Saving Seafood

China’s middle class increasingly choosing seafood as pork consumption declines

April 18, 2022 — A structural decline in China’s pork consumption, being driven by the country’s changing demographics as well as health concerns and rising incomes, will benefit the seafood industry, according to Bu Rui Ke (which also trades as China Brick), a research consultancy focused on agricultural commodities and publicly listed agricultural and food firms.

However, the firm found seafood is facing a battle with beef to become the protein of choice among the fast-growing, higher-spending Chinese middle class.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Environmental NGOs form new partnership to combat bycatch

April 18, 2022 — The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), and Birdlife International have formed a new partnership to protect marine wildlife from bycatch.

The new partnership intends to work directly with major retailers, brands, and foodservice companies in order to conduct bycatch audits. The audits are to identify the level of threats to endangered, threatened, and protected (ETP) species in fisheries that are supplier to the retailers and brands, allowing companies to identify and prioritize actions to take in the seafood supply chain in order to reduce overall bycatch.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Despite war ban, Russian seafood could enter the US anyway

April 15, 2022 — Fishing is big business in Russia, one closely linked to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin’s projection of power at sea.

The country is one of the world’s top seafood producers and was the eighth-largest exporter to the United States last year, with more than $1.2bn worth of sales, the bulk of it king crab.

But it is unknown exactly how much manages to land in the US by way of China, which sent another $1.7bn in fish to the US last year. Nor does the Biden administration’s ban require companies importing from China to find out.

Among Russia’s biggest seafood exports is Alaska pollock. A cousin of cod, Alaska pollock is the most harvested fish in the US, showing up in everything from imitation crabmeat to McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. Every year, giant, floating factories in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska catch 1.5 million tonnes of fish, the equivalent of more than four times the weight of New York’s Empire State Building.

Read the full story at Al Jazeera

Russia forced to reshape fleet-renovation project due to sanctions

April 14, 2022 — A month and a half into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a clearer picture of the challenges the Russian seafood sector will be facing as a result of international sanctions is coming into focus.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine immediately caused turmoil in global seafood markets, and the consequences on trade caused ripple effects that still haven’t subsided. Multiple rounds of economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, the U.K., and the U.S. have already impacted the seafood industry.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

US House passes USD 42 billion restaurant funding bill

April 11, 2022 — On 7 April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act, which would allocate USD 42 billion (EUR 39 billion) for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and USD 13 billion (EUR 12 billion) for other businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funding bill will now be considered by the U.S. Senate.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

US Senate moves to end normal trade with Russia, but seafood ban “unenforceable”

April 7, 2022 — The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on 7 April to end normal trade relations with Russia, at the same time as a hearing of the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife attempted to address what members called an “unenforceable” ban on Russian seafood imports.

The Senate vote, coming in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, effectively gives Russia the same trade status as other “pariah” states like North Korea, and will allow U.S. President Joe Biden to continue tightening trade with the country and allow for tariffs of up to 25 percent on Russian seafood – if and when the recently enacted seafood ban is lifted. The decision by the Senate, which according to ABC News is likely to be supported by the House and later signed by Biden, also impacts Belarus and effectively ends “most-favored nation” trading status between the U.S. and Russia.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

DHS more than doubles H-2B visa allocation for final six months of 2022

April 4, 2022 — Once again, the U.S. federal government has announced a short-term expansion of the H-2B visa program, which non-agricultural businesses – including seafood processors – use to hire foreign workers to fill temporary but essential positions.

On Thursday, 31 March, 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the H-2B visa cap for the second half of the 2022 fiscal year that starts on 1 April will be more than doubled. The 35,000 new visas available will complement the initial cap of 33,000 slated for the final six months of the fiscal year.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Polystyrene bans and phase-outs pushing seafood packagers to seek alternatives

April 1, 2022 –Pressure is slowly building in the U.S. against polystyrene foams and expanded polystyrene (EPS) – commonly known by the trademarked brand, Styrofoam – as communities and states begin to phase out its use due to sustainability-linked concerns.

A synthetic “aromatic hydrocarbon polymer,” polystyrene is the building block of what most people refer to as Styrofoam, and often takes the form of foam or EPS – a separate product made up of polystyrene beads that are injection-molded into custom shapes.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Inflation dragging down UK grocery, seafood sales

March 30, 2022 — Rising inflation is having an impact on grocery sales in the United Kingdom, which dropped 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022, according to new data. Fresh seafood sales are also falling due to higher prices.

Grocery inflation reached 4.2 percent for the 12-week period ending 20 March, its highest level since April 2012, Kantar said in a press release.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource