Saving Seafood

Coronavirus hinders Bay cleanup efforts, seafood industry

March 27, 2020 — Watermen have no restaurants that can buy their catches. Help for farmers who want to install runoff controls has been sharply curtailed. Streams throughout the region are missing their annual spring cleaning. And many students are losing their chance to experience the Chesapeake Bay firsthand.

The impact of the novel coronavirus, barely on the radar only a few months ago, is rippling through the Chesapeake Bay region, with impacts felt from Pennsylvania farm fields to Eastern Shore oyster grounds. While some impacts are minor, such as the postponement of meetings and cleanup events, others could become significant if the COVID-19 crisis lingers, potentially creating another setback for Bay pollution control initiatives.

While some point to slivers of positive news — air pollution is down — the near-shutdown of business activity is likely to slam state budgets in coming months, and possibly years, at a time when they had hoped to significantly increase spending on the Bay cleanup.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Chesapeake seafood industry suffers as coronavirus closes restaurants

March 27, 2020 — The Chesapeake Bay’s seafood industry has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, as buyers dry up for oysters and prices plummet for fish and crabs.

Watermen say they’ve given up on the final weeks of the oyster season, as restaurant and raw bar closures have deprived them of lucrative markets for their catch.

“It’s very drastic,” said Robert T. Brown Sr., president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. “I’ve seen things bad, but I’ve never seen them like this before.”

Oyster farmers say they’re idled for the same reason, though some are trying to eke out some direct sales to consumers. Ted Cooney, founder of Madhouse Oysters on Hooper’s Island on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, said sales suddenly stopped at a time when they’re usually selling 100 or more boxes of bivalves every week.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Chesapeake crab industry remains crippled by visa shortage, coronavirus

March 20, 2020 — Responding to employers’ calls, including those of crab meat processing companies in Virginia and Maryland, the federal government announced March 5 that it would release an additional 35,000 temporary visas for foreign workers.

That still may not be enough to quench the Chesapeake Bay seafood houses’ demand for temporary workers, according to the trade group that represents the industry. And they may still arrive too late to help much or perhaps get stuck on the other side of the border, as the United States today closed its Mexican border for unessential travel because of coronavirus concerns.

Several seafood company owners and watermen had implored the Trump administration to issue 64,000 more visas, the cap set by Congress.

Jack Brooks, co-owner of J.M. Clayton Seafood Co. in Cambridge, MD, and president of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association, said he expects a worker shortfall, despite the government’s action.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

ASMFC Spring Meeting – Cancelled

March 17, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission leadership has decided to cancel its Spring Meeting (May 4- 7) in Arlington, VA. This action is taken in response to the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to cancel or postpone gatherings of 50 people or more over the next eight weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result of the cancellation, our August Meeting may be extended to 4 days (August 3-6) and Commissioners and proxies are being asked to keep their calendars open for May 5 & 6 in order to conduct any necessary Commission or species management board business via webinars/conference calls. The details of any scheduled webinars will be announced as they become available.

The Commission’s Spring Meeting agenda included a number of important issues.  Commission staff, Board Chairs, and Commission leadership will develop plans to address each of the agenda items.  It is anticipated that non-urgent items will be postponed until the Summer Meeting, and items that require action prior to August will either be handled through via webinars/conference calls or through email votes, depending on stakeholder interest. Conducting meetings via webinars/conference calls makes public comment somewhat difficult. Therefore, members of the public are encouraged to submit comments in advance of a meeting to be included in briefing materials.

ASMFC 2020 Spring Meeting Preliminary Agenda and Public Comment Guidelines

March 11, 2020 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

Please find attached and below the preliminary agenda and public comment guidelines for the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2020 Spring Meeting, May 4-7, 2020, in Arlington, VA. The agenda is also available at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2020-spring-meeting.  Included in the attachment are the travel authorization form, travel reimbursement guidelines, and directions to the hotel. Materials will be available on April 22, 2020 on the Commission website at http://www.asmfc.org/home/2020-spring-meeting. Currently, we are moving forward with our Spring Meeting. However, we continue to monitor the progress of the coronavirus and will notify you should we need to make any changes to the meeting.   

A block of rooms is being held at The Westin Crystal City, 1800 S. Eads Street, Arlington, VA  22202. Cindy Robertson will make Commissioner/Proxy reservations and will contact you regarding the details of your accommodations. Please notify Cindy of any changes to your travel plans that will impact your hotel reservations, otherwise you will incur no-show penalties. We greatly appreciate your cooperation.

