Saving Seafood

‘Dark cloud of uncertainty’: Seafood executives, fishermen give dire warning against bill banning fishing in huge swath of federal waters

November 16, 2020 — Leaders from all segments of the US seafood industry are opposing an ocean climate bill that would create massive Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) prohibiting commercial fishing across at least 30 percent of the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by 2030.

On Monday 800 members of the seafood industry, including Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant, Silver Bay Seafoods CEO Cora Campbell, Arctic Storm Management CEO Doug Christensen, Lund’s Fisheries President Wayne Reichle, Fortune International President & CEO Sean O’Scannlain and dozens of associations and independent fishermen, signed off on a letter sent to Democratic Arizona Rep. Raul M. Grijalva that said the legislation “puts the viability of our industry under a second dark cloud of uncertainty, for no discernable reason attached to meaningful improvements in conservation outcomes.”

Grijalva introduced the 300-page package of legislation to invest in ocean-based energy solutions, including offshore wind.

“This bill appears to ignore that expertise and process and just walls off parts of the ocean to fishing,” said John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), who also signed the letter.

Read the full story at IntraFish

Seafood industry applauds Trump’s new executive order, while some groups cry foul

May 8, 2020 — An executive order issued on 7 April by U.S. President Donald Trump containing a number of new mandates intended to enhance the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood has drawn widespread praise from the industry, and has been derided by some environmentalists and fishing groups.

The new executive order contains an array of recommendations for wild-caught fisheries, and an extensive set of new tasks for multiple government administrations intended to expand the nation’s aquaculture. The new changes are devoted to removing barriers to permitting, improving regulatory transparency, and establishing new “Aquaculture Opportunity Areas.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

SIMP helping to drive seafood’s blockchain moment

June 24, 2019 — It’s not your imagination. The seafood industry is talking a lot more than usual about Bitcoin these days.

But don’t worry. There’s no effort afoot to launch a new form of seafood-themed cryptocurrency — though “Fishscales” would have a nice ring to it.

Rather, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s implementation of its new Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) requirements is helping to drive a great deal of interest in blockchain, the digital technology that underlies Bitcoin, Sean O’Scannlain, the president and CEO of Fortune Fish & Gourmet, told Undercurrent News in a telephone interview this week.

Besides running one of the US’ largest seafood wholesalers, O’Scannlain is also chairman of the Seafood Industry Research Fund (SIRF), a 55-year-old group that has provided almost $4 million in grants to help create about 400 research papers, all publicly available. Roughly a week ago, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) announced that SIRF would be launching a pilot aimed at enabling the industry to better use blockchain, increasing transparency, optimizing supply chain processes and combating fraud.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News