Saving Seafood

Washington shellfish aquaculture permitting challenged again

December 22, 2021 — For the second time in four years, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) has taken the federal government to court to keep the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from approving projects in Washington state that expand shellfish aquaculture without considering their environmental impact.

The lawsuit, filed Monday, 19 December in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Washington, by CFS claims the Corps’ policies violate the Clean Water Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and other federal laws. It comes after the Corps finalized a new permit in January 2021, during the final days of the Trump administration.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Heydays of Bristol Bay, Alaska: Pushing back on Pebble

November 19, 2021 — We’ve got the most sustainable fishery in the world,” said Michael Jackson, board president of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association on Thursday in Seattle. “We didn’t do anything to earn that. But it’s there.”

Jackson spoke on behalf of the Alaska fishing organization for a Pacific Marine Expo panel discussing the future of Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery and the increasing hopes that locals, fishermen and other stakeholders may be able to put a wrap on threats from the proposed Pebble Mine.

News this week that the EPA put dates on the time line to reinstate Clean Water Act protections propelled the hopeful vibe at this standing Expo session, along with a robust projection for 71 million to 75 million salmon to return to the bay in 2022.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

Loki Fish recalls salmon lox over listeria concerns

August 25, 2021 — Loki Fish Company is recalling four-ounce packages of its Keta Salmon Lox due to the potential it is contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based supplier is recalling the lox after the possibility of contamination was discovered during a U.S Food and Drug Administration inspection at its co-packer, Felix Custom Smoking in Monroe, Washington, Loki said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WASHINGTON: Five Fast Facts about Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial

May 11, 2021 — The following was released by The Port of Seattle:

Standing tall near the water’s edge at Fishermen’s Terminal is Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial, a tribute to more than 675 local commercial fishers  who lost their lives at sea. This monument serves as a place of reverence, reflection, and healing for their families and the tight-knit commercial fishing industry. Further, the organization behind the monument, also called Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial, provides valuable services to support fishers and their families. Here are five fast facts about Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial, the sculpture, and the organization:

1.    The sculpture depicts fishers as larger-than-life heroes. 

The bronze figure topping the monument is heroic and larger than life by design. Its size reflects the immensely important, challenging, and often dangerous work undertaken by fishers – the work of heroes. The figure is posed landing a massive, mythical fish imagined by the artist as a composite of many species: cod, salmon, herring, rockfish and others — a hero’s bounty.

2.    The memorial design was chosen from 92 submissions.

In 1986 the Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial planning committee opened a contest to design and build the monument.  Sculptor Ron Petty’s design was chosen among 92 submissions. It took Petty two years and four months to complete the work. The monument was dedicated October 8, 1988.

Today, Seattle Fishermen’s Memorial stands between Docks 8 and 9 at Fishermen’s Terminal. The monument features a 30-foot bronze and granite column flanked by two granite walls. These walls bear the names of local fishers lost at sea since the start of the 20th century.

Read the full release here

WASHINGTON: Seattle Harbor Expansion Would Push Out Endangered Whales, Conservation Group Says

March 5, 2021 — The Trump administration rushed through a project to expand Seattle Harbor for ultra-large container ships that would further threaten endangered Southern Resident killer whales, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

Only 75 Southern Resident killer whales swim the Salish Sea — a number that has increased since three baby whales were born in the relatively quiet waters of the pandemic. Noise from whale watching boats and ships headed to and from ports across the Pacific will increase when pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Added to that is a new worry: the underwater cacophony of ultra-large container ships that would visit Seattle Harbor, in the heart of the whales’ home waters, and the release of hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of toxic material dredged during the harbor project.

The three pods, or family lines, of Southern Residents took a major hit in the late 1960s when aquariums stole 45 Southern Residents from their families, and killed another 14 in the process. Only one of the whales taken during that time survives today: a 53-year-old whale who lives at the Miami Seaquarium. The Seaquarium calls her Lolita, while supporters who want her returned to a protected cove of the Salish Sea call her Tokitae.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Alaska’s Peter Pan doubles down on value addition with Northwest Fish merger

January 11, 2021 — Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Northwest Fish and Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A.-based McKinley Capital Management have beat out Trident Seafoods, Canfisco, and Silver Bay Seafoods to scoop up the assets of Peter Pan Seafood Co. from Japanese conglomerate Maruha Nichiro.

