March 22, 2022 — Megan Greene, a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business at the Harvard Kennedy School, delivered the keynote address at Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America on 13 March, 2022.
Greene said with COVID-19, supply chain disruptions, and the economic ramifications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and subsequent sanctions issued by numerous countries – uncertainty has been the rule.
March 17, 2022 — Glenn Cooke is the CEO of Cooke Inc., a vertically integrated family of seafood companies based in Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada. He spoke to SeafoodSource on Tuesday, 15 March, at the 2022 Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
SeafoodSource: What have been Cooke’s big moves over the past few months?
Cooke: We’re always investing in our operations globally and we just launched a vessel for Argentine red shrimp fishery with the capability to do frozen-at-sea product, which is quite exciting, as we’ll be in this year’s fishery there. It’s a state-of-the-art vessel. We’re in the process of finalizing a new USD 45 million (EUR 40.5 million) plant in St. George, New Brunswick for salmon added-value processing that will be very robotized, automatic, and cut down our labor costs, which we have do because of a shortage of [workers]. The facility that’s there will be replaced by a brand-new facility and the one that’s there will be redone into a secondary value-added processing center. And we have a new smolt unit almost ready to be finalized as well in New Brunswick. Around the world, we are expanding our operations – we’re always investing heavily globally and we’ll continue to do that.
March 16, 2022 — Sanctions on Russian trade imposed by the U.S., European Union, and the U.K. on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine are likely to have a major impact on global seafood trade, including trade with China, according to Lotus Seafood CEO Nick Ovchinnikov.
Lotus Seafood is an Oceanside, California, U.S.A.-based seafood trader that is undergoing a transformation from providing commodity seafood to specializing in frozen value-added meals. Ovchinnikov relocated his business from Russia to California 10 years ago.
March 16, 2022 — State and federal lawmakers from Alaska are applauding the Biden administration’s decision to ban Russian seafood imports. It’s part of a series of escalating sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young released statements Friday welcoming the move.
Legislators at the state and federal levels have been calling for a Russian seafood ban for years. Kodiak Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens says the White House is finally paying attention to the issue.
“I’m really pleased the President has made this announcement, and I think it’s extremely important for Alaska and the Alaska seafood industry, you know, it’s been a totally unfair relationship in the past,” Stevens said.
Russia slapped an embargo on American fish and seafood products in 2014 in response to U.S. sanctions imposed over its annexation of Crimea.
March 15, 2022 — The United Kingdom has announced a ban on exports of high-end luxury goods to Russia, while also hitting hundreds of key Russian products with new import tariffs that represent a 35 percentage point hike on current rates.
Russian whitefish is one of the products affected by the tariff increases, as is vodka, while the export ban will likely affect luxury vehicles, high-end fashion, and works of art.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
March 14, 2022 — President Joe Biden on Friday ordered a national ban on some imports from Russia, including seafood. It’s a move intended to punish that country for its invasion of Ukraine, but the ban has ripple effects that could wash ashore in Alaska.
Russian seafood competes with Alaska products for shelf space and consumer attention, particularly pollock and crab. Officials here said Friday’s announcement could benefit the Alaska fishing industry.
But the effects may be limited to a few key sectors — the major Seattle-based trawlers that haul up millions of pounds of pollock, largely for export, and hard-hit Bering Sea crab fishermen. There will be some effect on salmon fishermen, experts say, but the embargo’s impact is less clear in that industry.
“It’s a big deal for crab,” said Jamie Goen, executive director of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers. The group represents about 350 members, including 60 boats in Alaska’s crab fleet.
March 14, 2022 — U.S. President Joe Biden’s order from Friday, 11 March, 2022, banning Russian seafood imports from entering U.S. ports will give U.S. businesses some time to accept previously made orders, according to guidance issued by the Treasury Department.
For those companies that have previously done business with Russia, any contract that was in place before Biden signed the executive order can still be carried out. But the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that companies expecting imports of fish or other items now banned can receive them through Friday, 25 March, as long as there was a written agreement in place prior to the president’s order.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
March 14, 2022 — The Seafood for Heroes program, organized and managed through the Napa Seafood Foundation, is using donations from seafood companies to provide healthy meals to first responders in Ukraine through the World Central Kitchen.
The Seafood for Heroes program was formed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way for seafood companies participating in the Napa Seafood Foundation to give back to first-responders and healthcare workers on the front lines.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
March 11, 2022 — The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has sent out a request to the globe’s seafood companies, asking for help replenishing Ukraine’s food stocks in the face of Russia’s ongoing invasion.
In a letter released on Tuesday, 8 March, the Ukraine Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leshchenko requested seafood products to be sent to Ukraine, which is in “dire need of replenishment.”
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
March 11, 2022 — U.S. President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian seafood imports on Friday, 11 March, amid a raft of new economic sanctions he’s imposing in response Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and other members of that state’s congressional delegation, who called for blocking Russian seafood imports as the country prepared to invade Ukraine, backed Biden’s move. A bill introduced into the Senate by Sullivan and fellow Alaskan GOP U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was blocked just prior to when the invasion began in February.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource