Saving Seafood

China’s difficulties a potential boon for US seafood processors

December 16, 2021 — Mounting difficulties in bringing seafood processed in China into the United States has created an opportunity for U.S. processors, including Portland, Maine-based Bristol Seafood.

China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed China’s seafood-processing sector’s production, and related logistical and transportation issues have impeded delivery of their products to the U.S. Those issues, along with the continued imposition of U.S. tariffs as high as 25 percent on seafood imported from China, have made China a less-attractive option for processing for U.S. seafood buyers, according to Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Bristol Seafood, University of New England Partner to Create New Scallop Testing Technology

October 27, 2020 — A partnership between Bristol Seafood and the University of New England (UNE) School of Marine & Environmental Programs and Seafood Analytics has resulted in the creation of a new piece of technology that can definitively identify a scallop as fresh (never frozen) or previously frozen.

“We sponsor graduate-level research at the University of New England focused on the marine space, and this year we are proud of what student Joseph Ehrhard was able to accomplish,” said Bristol CEO and President Peter Handy. “Joey worked with Dr. Keith Cox, co-founder of Seafood Analytics, to create, implement and validate a testing methodology that uses electrical impedance to assess the quality, freshness and state of sea scallops.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Seafood stimulus: Cash flow and connections for rising stars

July 9, 2020 — From two corners of the seafood sector this week came new projects to encourage industry exploration and expansion. Bristol Seafood and the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers each paved the way for new funding streams to promote the U.S. seafood sector’s diversity and growth.

Bristol Seafood announced it opened an office at the New England Ocean Cluster in Portland, Maine, and founded sponsorship of a program to support under-represented blue economy entrepreneurs.

Inclusion in the Blue Economy will provide dedicated workspace at the New England Ocean Cluster House as well as mentorship opportunities for entrepreneurs, focusing on women, people of color, and individuals from non-marine industries who are passionate about building responsible marine-related businesses.

“Innovation and inclusion are two essential parts of our culture,” said Peter Handy, Bristol Seafood’s president and CEO. “Our presence at the New England Ocean Cluster and our sponsorship to support under-represented entrepreneurs aligns with our mission to make seafood America’s favorite protein.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Bristol Seafood confirms COVID-19 cases, voluntarily pauses production in Maine

May 19, 2020 — Portland, Maine, U.S.A.-based supplier Bristol Seafood has voluntarily paused production at its Portland Fish Pier processing facility after several team members tested positive for COVID-19.

Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy said on 18 May that the company was in the process of conducting universal testing for its local employees and thoroughly cleaning its harbor-side plant. As of now, production at the plant has been shut down for both 18 and 19 May.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Customers might have to shell out for scallops in 2020

December 16, 2019 — The good times of heavy shellfish hauls for the American scallop fishing industry are likely to continue into next year, though prices could rise for seafood lovers.

The industry has been experiencing strong years recently thanks to high demand from consumers and heavy catches from the fleet. U.S. scallops were worth $532.9 million to fishermen at the docks in 2018, the third most profitable year in recorded history.

The New England Fishery Management Council predicted Wednesday that new rules for the 2020-21 fishing season will yield about 52 million pounds of scallops. That would be a reduction of more than 10 million pounds from the current season, but still a strong number compared to the middle part of the decade.

The shellfish typically cost $20 to $25 per pound to consumers, who have had easy access to them at stores and restaurants. Members of the industry “see the 17% reduction in supply putting upward pressure on scallop prices,” said Peter Handy, president and chief executive officer of Bristol Seafood in Portland, Maine.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

New England Council Finalizes 2019-20 Scallop Plan, Landings Will be 60 Million lbs or Higher

December 7, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The New England Fishery Management Council has finalized the scallop plan for 2019-20, the fishing year beginning on April 1st.

NMFS staff estimates that catches will be similar to this year, which are expected to be around 60 million lbs.

However, the plan adds one additional closed area trip for each of the approximately 310 full time vessels in the fishery.  At 18,000 lbs per trip, this has the potential to increase landings by around 5.5 million lbs.

Open access days will remain the same, meaning that the resource scientists expect to see a lower volume landed from the same number of days at sea.

Part of this is due to projected changes in size of scallops landed.

Bristol Seafoods, in Portland, has excellent customer facing information on Scallops, and CEO Peter Handy offered his take on the 2019 season.

Handy said that if the season plays out as the council expects, Bristol’s customers should see the same volumes of 10-20’s and 20-30’s as last year, but there may be a decline in U-10’s and U-12’s.

Whether such a decline materializes will depend on the size of the scallops in some of the closed areas now being fished for the second year.  Last year, says Handy, the area that produced the largest amount of U-10’s and U-12’s were from Closed area 1 and the Nantucket lightship.   This year, those areas will only be accessed once if at all, as part of a ‘flex’ trip allocated by the council.  Handy says “Overall, it looks like the trips to areas that have the most plentiful big scallops was reduced from two down to one.”

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

2018 scallop surprise: Despite larger harvest, currency rates could flatten US supply

March 19, 2018 — You heard it right. Despite massive scallop harvests coming in the US and Japan in 2018, it’s very possible that Americans won’t see any kind of a bump in the availability of what many consider their favorite mollusk, suggests Peter Handy, the president and CEO of Bristol Seafoods.

Handy, a well-known seafood market analyst, laid out his bold theory in a presentation just before Seafood Expo North America 2018, in Boston, and in a subsequent interview with Undercurrent News. His 25-year-old Portland, Maine-based company handles 6 million lbs of seafood annually, including a large number of Atlantic deep-sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus).

“Just like you hear [the automobile manufacturer] Ford talk about how the price of metal is going to affect their production costs, seafood is the same way for us,” he said.

Handy doesn’t doubt there will be more scallops worldwide in 2018.

Based on strong surveys and thanks to the decision by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to open up previously closed areas and strong surveys off the coast of New England,  US scallop harvesters are looking forward to their largest harvest in 14 years – 27,216 metric tons – when their season starts April 1.

The harvest represents the continuation of a trend that Handy credits US conservation policy for. Scallop landings are up 300% since 1995, he noted.

Simultaneously, Japan is predicted to see a major boost in production of Pacific sea scallops (Patinopecten yessoensis) as beds off the coast of Hokkaido in the Sea of Okhotsk recover from weather disasters. As Undercurrent reported earlier, the area is looking at increasing its harvest from the 205,000t of scallops landed in 2017 to 260,000t in 2018.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News