Saving Seafood

New England’s decades-old shrimp fishery, a victim of climate change, to remain closed indefinitely

December 4, 2023 — New England’s long-shuttered shrimp business, which fell victim to warming waters, will remain in a fishing moratorium indefinitely, fishery regulators ruled on Friday.

The shrimping business was based mostly in Maine and produced small, pink shrimp that were a winter delicacy in New England and across the country. The industry has been in a moratorium since 2013 in large part because environmental conditions off New England are unfavorable for the cold water-loving shrimp.

That moratorium will remain in effect with no firm end date, a board of the regulatory Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted Friday. The board stopped short of calling the move a permanent moratorium because it included a provision to continue monitoring the shrimp population and consider reopening the fishery if the crustaceans approach a healthy level.

But it was clear board members saw little chance of a future for a fishery that once provided a beloved seafood item that appeared on restaurant menus and in seafood markets every year around Christmas.

Read the full story at News Center Maine

US Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery pursuing MSC, RFM certifications

May 1, 2023 — The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) announced on 28 April it will pursue Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Certified Seafood Collaborative (CSC) Responsible Fisheries Management certification of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico fishery.

ASPA has contracted with certification body Global Trust Certification to conduct sustainability assessments of the entire Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery for both eco-labels.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Gulf shrimpers brace for offshore wind

August 25, 2022 — Trae Cooper risks punctures to the fiberglass hull of his grandfather’s boat every time he pulls out into the gray waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Trawling for shrimp that swim along Louisiana’s muddy coast means coexisting with the forgotten pipelines, corroded steel, gnawed plastic and bits of iron that the oil industry left behind as it marched gradually through these marshes and out to sea.

And that’s why Cooper, 39, and many shrimpers in the region say they know enough to worry as a new industry crops up in the Gulf of Mexico: offshore wind.

They wonder if transmission lines will add to the dangers that shrimpers and other commercial fishers already have to dodge, if turbines will take away places they could be shrimping, and if its planning will be done with shrimpers’ input taken seriously.

“If you got a whole field of wind turbines, you may knock out 2 miles of our fishing grounds. That’s a problem, not mentioning the transmission and everything that goes into it,” Cooper said.

Offshore wind appears imminent in the Gulf, one branch of President Joe Biden’s push to lift 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, helping to decarbonize the nation’s electricity grid in a fight against climate change. The administration is planning a first Gulf offshore wind auction by early next year, after finishing an environmental review of the industry’s impacts — including to marine life and fisheries.

Read the full story at E&E News

Shrimp starring on summer menus as restaurant sales rise

June 27, 2022 — Many U.S. restaurant operators are choosing shrimp to be the start of their summer menus, thanks to its steady pricing and availability compared to other seafood species.

Shrimp sales to the U.S. foodservice sector rebounded in 2021 from a significant drop in 2020 that was brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Roughly 275 million pounds of shrimp was sold to foodservice channels in 2021, up by 50 million pounds from 2020, according to data shared during the National Fisheries Institute Global Seafood Market Conference in January 2022.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

How warming ocean temperatures wiped out Maine’s shrimp industry

June 24, 2022 — Shrimp is one of the iconic New England meals.

Unfortunately, Gulf of Maine shrimp or northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) are a cold-water species and New England is on the very southern tip of their range.

They occur from the Arctic to northern New England and are one species that is so temperature-dependent that we could use them as an indicator to detect climate changes.

Since 2014 fishing for northern shrimp has been banned in the United States. The stock in our area has decreased to the point where they are not reproducing. This is not due to overfishing; it is directly due to the temperature of the water. They have simply moved north to colder Canadian waters.

Read the full story at The Portsmouth Herald

Coast Guard Searches for Poachers From Mexico Stealing Fish From U.S.

May 24, 2022 — At Hooked on Seafood, red snapper fetches a premium price. For fishermen, the tasty fruit of the Gulf of Mexico is like striking gold.

“Red snapper is the hottest commodity in the U.S., here in this border,” Hooked on Seafood owner Chris Johnson said.

But its high demand attracts schools of poachers from across the border.

“They’re taking our money out of our waters and selling it right back to us, and we’re paying to do it every day,” Johnson continued.

He’s a fishmonger and fisherman on Texas’ South Padre Island. He bellows a decades-long lament — illegal fishing operations from Mexico zip through the boundary waters poaching red snapper, shark, and shrimp by the thousands.

Read the full story at Seafood News

US certifies countries and fisheries for wild shrimp imports

May 17, 2022 — The United States has certified 37 countries, 13 fisheries in seven other nations, and Hong Kong as having shrimp-harvesting practices that protect sea turtle populations, according to the U.S. State Department.

The State Department’s findings were published last week in the Federal Register and publicized in a press release issued Monday, 16 May, 2022. The determinations means wild-caught shrimp from those countries are eligible to be imported into the U.S.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

California Seeks to Modify Coldwater Pink Shrimp Management

March 31, 2022 — Rules that Oregon and Washington pink shrimp trawlers are already accustomed to may be implemented in California soon.

The California Fish and Game Commission will consider changes to its pink shrimp fishery management plan when it meets in June.

“The effort to develop and implement this FMP began in 2017, and the adoption of the FMP by the Commission is expected in April 2022,” the Notice of Proposed Regulations reads, although the Commission calendar now has the action scheduled in June. “The purpose of the FMP and its implementing regulation is to update the management of California’s pink shrimp fishery to be in line with Oregon and Washington. Updating the fishery’s management would also assist the fishery in obtaining the Marine Stewardship Council certification. This effort is expected to result in a more sustainable and less environmentally impactful fishery.”

Read the full story at Seafood News

Large-sized shrimp a foodservice winner during COVID-19 pandemic

February 23, 2022 — Shrimp sales to the U.S. foodservice sector rebounded in 2021 from a significant drop in 2020 caused by the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While overall sales haven’t yet caught up to 2019, shifts in demand favored larger-sized shrimp and easier-to-prep trims, according to data shared during the National Fisheries Institute Global Seafood Market Conference in January 2022.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Louisiana Seafood Economic Damage Assessment Opens Door For U.S. Seafood To Assess Treatment in Disasters

February 1, 2022 — Halfway between Lafayette and Abbeville on Highway U.S. 167 is the little town of Maurice.  A short hop-skip and a jump off the highway lays a backyard seafood store known for some of the freshest, highest quality shrimp and seafood in the state. Instead of a garage you find a homemade freezer housing Granger’s Seafood’s own brand of shrimp, crab, alligator, and other Louisiana products.  Problem; like a lot of the rest of Louisiana seafood industry theirs is in jeopardy of disappearing.

Al and Cheryl Granger business was not physically damaged by any of the six major storms hitting the state during the past two-years.  But like those to the east and west of them that were, they are struggling to survive.

“That Hurricane Ida in the east makes me cry for those people, we were blessed over here,” said Cheryl Granger who operates the store while her husband shrimps.

Read the full story at Gulf Seafood News