Saving Seafood

SEA PACT LOOKING TO FUND FISHERY PROJECTS THAT WILL HELP WORLD’S MOST CONSUMED SPECIES

SEAFOODNEWS.COM — July 1, 2015 — Sea Pact has opened its fourth Request for Grant Proposals (RFP) where the group will award financial support to projects dealing with bycatch reduction, innovation in aquaculture, or social responsibility within the seafood supply chain.

During this application period, Sea Pact said it has specific interest to fund projects that will impact the most world’s most consumed seafood species.

“We’ve learned a lot from our previous grant proposal requests,” said Guy Dean, Vice President/CSO of Albion Fisheries Ltd, and newly selected Chair of the Sea Pact Advisory Committee. “[Sea Pact has] begun to recognize where our contributions can make the greatest impact on creating positive change within our industry. We are excited about a more focused RFP process relevant to current issues affecting the seafood industry and look forward to the submissions we receive.”

Responses are due by July 31st, 2015. Sea Pact will announce the grant recipients in late 2015.

Sea Pact is a coalition of seafood distributors that share a common interest in developing environmentally sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices. Albion Fisheries Ltd, Fortune Fish & Gourmet, Ipswich Shellfish Group, Santa Monica Seafood, Seacore Seafood and Seattle Fish Co. are the founding members of Sea Pact. The group has also added Stavis Seafood, JJ McDonnell, and A.C. Covert to its membership.

Former Chicken of the Sea owners are latest foreign investors in US fishing

June 29, 2015 — Indonesian business family the Soetantyos are set to become the latest foreign investors in US fishing and seafood, with the acquisition of Icicle Seafoods.

The Soetantyos, whose former holding company PT Management Trust (Mantrust) owned US shelf stable seafood brand Chicken of the Sea until 1993, were reportedly also involved in the recent sales process of Bumble Bee Foods, sources told Undercurrent News.

Icicle’s impending sale to Indonesian investors the Soetantyos, in a deal expected to complete in August 2015, comes amid a high level of interest in the US fishing sector from foreigners. In April, Swiss-owned fund Bregal Partners’ closed a deal Virginia-based scallop fishing company Peabody Corp., after Undercurrent reported the talks in February.

On May 11, Undercurrent broke Oceana Group’s interest in a deal for Daybrook Fisheries, a US menhaden catching firm. On May 19, Oceana confirmed the $382.3 million deal.

Then, Canada’s Cooke family, who control Cooke Aquaculture, closed a deal for US-based scallop catcher Wanchese Fish Company on June 5. Undercurrent first reported Cooke’s interest in Wanchese, which also controls vessels in Argentina, in November 2014.

Also, Kjell Inge Rokke, the Norwegian billionaire, is also being linked to an investment return to the highly leveraged American Seafoods Group, which he created.

Then, in a revelation that surprised some, Undercurrent reported on June 17 that the Soetantyos were the frontrunner in the sale process of Icicle, after interest from other foreign seafood companies and investors, such as Thai Union Frozen Products, Cooke, Mitsubishi and Marine Harvest.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Spike in Northeast Lobster Price Stings LA Distributor

June 23, 2015 — The days of cheap lobster are over. From Maine to Monterey Park, consumers are shelling out more for the delicacy.

Wholesale prices are up about 20% compared with last year’s, said Chol Pak, president of Los Angeles-based Pacific Fresh Fish Co., which has sold seafood to restaurants in the L.A. area for 33 years.

His company sells Maine American Lobster for $8.95 per pound. Sales are down, he said, because that’s more than most of his buyers want to pay.

William Cheng, manager at NBC Seafood Restaurant in Monterey Park, said that at $16.99 a pound, the restaurant is charging customers $1 more a pound than last year.

“We don’t want to raise the price a lot because then the customers would have to pay more and there is just too much competition,” he said.

One reason for the price increase: An unusually cold winter in the Northeast delayed the summer harvest in Maine. Fishermen must wait until lobsters shed their shells and reach legal harvesting size.

Read the full story at Los Angeles Times

 

Genetically Modified Salmon: Coming To A River Near You?

June 24, 2015 — While the debate over whether to label foods containing GMO ingredients plays out across the country, another engineered food has long been waiting to hit grocery stores: genetically modified salmon.

