjm

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

ALASKA: Working out details on salmon disaster funds

July 9, 2018 — The following was released by Rep. Louise Stutes:

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I wanted to provide you with a short update regarding the 2016 pink salmon disaster relief funding distribution.

It was recently announced that over $56 million of the $200 million appropriated for fisheries disasters will be allocated to Alaska. Naturally, I am pleased that out of the nine West Coast disasters and three hurricanes, we received such a large proportion of the funding.

Cordova has been awaiting the arrival of this funding for almost two years and it is critical that the distribution is executed correctly with as little delay as possible.

What types of entities will be eligible and how much each category will receive remains unknown. Currently, the governor’s office, the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), and the Department of Commerce are working with NOAA to make those determinations through a spending plan.

One of my main concerns is who will be eligible. NOAA identified shoreside infrastructure as a potential recipient category and I am working with the State to ensure that, along with our hard-working fishermen, processing workers and direct-support businesses are afforded the relief that they are entitled to. I am in daily communication with the Governor’s Office and DFG to offer input and stay as up-to-date as possible about the timeline and details.

Read the full letter at the Cordova Times

US Senator Roger Wicker files bill to further aquaculture industry

July 9, 2018 — U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) has filed a bill that he said would further develop the aquaculture industry in the country.

S. 3138, named the “Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture Act,” calls for the creation of the Office of Marine Aquaculture within NOAA Fisheries. That office would oversee regulatory issues within NOAA and push for development opportunities to spur aquaculture’s growth, especially within the country’s exclusive economic zones.

“Aquaculture is the fastest-growing sector of the agriculture industry,” Wicker said in a press release. “This bill would give farmers a clear, simplified regulatory path to start new businesses in our coastal communities. The AQUAA Act would also fund needed research to continue the growth and success of this important industry.”

The bill itself twice mentions it aims to address the U.S. seafood trade deficit. It notes that the country imports about 90 percent of the seafood Americans consume, with half of those imports coming from aquaculture.

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) is listed as a co-sponsor, and a trade group has started a letter-writing campaign to land additional co-sponsors.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

‘How are we going to get paid?’; fishing ban continues to suffocate local businesses

July 9, 2018 — Anne Jardin-Maynard is an accountant. She doesn’t own a commercial fishing vessel. The New Bedford native works within an office on Centre Street.

Yet for more than seven months, a groundfishing ban implemented by NOAA has prevented Jardin-Maynard from receiving a paycheck. That doesn’t mean the owner of Jardin & Dawson, a settlement house, which handles payroll and accounting for fishing boats, has stopped working.

“If the boats aren’t fishing, how are we going to get paid,” Jardin-Maynard said.

NOAA announced the groundfishing ban at the end of last November as a result of Carlos Rafael falsifying fishing quota. It was also meant to delay operations for Sector IX, the fishing division where Rafael’s boats were associated, so it could draft provisions to prevent repeat offenses.

Since that time, though, the sector has assigned new board members multiple times, provisions have been drafted, and quota has been gathered as potential repayment, but the ban remains.

“I think they need to move it along,” said Jardin-Maynard, who is a new board member of Sector IX as well. “This has been a long time coming. The person that was involved in it (is penalized). It’s not fair for the other people to be involved in this. He’s paying his price.”

Rafael is serving a 46-month prison term in part for falsifying fishing records. While he serves his time in federal prison in Fort Devens, about 80 fishermen have been out of work sending a ripple effect throughout shoreside businesses from ice houses to processors to settlement houses.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

HANK SOULE: Revitalizing waterfront is still up to sectors and Carlos Rafael

July 9, 2018 — Carlos Rafael misreported his groundfish catch, and in its piece “Time for NOAA to let Sector IX fish again,” the Times is misreporting the facts.

First, NOAA didn’t calculate, as the piece states, that Rafael misreported just 72,000 pounds of grey sole. He openly admitted to stealing over 10 times that amount, of several different fish stocks. Rather, NOAA has apparently calculated that all but some remaining grey sole has been repaid, with quota seized earlier to cover the debt.

Second, neither Sector IX nor Sector VII has submitted a plan to return to fishing. Sector IX purged itself of nearly every vessel and permit enrolled there, retaining the bare minimum required to maintain legal status. It submitted an operations plan — which explains how a sector and its boats will track and report their quotas — which states that Sector IX has no immediate intent to resume fishing.

Sector VII is even more explicit. It absorbed the many Rafael vessels and permits shunted from Sector IX under the condition that they “will be enrolling as a non-active member and will not be authorized to fish” until Carlos Rafael sells them. In fact, Sector VII explicitly requested NOAA’s help to DENY those vessels permission to harvest.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Lobsters caught in global tariff tit-for-tat

July 9, 2018 — Veteran lobsterman Billy Mahoney is already feeling the pinch – and not from the claws of his catch.

Mahoney sells his lobsters to a dealer in Massachusetts who, in turn, sells most of the product to an increasingly lobster-hungry China. The proposed tariffs between the U.S. and the world’s second-largest economy have already lowered the price Mahoney gets for his lobsters by 50 cents a pound.

If the tariffs imposed imposed Friday by the Trump administration hit as hard as expected, Mahoney predicts, “All hell is going to break loose as far as the price.” What’s more, China will turn to Canada for New England’s ocean delicacy, he says.

A Harvard graduate who sets out from Nahant, Mahoney has been trapping Homarus americanus for more than 40 years. At 70, he says he is close to retirement, but he has a brother in the business as well as four cousins who are bound to suffer if the tariffs linger.

Maine and Massachusetts together landed almost $700 million worth of lobster last year, 94 percent of the nation’s total. At the same time, exports from Maine to China increased more than 30 percent, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But South Shore lobstermen, already hit hard by extended seasonal closures of their fishing grounds, might largely escape the latest blow to their industry.

Read the full story at The Patriot Ledger

Lionfish trapping may one day help South Carolina against ocean predator

July 6, 2018 — A garden full of poisonous, stinging lionfish — that’s what one diver said he found on the bottom offshore South Carolina.

The predators are taking over by the thousands, killing off snappers, groupers and other valued fish catches.

Traps to cut their numbers were first proposed three years ago. Now, literally billions of laid lionfish eggs later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is about to give the go-ahead on a permit to set out 100 cages to study whether the traps can put a dent in their numbers.

None of the traps will be off South Carolina, where the original proposal called for some. But the study is at least a first step to maybe slowing down a fish that veteran Florida Keys trap fisherman Bill Kelly calls “the most aggressive invasive species that we’ll see in my lifetime.”

The lionfish is a seductively beautiful scorpion fish. It’s so colorfully camouflaged that it blends almost invisibly into the coral, like a rattlesnake blends into brush.

Read the full story at the Post and Courier