Saving Seafood

Milford laboratory working to make sure CT’s shellfish industry survives

August 23, 2022 — Thousands of people came to Milford this weekend for the Milford Oysterfest. They served up some 30,000 oysters, all grown in the water off Connecticut’s coast. As they enjoy those tasty shellfish, they may not know that, right nearby, scientists are constantly studying those oysters.

Just across the harbor is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service laboratory. The scientists working there try to make the shellfish industry thrive.

“Among our main projects are to improve the hatchery techniques so that it’s more effective and dependable to have shellfish seed to plant,” explained Dr. Gary Wikfors, Aquaculture Sustainability Branch Chief of the Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Shellfishing is a $30 million industry in Connecticut, and Connecticut’s senior senator wants to see more funding to study it.

Read the full story at WTNH

 

MASSACHUSETTS : Shellfish areas remain closed in New Bedford as city works to fix old sewage system

August 9, 2022 — When there is heavy rainfall — and sometimes when it’s dry — openings along New Bedford’s shoreline function as relief valves for the city’s old and overloaded sewer system, spewing into nearby waters a mixture of stormwater and untreated sewage from homes and businesses.

Some of these receiving waters contain beds where people recreationally or commercially harvest little necks, cherry stones and chowders — all types of quahogs.  But when the openings release enough effluent, those areas must temporarily close due to possible contamination.

The state department overseeing fisheries determined in 2020 that New Bedford’s closures due to releases into Clarks Cove and the outer harbor were no longer predictable or manageable, with some overflows going unreported by the city.

As a result, “conditionally approved” areas for shellfishing in those waters have been continuously closed since late 2019 to 2020. More than two years later, a staff member with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has expressed concern that these shellfishing areas in waters shared by New Bedford, Fairhaven and Dartmouth will be permanently closed due to the sewage releases.

“I am concerned that due to these issues FDA will require both areas be downgraded and reclassified to Prohibited,” wrote the state’s shellfish program manager Jeff Kennedy in a May memo to DMF Director Daniel McKiernan.

The city is engaged in a multi-year improvement plan, under a decree from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and laid out a plan to spend more than $260 million through at least 2036 to upgrade the system. As this work moves along, the city is still grappling with remediating problems created by old, costly-to-fix systems.

According to the EPA, sewage discharges are a “major problem” in the country and cause some bodies of water to remain unsafe for swimming and fishing, with the problem being “especially acute” in New England, where more than 100 communities are affected.

These openings, called combined sewer overflows (CSOs), have decreased in number since the 1990s, and consequently, the city through sewer separation efforts has reduced the amount of sewage outfall from an estimated 3.1 billion gallons in 1990 to about 183 million gallons in 2016, according to a city report.

It was further reduced to 181.9 million gallons from July 2020 through June 2021, according to a city spokesperson.

While the city’s work to improve the system has resulted in thousands of acres of previously closed shellfish areas opening, the affected areas currently closed are about 4,000 acres.

Read the full article at The New Bedford Light

Aquaculture drives aquatic food yields to new high

June 30, 2022 — The production of wild and farm-raised fish, shellfish and algae reached record levels in 2020, and future increases could be vital to fighting world hunger, the Food and Agriculture Organization said Wednesday.

Driven by sustained growth in aquaculture,  and aquatic farming together hauled in 214 million tonnes, the UN agency said in a report.

The total first-sale value of 2020 production topped $400 million, with $265 million coming from aquaculture, a sector poised for further expansion.

These trend lines are good news for a world facing price hikes and  due to the war in Ukraine, disrupted supply chains, and inflation.

Read the full story from Phys.org

 

MAINE: Gov. Mills announcing more than $15 million for seafood industry

June 29, 2022 — Gov. Janet Mills will be in Trenton Wednesday where she’s expected to announce more than $15 million in grant funding for 107 Maine seafood dealers and processors to help increase the supply of Maine-harvested seafood, strengthen their ability to deliver to markets, and create and sustain jobs throughout Maine’s iconic seafood industry.