Produced by Massachusetts-based biotech firm AquaBounty Technologies, the fish is an Atlantic salmon engineered to grow twice as fast as its conventional, farm-raised counterpart. But AquaBounty’s fish has been languishing in the regulatory process: The company has been trying to get the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve its salmon for sale for nearly 20 years.

One concern repeatedly raised by critics who don’t want the FDA to give the transgenic fish the green light: What would happen if these fish got out of the land-based facilities where they’re grown and escaped into the wild? Would genetically modified salmon push out their wild counterparts or permanently alter habitat? In a review paper published this month in the journal BioScience, scientists tackle that very question.

Robert H. Devlin, a scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada, led a team that reviewed more than 80 studies analyzing growth, behavior and other trait differences between genetically modified and unaltered fish. The scientists used this to predict what might happen if fish with modified traits were unleashed in nature.

Genetically modified salmon contain the growth hormone gene from one fish, combined with the promoter of an antifreeze gene from another. This combination both increases and speeds up growth, so the salmon reach a larger size faster.

Read the full story at New York Now

Reintroduction of McDonald’s lobster roll doesn’t rattle NH seafood restaurants

June 22, 2015 — MANCHESTER, N.H. — Local seafood joints say they won’t feel pinched when McDonald’s brings back its lobster roll Saturday.

“I’m not too worried” about losing customers, said Kaleb Brown, manager of Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook. “Their taste buds will be able to tell the difference.”

McDonald’s announced Monday the return of its lobster roll after a 10-year hiatus.

The burger chain said its seafood offering will contain “100 percent real North Atlantic lobster and mayonnaise dressing layered on a bed of crisp leaf and shredded lettuce served on a homestyle toasted roll.”

Nicole Garvey, the McDonald’s Boston region spokesman, said “the previous recipe and amount of lobster included differ from what we are offering this summer.”

The lobster meat will get shipped frozen to restaurants “for optimal freshness,” she said. The lobster roll will contain 290 calories and sell for $7.99.

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union-Leader

 

US scallop prices expected to increase through season on short imports

June 24, 2015 — US prices for Atlantic sea scallops are likely to rise throughout the rest of the season, on a lack of available imports as well as potentially smaller landings than had been anticipated.

Terry Molloy, general manager of Chesapeake Bay Packing, backed by two other sources, told Undercurrent News that with landings reasonably good at the mid-June point, this was likely to be the lowest prices the market will see.

“Prices are likely at their lowest now – the only thing likely to affect them now is quality,” said Molloy. “I don’t anticipate any softening in prices from this point; increases are likely, but as for when and by how much, it’s too early to say.”

One of the other sources agreed, adding he expects pricing to increase on a weekly basis for the remainder of the season.

Current pricing, steady for a few weeks now, puts 10/20 count averaging in the low to mid $10 per pound range, U12s at $14, and U10s at $15, said Molloy.

These prices were backed by a second source based, like Molloy’s Chesapeake Bay Packing, in Newport News, Virginia. These prices, to the boat, are typically $0.25 lower than those paid in New Bedford, Massachusetts, said this source.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Jonah crabs booming in value as managers seek fishery plan

June 22, 2015 — PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — New England lobstermen are catching and selling more of a long-overlooked crab species in their traps, leading regulators to try to craft a management plan for the fishery before it becomes overexploited.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is working on regulations for Jonah crabs, a species common along the Eastern Seaboard that is rapidly growing in market share as an economic alternative to more expensive Dungeness and stone crabs. The crabs are popular with diners and cooks alike for their meaty claws and as a low-cost source of processed crab meat.

Jonah crab catch increased sixfold from 2000 to 2013, with fishermen catching nearly 7,000 metric tons two years ago, federal data show. The crabs also increased more than 700 percent in value in that time, with the fishery worth nearly $13 million in 2013.

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

AP PHOTOS: See Food Before Buying at Largest US Fish Auction

June 19, 2015 — HONOLULU (AP) — As the sun rises over Honolulu, commercial fisherman have already unloaded their catches and docked their boats for the day. The fish are lined up on pallets, packed in ice and displayed for buyers to inspect.

United Fishing Agency holds the country’s largest daily fish auction, selling fresh fish to the highest bidders based on market value and quality. Most of the buyers are wholesalers, but some local restaurants and markets also buy their fish directly off the boat.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times