Saving Seafood

ASMFC Approves Amendment 4 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Northern Shrimp

May 11, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved Amendment 4 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Northern Shrimp. In response to the continued poor condition of the northern shrimp stock, Amendment 4 modifies the first objective of the FMP to recognize the influence of environmental conditions on stock productivity and lengthens the amount of time the Northern Shrimp Section can set a moratorium from one year to up to five years. The Section can call a meeting at any time to review information relative to the fishery and the resource and initiate management action if necessary.

Amendment 4 also adds management triggers to the FMP as part of the annual stock monitoring process. Management triggers include recruitment and temperature triggers that signal potential improvement in stock conditions. The recruitment trigger will be achieved when the stock experiences non-failed recruitment for three consecutive years. If achieved, a stock assessment update will be conducted. If the recruitment trigger is not achieved, but non-failed recruitment occurs in two out of three years, the Section will consider conducting a winter sampling program without the use of size-sorting grates. This program will allow the Northern Shrimp Technical Committee to evaluate stage and length frequencies, and year class persistence before initiating a full assessment update. The temperature trigger will be considered reached when two out of three consecutive years of winter surface temperature and spring bottom temperature in the Gulf of Maine fall below the 80th percentile of the reference period. If achieved, the Section will consider a winter sampling program. These triggers are intended to help the Section identify if the stock is viable enough to support a fishery.

Finally, Amendment 4 adds the specifications setting timeline and management triggers to measures subject to change through adaptive management, allowing these management measures to be changed in the future via an addendum rather than an amendment.

All provisions of Amendment 4 are considered effective immediately. Amendment 4 will be available on the Commission’s website, https://asmfc.org/species/northern-shrimp/, by the end of May. For more information, please contact Chelsea Tuohy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at ctuohy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

 

Still no shrimp in sight for Mainers

May 2, 2025 — For more than a decade, the sweet, pink Maine shrimp has been little more than a memory for fishermen and seafood lovers alike. Once a staple of a winter fishery, the northern shrimp has vanished from docks and dinner tables across New England, its fishery shut down due to warming waters and dwindling biomass.

This winter, there was hope-tempered but real that the tides might shift in favor of Maine shrimpers. A limited test fishery allowed seven veteran Maine fishermen to haul small catches in the name of science, raising spirits along the state’s coast. Still, the results were disappointing, and the waiting game continues.

Gary Libby, a commercial fisherman in Port Clyde, Maine, was among those hopeful for better news. Libby, who began fishing at the age of 18 and now chairs a regulatory shrimp advisory panel, told Marketplace reporter Caroline Losneck he’s long advocated for more comprehensive, year-round sampling to better understand the species’ health. But with little sign of recovery, Libby has shifted his winter focus to maintaining gear for other fisheries.

“This is what I do in the winter when I’m not fishing: try to keep my gear in good shape,” Libby told Losneck, speaking from his workshop.

The shrimp fishery, once an economic cushion during winter’s leaner fishing months, officially closed 11 years ago. Libby recalled pulling 1,000 pounds of shrimp daily during the 1980s and 1990s. By the early 2000s, he was landing 5,000 to 6,000 pounds a day, and all at a going rate of just 50 cents per pound.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Investigating Shrimp Fraud Is an Urgent Matter on the Gulf Coast

May 1, 2025 — Imagine sitting down for a meal at a restaurant with a view of the ocean. You are on vacation, and the restaurant’s décor includes fishnets, pictures of boats and taxidermied exemplars of the local catch. You order a plate of shrimp, reasonably expecting it to have come from nearby waters.

Way too often it comes from thousands of miles away, Dave Williams told a small crowd at the Louisiana Shrimp Festival on a summer-hot day in New Orleans last fall. “And that’s despicable,” he said.

