Whittier Dock Fire Triggers State of Emergency as Peak Fishing and Cruise Season Arrives

Ten days after a devastating fire that destroyed much of the towns main dock, the city of Whittier, AK has declared a State of Emergency, according to news reports from KTUU.

The dock fire, triggered by an explosion around midnight July 7, resulted in the loss of life for a Cordova crewman aboard the F/V Alaganik, the sinking of that vessel, and the destruction of a barge and several vehicles, including crane equipment, on the dock. It was initially reported as caused by an...

Vietnam’s Low Basa Prices Produce Ripple Effect in China; Shrimp Sector Likely to Boost Exports

In early July, prices of Vietnam’s basa are reported to have dropped to the lowest level within the past three years, according to industry and media reports. Large basa are sold at only 19,500 VND per kg ($0.84/kg USD), which has declined by about 10,000 VND per kg ($0.43/kg USD) compared with January.

This is bad news for Vietnam’s basa industry and also buyers from China, who predicted further price increases due to the trade war...

Spanish Company Cocedero Invests €500,000 in Octopus Line

Spanish seafood company Cocedero announced this week that they are investing €500,000 in their octopus line. The investment involves the acquisition of various machinery, which the company says will allow them to not only grow their line of business, but improve the quality of the range.

According to Cocedero, the decision to invest in their octopus line is due to the recent increase in demand for Octopus, both within Spain and abroad.

"Its growing consumption results in an urgent need to improve production in order to produce more...

Sergey Darkin Aims to Become Leading Russian Fish Producer in the Years to Come

Sergey Darkin, a well-known Russian fishing tycoon and a former governor of Russia’s Primorsky Territory, plans to make the Nakhodka Base of Active Sea Fisheries (Nakhodkinskaya BAMR) subsidiary the largest fish processor in the Russian Far East within the next several years, according to some sources close to the businessman and some leading Russian analysts in the field of fish business.

As part of these plans, Nakhodkinskaya BAMR has recently launched deep-sea processing of squid, pollock and...

U.S. Consumers Care About Environmentally Friendly, Recycled Packaging When Shopping

U.S. consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability … but only if the sustainability claim falls under a specific category.

Nielsen released a study this past December reporting that consumers will spend up to $150 billion on sustainable products by 20201. However, they're not willing to pay more for every sustainability claim. A recent Omnibus study that polled more than 21,000 U.S. households found that consumers cared strongly about packaging – whether it's less packaging, recycled packaging or environmentally friendly packaging...

North Carolina Coast Guard Finds Federal Fisheries Violations on 5 Commercial Fishing Vessels

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fritch, stationed near Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, found violations aboard five commercial fishing vessels. According to a press release from the Coast Guard, the vessels were fishing for highly migratory species without Federal Fisheries Permits.

"Applying for and maintaining a Federal Fisheries Permit and abiding by appropriate catch limits facilitates NOAA's ability to regulate overfishing keeping the species healthy," said Lt. Brittany Fifer, Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Rollin Fitch...

EPA in Pacific Northwest Weighs in Against Pebble Mine, says Draft EIS Inadequate for Meaningful Analysis

We don’t yet know if the fix is in on Pebble, with some in the US government determined to push the mine forward regardless of the law and the facts.

But the EPA region 10 weighed in with comments essentially saying the draft environmental impact statement is garbage because it underestimates “risks to groundwater and surface water flows, water quality, wetlands, aquatic resources, and air quality from the Pebble Project.” 

EPA Region 10 Administrator Chris Hladick wrote in...

We'koqma'q First Nation Partners With Cooke Aquaculture on Sales, Marketing of Steelhead Trout

Nova Scotia's We'koqma'q First Nation announced on Monday that they are partnering with Cooke Aquaculture on the sale and marketing of their Bras d'Or Lakes grown steelhead trout.

"Our people have lived and flourished on the shores of the Bras d’Or Lakes for over 13,500 years, sustainably living and producing food in and around the Lakes for generations," We'koqma'q First Nation Chief Rod Googoo said in a press release. "The Cooke family business shares our belief that aquaculture can be...

