Saving Seafood

Gulf Council approves quotas for recreational red snapper fishery

April 5, 2019 — The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council announced on Thursday, 4 April, it approved plans for states to manage the red snapper recreational fishery for the upcoming season.

Pending the approval of U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, which is likely since he’s praised the ongoing pilot project, the five states will get the quota share they originally requested in their applications.

Florida holds the largest share with 44.8 percent of the allocation. Alabama will receive 26.3 percent. Louisiana will receive 19.1 percent, while Texas (6.2 percent) and Mississippi (3.6 percent) get the remainder.

For the second straight year, each state will now get to set its own recreational season and have jurisdiction over private anglers who fish up to 200 miles off the state’s coast.

Earlier this month, NOAA Fisheries gave final approval on a council decision to raise the recreational catch limit from 6.7 million pounds to 7.4 million pounds.

NOAA Fisheries also approved decreasing the target catch buffer to 9 percent. That puts the target at 6.3 million for this upcoming season, and the decreased buffer should give anglers more days in the season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

China to Cut Import Tariffs on More Than 200 Seafood Products on July 1, 2018

June 4, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — China will cut tariffs for more than 200 seafood imports as part of a move to lower tariffs for nearly 1,500 consumer goods, effective July 1, the Chinese Ministry for Finance announced last night.

On average, tariffs for all goods on the list were cut by 56 percent, according to the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

Tariff rates on major seafood imports, such as frozen pollock, cod fillets, sockeye salmon, and halibut, will drop from 10% to 7%. Frozen mussels, scallops and oysters will be 10% rather than 14%.  Fresh or chilled crab will be cut from 14% to 7% and fresh scallops, as an example, from 14% to 10%.

“Significantly reducing the import tariffs for daily consumer goods is conducive to expanding China’s opening-up and serves as a major measure and action of the country’s initiative to open its market,” the Ministry’s statement quoted an unnamed official of the commission as saying.

The average tariff rate for cultured and fished aquatic products and processed food such as mineral water will be cut from 15.2 percent to 6.9 percent, according to a statement released after the meeting.

The announcement came less than 48 hours before U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross lands in Beijing for “wide-ranging talks aimed at addressing American frustrations with China’s $375 billion bilateral trade surplus with the United States,” according to a May 31 report in the New York Times.

Ross will be in China from June 2 to June 4, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Last Tuesday, President Trump threatened further tariffs on Chinese goods, noting that China’s average tariff on imports was more than three times as high as US tariffs and nearly double that of the European Union. Ross announced that the US would begin imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the European Union at midnight on Thursday.

New York Times reporter Keith Bradsher noted that by cutting tariffs in more than 1,000 lightly traded categories, China could end up reducing its average tariff considerably without actually running the risk of a big surge in imports.

“The goods seeing cuts are not relevant to trade with the U.S.,” Derek Scissors, a trade specialist at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank told Bradsher. “For China, it fits the goal of moving up the value chain — heavy subsidies for semiconductors and now less protection for textiles and consumer appliances.”

This story was originally published by Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

Indian Shrimp Imports to US Up 20 Million Pounds from 2016; Accounts for 25% of Q1 Volume

May 5, 2017, Seafoodnews.com — The volume of Indian shrimp imported into the US market in the first quarter of the year exceeded 2016 levels by about 20 million pounds. Indian shrimp now represents more than a quarter of all imported volumes in the US market this year. According to shrimp import date from the US Department of Commerce, March imports increased 2.3 percent increase for the month. Overall imports are now down only 0.8 percent. Meanwhile, Indonesian imports were up for the month and for the year. Thailand and Vietnam imports are down sharply for the month while other supplying countries are mixed. Argentine imports remain up. Ecuador’s March imports were for the month but remain generally lower because of higher shipments to Asian and European markets. Ecuador is optimistic that it will sell more than 50 percent of its white shrimp production to Asia.

A former Louisiana official, an Alaskan fishery manager, and a Sea Grant program director are reportedly in the running to head the National Marine Fisheries Service. Robert Barham, Chris Oliver, and LaDon Swann are the three candidates that US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is expected to select from. It’s unclear when Ross — or the White House — will make that decision. Chris Olver has received overwhelming support from fishing associations in Alaska and across the country. Most recently a group of seven fishing groups from the Gulf of Mexico sent a letter to Ross in support of Oliver’s nomination.

In other news, the number of seafood items refused entry to the US market by the FDA fell in April, which dragged overall rejections for the year. Similar to last month, shrimp and filth remain the top species and reasons for refusals. However, shrimp rejections are about the same through the first four months of 2017 compared to last year. Filth is still the top violation but accounts for 40 percent of this year’s refusals versus the 60 percent share of rejections filth was responsible for in 2016.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Baker and Mass. congressional delegation urge federal officials to pay for ground fishing observers

August 19, 2015 — In an effort to reduce the financial burdens on the region’s struggling fishermen, Governor Charlie Baker and the state’s congressional delegation urged federal officials this week to pay for a controversial program that requires observers to monitor fishermen who catch cod, flounder, and other bottom-dwelling fish.

In a letter sent to the secretary of the US Department of Commerce, which oversees the nation’s fishing industry, Baker and the delegation expressed “serious concern” about a decision this year by the National Marine Fisheries Service to require the region’s fishermen to pay for the observer program.

Fishermen insist they can’t afford to pay for the observers, especially after major cuts to their quotas. The Fisheries Service estimates that it costs $710 a day every time an observer accompanies a fisherman to sea, and the agency’s research has suggested that requiring fishermen to cover those costs would cause about 60 percent of their boats to operate at a loss.

“To shift the cost of this ineffective program onto the fishery just as the industry begins to rebuild is not only imprudent, but irresponsible,” Baker and the delegation wrote. “This equates to an unfunded mandate that could lead to the end of the Northeast Groundfish Fishery as we know it.”

Read the full story at the Boston Globe