Mr. Williams is a commercial fisheries scientist who was in New Orleans to shed light on what he considers an epidemic problem: restaurants and festivals misrepresenting imported shrimp as locally caught. In many cases, diners are paying for what they think is more expensive, high-quality wild Gulf shrimp, but is actually an inferior product produced by an aquaculture industry that has a history of labor abuse. A 2020 study by Louisiana State University found two thirds of imported shrimp samples purchased in Baton Rouge contained banned veterinary drugs.

These farm-raised imports from Asia and South America have flooded the U.S. market, depressing prices. Fishing communities along the Gulf Coast have been decimated and livelihoods destroyed in part because the domestic shrimp industry is being pushed to the edge of extinction.

Mr. Williams founded a company, SEAD Consulting, that developed a genetic test to rapidly identify seafood species. He is using the technology to expose restaurants and festivals misrepresenting their seafood offerings, especially shrimp.

Read the full story at The New York Times

New study paints gloomy picture of climate change’s impact on commercial fishing

April 22, 2025 — A new study of some of California’s most commercially significant aquatic species paints a grim picture for the future of the state’s fishing industry under the growing threat of climate change.

The study, compiled by a host of researchers including federal and state scientists as well as researchers from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis, looked at 34 aquatic species in an attempt to gauge how each would fare under predicted climate change scenarios.

Among the species studied were Dungeness crab, red abalone, Pacific herring, Pismo clams, pink shrimp, Pacific bonito and California spiny lobster. The group ranked each by their level of vulnerability to changing environmental conditions.

“The most striking thing that we found is that among the species that were ranked as the most highly vulnerable happened to also be some of California’s economically valuable and culturally important species,” said Mikaela Provost, assistant professor of fisheries ecology at UC Davis and co-author of the study.

California’s oceans are highly productive due to seasonal upwelling which keeps water temperatures cool and filled with nutrients. But models of future conditions forecast disruption through rising temperatures, deoxygenation and potential changes in circulation.

Read the full story at NBC Bay Area

Despite obstacles, US restaurants still banking on seafood for growth

April 18, 2025 — Though Americans’ economic concerns are driving many consumers to make more meals at home, U.S. restaurants are still banking on seafood for growth, and several seafood restaurant chains are expanding throughout the country as a result.

The prevalence of shellfish grew 3 percent on U.S. menus year over year in 2024, driven mainly by strong growth from shrimp, according to market research firm Circana. Servings of “other seafood” rose 1 percent due to strong growth from calamari, but fish dishes fell 3 percent during the year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Meetings Materials for the May 1 Northern Shrimp Section and Advisory Panel Meetings are Now Available

April 17, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Meeting materials for the Commission’s Northern Shrimp Section (Section) and Advisory Panel (AP) upcoming meetings are now available at https://asmfc.org/events/northern-shrimp-section-6/ and https://asmfc.org/events/northern-shrimp-advisory-panel-4/, respectively. Both groups will meet on Thursday, May 1, at the Hyatt Place Portland-Old Port, 433 Fore Street, Portland, Maine. The AP will meet from 9 – 11 AM to review public comment and provide input on Draft Amendment 4.

The Section will meet from 12 – 3 PM on the same day to select final management options and consider recommending final approval of Amendment 4 to the Commission; if the document is moved forward, the Business Session of the Commission will consider its final approval on May 8 as part of the Spring Meeting. The Section will also review the final report from the industry-based pilot winter sampling program. Draft Amendment 4 considers options for setting multi-year moratoria and the implementation of a management trigger. The management trigger would be comprised of a set of biological and/or environmental indicators that could signal when the northern shrimp stock in the Gulf of Maine is at a population level that could support sustainable fishery.

Webinar Information

Only the Section meeting will be available via webinar. To register for the webinar, please go to: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4876698453855280735 (Webinar ID: 137-901-131). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), you may also call in at +1 (415) 655-0052, access code 983-888-617. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, press the # key when asked for a PIN. The webinar will begin 15 minutes prior to the meeting so that people can troubleshoot any connectivity or audio issues they may encounter.  If you are having issues with the webinar (connecting to or audio related issues), please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.