The governor will make the announcement at Hollander & de Koning, a grant recipient and owner of the sixth generation, family owned and operated shellfish company in Trenton.

Read the full story at WABI

 

America’s Scallop Harvest Projected to Decline Again in 2022

June 28, 2022 — America’s scallop fishing industry will continue to decline in catch into next year due to a decrease in the availability of the oft-pricy shellfish off the East Coast, federal regulators say.

The decline in scallops is happening as prices for the shellfish, one of the most lucrative seafoods in America, has increased amid inflation and fluctuations in catch. Seafood counters that sold scallops for $20 per pound to customers two years ago often sell them for $25 per pound or more now.

U.S. scallop fishers harvested more than 60 million pounds of scallops in 2019, but the catch has declined since, and fishers were projected to harvest about 40 million pounds of scallops in the 2021 fishing year. That number is projected to fall to 34 million pounds in the 2022 fishing year, which started this spring, according to the New England Fishery Management Council.

Read the full story at U.S. News & World Report

 

Retail sector’s US seafood sales plunge as inflation continues to bite

June 14, 2022 — U.S. grocery stores’ fresh and frozen seafood sales continued to decline in May, primarily due to inflation in the category and across the store. However, shelf-stable seafood sales continued to rise, according to new data from IRI and 210 Analytics

Fresh seafood sales dropped 13.2 percent in value to USD 618 million (EUR 593 million), while sales by volume plunged 22 percent compared to May 2021. Frozen seafood sales fell 5.6 percent to USD 643 million (EUR 617 million) in the month, while sales by volume declined 14.6 percent.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Study finds California shellfish farmers burdened by bureaucracy

May 24, 2022 — A study on shellfish farmers in the U.S. state of California, conducted by researchers at Oregon State University, found that farmers need additional resources and less red tape in order to overcome current and future environmental challenges.

Farmers from California’s Humboldt Bay, Point Reyes, and the Central Coast were interviewed for the study, which also involved researchers from San Diego State University.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Commercial fishermen concerned recreational fishing is leading to overfishing

May 13, 2022 — Cobia, Lane Snapper, Greater Amberjack, Gag Grouper, and Gulf of Mexico Jacks Complex — these are all fish you can catch out in the Gulf of Mexico. Many of you have probably eaten, any, or all these fish, but they’re also being overfished, or close to it, according to NOAA, and its annual report on American fisheries.

This report has some commercial fisherman concerned about their own livelihood, and what they say is the lack of oversight for recreational fishing.

“There are plenty of fish out here to be caught,” said Captain Matt Sexton for the Small Shellfishing vessel. “Everyone should have equal chance to catch fish out here, but there are a lot of rules and regulations that are going on that are not fair to the commercial fishermen.”

Those same concerns were repeated by boat captains readying their boats for their next trip.

Read the full story at Fox 4

 

US resumes bilateral mollusk trade with EU after 10-year ban

February 4, 2022 — The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced on 4 February that the U.S. and European Union will resume bilateral trade of live, raw, and processed bivalve molluscan shellfish.

The negotiated agreement marks the first time bilateral trade of mollusks between the E.U. and U.S. will be allowed since 2011. The new agreement will allow producers in the U.S. states of Massachusetts and Washington to send mollusks to the E.U., and will allow producers in Spain and the Netherlands to send products to the U.S.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Board of Fish will consider moving Southeast meeting back to Ketchikan

January 26, 2022 — Alaska’s Board of Fisheries is considering moving its Southeast meeting back to Ketchikan, and it’s asking the public to weigh in.

The board — which sets the state’s subsistence, commercial and sport fishing rules — plans to discuss more than 150 proposed changes to Southeast Alaska finfish and shellfish regulations at the meeting, which was originally slated to be held in Ketchikan this month but was postponed due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in the region.

Read the full story at KTOO