President Obama blocks oil and natural gas drilling in Bristol Bay  President Obama has indefinitely blocked any oil and natural gas drilling in Bristol Bay in an announcement that was praised by the WWF and local Alaskan fishing groups. Still, the overall impact the moratorium has on the region is relatively small since there are no drilling operations going on in the Bay. “Given the lack of interest by industry and the public divide over allowing oil and gas exploration in this area, I am not objecting to this decision at this time,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said in a written statement. “I think we all recognize that these are some of our state’s richest fishing waters.” The ban does come before the Obama’s Administration's draft plan for which federal waters it will propose to open up to energy development. In other news out of Washington DC, the US Presidential Task Force on IUU fishing released its recommendations of a comprehensive framework that will combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud. The Taskforce identified 20 steps it will take to fight IUU fishing. A public comment period on how to implement the recommendations is open until January 20th. Norwegian cod prices are up for larger fish and down for smaller ones after harvesters and processors accepted a recommendation in mediation. John Sackton reports that Norwegian prices are now quite similar to Newfoundland, where prices for top quality small and medium cod are comparable. Meanwhile, a majority of Chile’s salmon producers struck a major labor agreement with the country’s workforce that is expected to help operators improve expansion. The deal allows for workers and their employers to discuss pay rates, benefits and other major issues in an open forum. "This is an historic agreement that seeks to establish a new form of dialogue. I do not remember any link of this magnitude between producers and salmon worker" said Alejandro Salinas, director of labor group Corporation El Canelo de Nos. Finally, we feature a roundup of this week’s major market developments in the beef, pork, poultry, seafood and egg industries from Urner Barry Newswires’ Jamie Chadwick. Holiday trading trends were highlighted across many of the commodities this week as wholesalers and retailers either wrapped up the season’s business or are getting ready for one final push ahead of next week’s holiday.