Saving Seafood

CALIFORNIA: As Salmon and Squid Seasons Rebound, New Questions

August 4, 2021 — Over the last few months, hundreds of boats have been fishing off of—or transiting along—Santa Cruz County’s coastline. Industry analysts report plenty of bright spots in both the salmon and squid markets this season. But after some scientific studies were scuttled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, and other research couldn’t be completed due to wildfires, fisheries management is still undergoing its own pandemic comeback, as climate change fears remain ever-present.

“It’s definitely been a good season,” Scotts Valley resident Hans Haveman, the CEO of H&H Fresh Fish at the Santa Cruz Harbor says during a late-June interview. “Unfortunately, regulation from the state and feds have shut us down right when it’s goin’ good.”

SALMON STOCK

Serious drought conditions in California have led to less water moving through the Klamath River Basin, up north near the Oregon-California state line, prompting the state’s largest native tribe, the Yurok, to warn in May that “unless groundwater extraction is moderated, it is a virtual certainty that Chinook and Coho salmon will not be able to reach their spawning grounds due to insufficient flows for migration.” Its fisheries department discovered an “extremely abnormal” number of juvenile salmon dying, with 97% of the small fish infected by a parasite called C. shasta. And when authorities are forced to take action to mitigate such problems, the effects ripple down to Santa Cruz County, Haveman says.

“They don’t want us to catch any of the fish from the Klamath River—like, zero,” he says, explaining how restrictions in other areas increased the number of Chinook, or king, salmon fishermen docked here. “That pretty much makes Monterey Bay the hotspot for the entire fleet.”

The season started with a bang. At one point there were about 45 salmon boats with slips in Santa Cruz, according to harbor staff. Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, a trade association representing West Coast commercial fishers, said the price was good, too—$12 a pound for king—at the outset.

Read the full story at Good Times

U.S. squid producers ally with others to fight illegal fishing

July 21, 2021 — Several prominent U.S squid producers and suppliers have joined with European, Canadian and Australian counterparts in creating a new international working group to fight illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing through their global supply chains.

Working with technical support from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, the new IUU working group includes:

  • Aqua Star, Seattle
  • Beaver Street Fisheries, Jacksonville, Fla.
  • Crocker & Winsor Seafoods, Needham, Mass.
  • Lund’s Fisheries, Cape May, N.J.
  • Netuno, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
  • Panapesca, Pembroke, Mass.
  • Sun Coast Calamari, Oxnard, Calif.
  • The Town Dock, Narragansett, R.I.

The Squid IUU Prevention Working Group was formed by members of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable (Global Squid SR), which brings together squid producers and suppliers to work together in a pre-competitive environment to drive improvement efforts in squid fisheries practices, management and policy.

“As importers and distributors of processed squid products, the Working Group members are united in their desire to clearly prohibit IUU-sourced squid product and labor and human rights abuses in their supply chains,” according to a statement from the partnership, an international marine conservation group founded in 2006.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces Final Rule for the 2021-2023 Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Specifications

July 21, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is finalizing the Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish quotas for the 2021-2023 fishing year and reaffirms 2021 chub mackerel specifications as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

This action:

  • Maintains the 2020 specifications through 2022 for Atlantic mackerel (19,184 mt acceptable biological catch (ABC)), through 2021 for Illex squid (30,000 mt ABC), and through 2023 for longfin squid (23,400 mt ABC).
  • Reduces the butterfish allowable catch by 72 percent, from the current 22,752 mt to 6,350 mt in for the remainder of 2021. Given recent catch trends, this reduction is not expected to negatively impact the commercial fishing industry.
  • Maintains the 3,884 mt butterfish catch cap in the longfin squid fishery.
  • Implements 48-hour Illex reporting after July 15 for commercial dealers for the remainder of the fishing year. Tthe current requirement is weekly reporting.
  • Increases the Illex squid ABC from the 30,000 mt ABC in the proposed rule to 33,000 mt in the final rule.
  • Changes the Illex closure threshold to 94 percent from 95 percent.
  • Reaffirms the previously approved 2021 through 2022 chub mackerel specifications.

For more information, read the final rule as filed today in the Federal Register and our bulletin.

Read the full release here

Biggest squid producers, suppliers form group to fight IUU fishing

July 19, 2021 — Some of the biggest names in the global squid sector have joined forces to fight for the elimination of products sourced from illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing from entering the market.

The newly formed Squid IUU Prevention Working Group was formed by companies including Spain’s Congalsa, WOFCO, and Grupo Alfrio; Australia’s Bidfood; the U.K.’s Sea Farms Ltd.; Canada’s Export Packers; and U.S. firms Netuno, The Town Dock, Panapesca, Beaver Street Fisheries, Lund’s Fisheries, Sun Coast Calamari, and Crocker and Winsor Seafoods. The companies have promised to address IUU squid fishing through global squid supply chains, seeking to rid domestic and international markets of IUU-tainted squid product.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Illex Squid Assessment Stakeholder Session Reminder

July 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The Research Track stock assessment for Illex (shortfin) squid, includes a virtual stakeholder listening session on July 13th, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Agenda:

  1. Welcome, introductions, meeting purpose

  2. Brief overview of the assessment, key Terms of Reference, and an update on where the Working Group is in the process

  3. Questions/ideas regarding progress already made, or work yet to be done

  4. Additional input and/or broader questions

  5. Wrap-up and next steps

To join this session, please register using this RSVP link no later than July 12th. If you are unable to attend but would like to add a question or comment, you can submit one in the RSVP link.

Once you have registered, a WebEx meeting link will be sent to the email address you provide.

Additional information can be found on the Illex Working Group webpage

We hope that you can join us.