For all other attendees, please reserve online via Star Group Website at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/or call The Westin Crystal City at 703.486.1111 as soon as possible and mention the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to obtain the group room rate of $256.00 plus tax single/dbl. Please be aware you must guarantee your room reservation with a major credit card or one night’s advance payment. Hotel reservations must be made by Monday, April 6, 2020.  Room availability will not be guaranteed beyond this date.  If you are being reimbursed by ASMFC for your travel, please make your reservation directly with the hotel. Reservations made through travel websites do not apply toward our minimum number of required reservations with the hotel. Please note, cancellations at The Westin must be made by 4:00 p.m. two days prior to arrival to avoid penalty and an early departure fee of $100 will apply when checking out prior to the confirmed date. If you have any problems at all regarding accommodations please contact Cindy at 703.842.0740 or at crobertson@asmfc.org.

Chesapeake Bay crab industry pleads for more temporary foreign workers

March 4, 2020 — Maryland and Virginia seafood industry leaders say they won’t have enough workers to process crabs this season unless the federal government once again raises its cap on temporary foreign workers.

Federal immigration officials announced last month that they had doled out the national limit of 33,000 work visas, which are in effect for six months beginning April 1. That was far short of the nearly 100,000 slots that employers had sought to fill.

In Maryland, seafood processors say they received roughly one-third of the 450 visas they need for this season, which also kicks off April 1. The shortage, they warn, could force some of the affected processing plants to close their doors for this season, with the possibility that they might never reopen because their customers and suppliers will have moved on.

Several dozen watermen, crab industry leaders and local elected officials gathered March 2 inside a picking house on Hooper’s Island in rural Dorchester County, MD, to passionately plea for the Trump administration to release 64,000 more visas, the limit set by Congress on how many can be added.

Read the full story at the Bay Journal

Omega Protein completes move of headquarters to Virginia

March 2, 2020 — Omega Protein officially announced on Monday, 2 March, that it completed moving its corporate headquarters from Houston, Texas, U.S.A., to Reedville, Virginia.

The company, a division of Canadian-based Cooke Inc., has a history in the Chesapeake Bay community dating back more than 100 years. As part of the effort to move corporate operations to Reedville, Omega Protein invested USD 1.3 million (EUR 1.2 million) in restoring the 1930s-era headquarters of an old fishing company in the region.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Virginia will cut its Chesapeake menhaden catch limit under bill passed by state lawmakers

March 2, 2020 — All seven of Omega Protein’s big blue purse-seine boats will head out on the chase for menhaden as usual this spring, but legislation passed by both the House of Delegates and state Senate could mean some will be tied up in their Reedville dock in the late summer and fall.

The General Assembly agreed to give up its authority to set quotas for menhaden and turn the job over to the Virginia Marine Fisheries Commission after the federal government imposed a moratorium. The final vote came Thursday.

That freeze came after Omega exceeded the multi-state Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s cap on its Chesapeake Bay catch last year.

But federal officials postponed implementing the moratorium until June — that is, a little after the usual May start of the fishing season, when Omega’s fleet mostly operates in the ocean — in order to give the General Assembly time to overturn its quota and authorize the state commission to adopt the multi-state group’s cap.

“This year will be a trial run for us,” Omega spokesman Ben Landry said.

Read the full story at The Daily Press

‘Grand Challenge’ review stresses global impact of microplastics

February 25, 2020 — Professor Rob Hale of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science is lead author of a new “Grand Challenges” paper commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the American Geophysical Union, the world’s largest association of Earth and space scientists with more than 60,000 members in 137 countries.

The paper, “A Global Perspective on Microplastics,” is co-authored by VIMS doctoral student Meredith Seeley and senior research scientist Dr. Mark LaGuardia, along with Drs. Lei Mai and Eddy Zeng of Jinan University in Guangzhou, China.

“Microplastics” are  fabricated for products like facial scrubs, or produced when physical, chemical, and biological forces break down larger pieces of plastic debris. There has been widespread concern among scientists and the public that these minute synthetic fragments are impacting .

AGU Executive Director/CEO Chris McEntee says the Grand Challenges “represent a special collection of open-access review papers with the shared goal of transforming Earth and space science to meet the challenges of today and the opportunities of tomorrow. They explore where major research and discovery are needed to address fundamental questions in our understanding of Earth and the solar system.”

Read the full story at PHYS.org

US Homeland Security to add 45,000 H-2B visas this year

February 25, 2020 — The U.S. seafood industry is on the verge of getting some good news as the Wall Street Journal has reported that the Department of Homeland Security plans to authorize an additional 45,000 H-2B visas.

H-2B visa allow non-agricultural businesses to fill seasonal jobs with immigrant labor. The program is vital for seafood processors, who claim they cannot find enough domestic workers to handle their needs.

Read the full story at Seafood Source