The sale, which was announced by Maruha Nichiro in November 2020, was finalized on 31 December, 2020. Northwest Fish and McKinley collaborated with London, United Kingdom-based RRG Investments on the transaction. Peter Pan Seafood Co. now comprises Peter Pan Seafood’s assets and the value-added sales channels of Northwest Fish Co. The new ownership group is Rodger May of Northwest Fish, the Na’-Nuk Investment Fund (managed by McKinley Capital Management), and the RRG Global Partners Fund (managed by RRG Capital Management).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fishing industry among the hardest hit by COVID-19

December 17, 2020 — If you’re eating seafood in the US, there is a good chance it came through Seattle. Data from 2017 show more than 150 million pounds of seafood worth nearly $500 million came through the city on the sound. But COVID-19 is changing everything.

A new study published in the Journal of Fish and Fisheries found that seafood imports, exports, and catches were all down around 40% compared to 2019. A colossal decline.

“We were scared, just like everybody. Not only with the health concerns and people getting sick, and then financially we just bought the business a couple years ago from our boss and it was pretty quiet, pretty sleepy down here,” said Ryan Reese, one of the owners of Pike Place Fish Market.

Just like everyone else, they’ve had to adjust during the pandemic.

“We’ve converted our whole operation like a little shipping factory and so we’ve really changed our focus from over the counter service to trying really hard to drive our online presence,” said Reese.

Read the full story at FOX 17

Covid-19 outbreaks keep sidelining vessels owned by one of Seattle’s largest fishing companies. No one’s entirely sure why.

August 6. 2020 — Late last month, sickness took hold of a fishing trawler that had left port in Seattle in June. The sick crewmembers spurred the American Triumph, part of a fleet of six vessels owned by American Seafoods (ASF), to dock in Alaska, where more than 80 crewmembers soon tested positive for Covid-19.

This wasn’t the first Covid-19 outbreak aboard a vessel owned by ASF, a Seattle-based seafood company that bills itself as one of the largest at-sea processors of fish in the world. In early June, three of the company’s Seattle-based fishing trawlers—including the Triumph—were forced to dock in Bellingham, a college town a couple hours north of the Emerald City, after crewmembers fell ill with Covid-19.

Any outbreak on a commercial fishing vessel—many of which are roughly the length of a football field, with the ability to process and freeze hundreds of tons of fish right on board—is noteworthy. But what makes the recent Alaskan outbreak aboard the American Triumph particularly noteworthy is that it represents the second such outbreak aboard that same vessel during this fishing season. That’s despite ASF having taken seemingly thorough precautions against Covid-19 before the company’s vessels left port in May. The company had screened crewmembers for the virus, tested them for antibodies, and quarantined them prior to setting sail. Other Seattle-area seafood companies have screened and quarantined crews on their vessels, too, and none have experienced outbreaks so far.

So why—even after imposing stricter measures—did the American Triumph experience a second outbreak? While some critics panned ASF’s earlier preventative steps as half-measures, the latest outbreak occurred only after ASF appeared to follow industry and government recommendations for preventing outbreaks of Covid-19 aboard fishing vessels. Just what went wrong?

Read the full story at The Counter

Seattle-based American Seafoods to screen 2 more crews after most on third vessel test positive for COVID-19

June 4, 2020 — Seattle-based American Seafoods, after most of the 126-person crew aboard its American Dynasty tested positive for COVID-19, has decided to screen the crews of two additional vessels.

The new round of testing involves the crews of the American Triumph and the Northern Jaeger as they dock in Bellingham, according to a company statement.

“We’re conducting these tests out of an abundance of caution,” said Mikel Durham, the company’s chief executive.

All three of American Seafoods’ vessels had been participating in the Pacific whiting harvest off the Northwest coast with large crews onboard to operate the vessels and equipment that processes and freezes the catch. Their work often entails long hours of close-quarters labor in a season that started last month.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times