Read the full release here

China to pause squid fishing in Pacific, Atlantic breeding grounds

June 29, 2021 — China has announced a temporary ban on its fishing fleet — the world’s biggest — from catching squid in parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans after overfishing pushed populations to the brink of collapse.

China reels in as much as 70 percent of the global squid catch, and its vessels sail as far as West Africa and Latin America to sate the growing appetite for seafood in the country.

But Chinese vessels will suspend operations in major global squid spawning grounds in the southwest Atlantic near Argentina from Thursday until September 30, and parts of the Pacific from September to November, the agriculture ministry said Monday.

The ban follows an international backlash against China’s giant overseas fleet, with claims that they are overfishing and damaging fragile marine ecosystems.

Areas covered by the moratorium are breeding grounds for two of the most popular squid varieties — the Argentine shortfin squid and the Humboldt squid.

Populations of the Argentine shortfin have been low in recent years, with the average catch by Chinese vessels in the southwest Atlantic only 50 tonnes in 2019 compared with up to 2,000 tonnes previously, according to the China squid fishing association.

Read the full story at MSN

ANALYSIS: Squid Imports Rapidly Diminishing Year-Over-Year

June 17, 2021 — Imported squid volumes, prior to 2019, typically trended at 160 million pounds of product entering the United States per year on average. This figure took a massive hit in 2019 when tariffs were implemented on product from China, the main supplying country of squid into the U.S. This resulted in a drop of about 33.3 million pounds from the country. Enter a global pandemic and imports continue to downtrend as 2020 brought in 99 million pounds of squid products, or 65 million pounds less than the previous historical average.

In looking at how 2021 is shaping up, with import information available through April 2021, the year-to-date totals are at least tracking steady or above the previous two years. However, they are falling about 10 million pounds below the typical year-to-date average of this time frame.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Oceana reports Chinese, Spanish squid vessels ‘going dark’ off Argentina

June 4, 2021 — A South Atlantic shortfin squid fishery is dominated by distant-water fleets off Argentina, primarily Chinese vessels that account for an estimated 69 percent of fishing activity, according to a new report by the environmental group Oceana.

From Jan. 1, 2018 to April 25, 2021, the group documented more than 800 foreign-flag vessels logging more than 900,000 hours of apparent fishing activity, based on analysis of Automatic Identification System (AIS) data.

That analysis also showed vessels regularly “went dark” – apparently turning off their AIS transponders – effectively dropping out of sight for 600,000 hours in all. Some 66 percent of those outages involved Chinese vessels, raising the possibility of masked illegal fishing, such as intruding into Argentina’s exclusive economic zone, according to Oceana researchers.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NOAA Fisheries Announces Proposed Rule for the 2021-2023 Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Specifications

May 26, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries proposes Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish quotas for the 2021-2023 fishing years and reaffirms 2021 chub mackerel specifications as recommended by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

This action would:

  • Maintain the 2020 specifications through 2022 for Atlantic mackerel, (19,184 mt ABC), through 2021 for Illex squid (30,000 mt ABC), through 2023 for longfin squid (23,400 mt ABC).
  • Reduce the butterfish allowable catch by 72 percent, from the current 22,752 mt to 6,350 mt in for the remainder of 2021. Allowable catch for butterfish in 2022 would increase to 11,495 mt. Given recent catch trends, this reduction is not expected to negatively impact the commercial fishing industry.
  • Maintain the 3,884 mt butterfish catch cap in the longfin squid fishery.
  • Implement 48-hour Illex reporting after July 15 for commercial dealers for the remainder of the fishing year (the current requirement is weekly reporting.).
  • Change the Illex closure threshold to 94 percent from 95 percent.
  • Reaffirm the previously approved 2021 through 2022 chub mackerel specifications.

Read the proposed rule as published today in the Federal Register. Supporting documents for this rule are available on the MAFMC website.

Comments on this rule must be received by 5 pm on June 10, 2021 and may be submitted though the online portal.

Questions?

Industry: Aly Pitts, Regional Office, 978-281-9352

Media: Contact Allison Ferreira, Regional Office, 978-281-9103

Northeast squid: Recovery slow, but Rhode Island harvesters welcome restaurants’ return

May 4, 2021 — More than half of all squid landings in the Northeast come from Rhode Island. But last year, as a result of the pandemic, some Rhode Island fleets saw earnings dip by 30 percent.

Jason Didden, a fishery management specialist at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, says that so far in 2021, total longfin landing are off to a slow start at less than 5 million pounds landed, compared to this time last year when around 11 million pounds had been landed. Illex season typically gets started in May and 2021 squid quotas are the same as 2020: 23,400 metric tons for longfin and 30,000 metric tons for illex. (The illex quota was expected to be reviewed in May.)

Coming off a troubling year has taken great effort. Kat Smith, Director of marketing and communications at Town Dock, a large processor distributor based in Narragansett, R.I., says “at this point, things are still not back to normal — although we’re glad that the light at the end of the tunnel gets closer every day. There continues to be a global shipping container shortage, covid-related disruptions, and now, the Suez Canal issue, all of which have supply chain impacts for seafood and many other industries.” 

Two Town Dock products, says Smith, Rhode Island calamari (longfin inshore squid) and premium domestic calamari (northern shortfin squid), which are both caught in Rhode Island and are Marine Stewardship Council certified sustainable, are always popular.

“When we look at our foodservice offerings, we are certainly better than this time last year — restaurants are ramping up with states’ reopening plans, and more people are vaccinated and excited to go out to eat. Calamari — and seafood, in general — has also enjoyed year-over-year growth in retail and grocery stores. The demand is very good; once the supply chain has sorted itself out, we are excited for the opportunities ahead.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman