Top Story: Sen. Landrieu calls for more inspections of Indian shrimp 

News Summary: Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu who is locked in a tight re-election battle, has called for Customs to step up its inspection of Indian shrimp following the rejection of some containers by the EU for antibiotic residue. Landrieu says FDA action levels on many veterinary chemicals and antibiotics are often higher than Canada or Europe, and she wants to know whether shrimp rejected elsewhere will come here. Of course, the bureaucracy does not respond to a single Senator, but they are aware of political pressure. 

In other news, the Global Salmon initiative, a high profile effort by major salmon farming companies to lay the groundwork for sustainable expansion, has released its one year progress report prior to a meeting in Chile. The group, representing 70% of global production, has committed to ASC standards by 2020, and transparency about feed, conversion, disease and other issues. The aim is to create public acceptance of more intensive salmon farming to meet future global protein demand. 

Ocean Choice is getting its new Nova Scotia shrimp plant certified to Marks and Spencer Standards - which are more stringent than the BRC; and they also say the new plant is giving them some flexibility this year as Newfoundland quotas are cut back. OCI is unique among Newfoundland shrimp processors because they hold offshore quotas along with purchasing inshore shrimp. 

One market note today includes climbing sales of octopus in the US, and the flow of product here from Spain as EU market weakens. Spain has become the largest supplier of Octopus to our market. 

Finally, two Alaska stories are that just days after deploying to Cold Bay for the winter fishing season, the Coast Guard medevaced a crab crewman injured by a crab pot. Secondly, BC has given approval to the first in a series of mines threatening southeastern Alaska salmon streams. Similar to Pebble, but with less regulatory options, Alaskan fishermen are looking to the Boundary Waters Commission and Sen. Begich to help establish some safeguards.

John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts 

Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 

Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com

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