Meeting Process

The Section Chair will ask both in-person and virtual board members if they wish to speak. In-person members can simply raise their hands at the meeting without logging on to the webinar, while virtual members will raise their hands on the webinar. The Chair will work with staff to compile the list of speakers, balancing the flow of questions/comments between in-person and virtual attendees. The same process will be used for public comment. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For more information, please contact Chelsea Tuohy, Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, atctuoy@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.    

 

New taxes are coming for imported shrimp. SC shrimpers say it’s about time.

December 3, 2024 — South Carolina shrimpers will begin to feel some relief from the pressures of cheap, imported frozen shrimp.

The U.S. International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce will impose added taxes on the seafood product that’s flooded the market in recent years.

For shrimpers, it’s a welcome reprieve from the years of price gouging that’s run many fishermen out of business.

For consumers, it can mean higher prices on the frozen warmwater shrimp commonly found at grocery stores like Walmart and Costco.

The influx of imported frozen shrimp and unfair trade practices have injured the domestic shrimping industry, the United States International Trade Commission ruled in November.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier

Shrimp from Thailand Removed from Labor Department’s Forced Labor List

September 9, 2024 — The Department of Labor (DOL) announced that it had removed shrimp from Thailand from the list of prohibited products linked to forced labor, according to a September 5 notice published in the Federal Register.  

The official list, “Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor” (E.O. List), was updated after the DOL said it had received proper information from multiple sources that indicated the use of forced labor had dwindled significantly. 

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

CAL’s Dean Pinkert calls on US shrimp buyers to investigate their Indian supply chains

April 4, 2024 — Dean Pinkert joined the Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.-based Corporate Accountability Lab, a non-governmental organization dedicated to advancing global human rights and environmental sustainability, as a special advisor in November 2021. He was one of the authors of “Hidden Harvest: Human Rights and Environmental Abuses in India’s Shrimp Industry,” a report released 20 March that presented evidence of labor issues at Indian shrimp hatcheries, farms, peeling sheds, and processing plants, as well as mangrove destruction and water contamination from shrimp farm effluent.

SeafoodSource:  Why did CAL decide to do such an in-depth investigation of India’s shrimp industry?

Pinkert: Forced labor is very close to the heart of CAL’s mission. We style ourselves as a human rights organization and also an organization that is interested in fostering a sustainable environment. So, when we became aware of the possibility that there were forced labor issues in India’s shrimp industry, we started to look very seriously into that.

I think that you also have to at least understand one piece of context, which is that the shrimp industries in other countries, [including] Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam, have previously faced a lot of criticism from human rights groups and investigative activities focused on labor abuses, including forced labor, but India had not. When there’s forced labor or environmental abuses in an industry and it looks like CAL can add value because those issues haven’t been fully investigated by human rights groups in the past, CAL is going to jump in and do it.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NFI Shares Seafood Industry Labor Principles Following India Shrimp Labor Abuse Reports

March 27, 2024 — Late last week, following the multiple reports on human rights and environmental abuse within India’s shrimp industry, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Executive Committee of the Board of Directors adopted and shared the “Seafood Industry Labor Principles, A Commitment By NFI Members.”

“There is no place for labor abuse in the seafood supply chain,” the document reads. “Every worker should have freedom of movement and no worker should be coerced to work.”

The Associated Press, Outlaw Ocean Project, and Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) all released reports last week exposing alleged labor abuse within India’s shrimp industry. Choice Canning Company, which has been exporting seafood products from India for the past 67 years, was named by a whistleblower in the report put out by Outlaw Ocean Project. According to the whistleblower, a 45-year-old American named Joshua Farinella, some Choice Canning workers were prohibited from leaving the facility. As general manager of Choice Canning’s plant six miles northeast of Amalapuram, Farinella also found himself covering up overcrowding when inspectors came, and even sending out shrimp that knowingly tested positive for antibiotics.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com