5 Alaska Fishermen Rescued After Vessel Sinks Near Black Island

Five Alaska fishermen were rescued off of Black Island on Sunday thanks to the Coast Guard and Alaska State Trooper boat crews, as well as the crew of a good Samaritan vessel.

Fishing Vessel Daffnie sent a distress call at approximately 10:55 a.m. on Sunday, alerting the Coast Guard that their vessel had capsized and sunk. All five people on board were able to abandon ship into a skiff, however they only had one survival suit and one handheld radio...

Captain D's Launches Their Limited Time Lobster & Crab Celebration Menu

Need a reason to celebrate good food? Captain D's has you covered. The fast-casual seafood chain just launched their limited time Lobster & Crab Celebration.

"We have taken two delicious premium seafood choices, lobster and crab, and combined them to create enticing options this summer for our guests," said Bindi Menon, VP of National Marketing for Captain D's.

Diners who visit Captain D's locations will find seven new additions to the menu: Crab Cake, Fish & Shrimp Meal; Lobster Rolls; Lobster Bites, Fish & Shrimp Meal...

Bristol Bay Run Could Reach 50M Sockeye, if Port Moller Results are in Line with Previous Years

The most recent report from the Port Moller Test Fishery came last Saturday and announced that test fishing will start Sunday at Station 12 and fish shoreward through today. 

“Our fishing strategy for the July 16-17 will depend on catch results over the next two days,” said PMTF lead scientist Scot Rayborn.

“Missed inner and outer stations over the last several days notwithstanding, what was sampled indicates there is still some strength left to the run,” Rayborn wrote in an email...

China's Value as Huge Shrimp Market Results in Both Foreign Winners and Losers

With China’s new generation of consumers attaching more and more importance to a healthy lifestyle, seafood has become increasingly popular in the Asian market. It is luring seafood suppliers all over the world with its great market potential, according to media reports. This year, some suppliers have seen increases in their shrimp exports to China, but some have not.

India is one of the winners in promoting its shrimps to this oriental country. In May alone, it sold...

Unusual Die-Offs of Pink Salmon, Marine Mammals, Seabirds, and Krill in Alaska’s Northwest Frontier

North of Bristol Bay, where sockeye salmon are plugging nets and processing plants, residents in Alaska’s northwest frontier are witnessing unusual die-offs of pink salmon, whales, seals, walruses, sea birds, and even krill this summer.

The area is vast even by Alaska standards, stretching north and west of Bristol Bay. Mariners traveling north from the Bay will first cross Kuskokwim Bay into which flows the Kuskokwim River, then the frayed channels of the Yukon River, before entering Norton Sound...

Japanese Fishing Co. Ordered to Pay $1.5 Million Fine For Attempting to Cover Up Illegal Pollution

Fukuichi Gyogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Fukuichi), a Japanese fishing company, was convicted and sentenced last week in the District of Guam for two violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, and one count of obstruction of an agency proceeding.

According to the Department of Justice, the F/V Fukuichi Maru No. 112 discharged waste oil and oily bilge into international waters. The company then attempted to cover up those discharges when the vessel was being inspected by...

FISH-NL Seeking Immediate Halt to All Fishing for Northern Cod Outside Stewardship Fishery

Following a recently published research paper that offers an "alternative" view on the state of northern cod stock, the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador (FISH-NL) are calling for an immediate halt to all fishing for northern cod outside of the small-scale stewardship fishery.

Late last month George Rose and Carl Walters published a research paper titled "The State of Canada's Iconic Northern Cod: A Second Opinion." In the paper, Rose challenges the DFO's current model that estimates the size of...

Alaska Fisheries Budget Fares Better Than Most

This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – 

Commercial fisheries have fared far better than most other state sectors in terms of Governor Mike Dunleavy’s budget cuts. Doug Vincent-Lang is Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner.

“And I think to give the governor credit he recognized the return on investment. It’s a theme I had all the way through the legislature is that we take a $200m budget of which about $50 million is UGF and we turn that into an...

Congressmen Young and Van Drew Introduce Bipartisan Magnuson-Stevens Act Reauthorization

Today, Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ) introduced H.R. 3697, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act. Today is exactly one year from the day of last action on the same bill in the 115th Congress which passed the House on July 11, 2018 and and was received in the Senate on July 12, 2018. That day, the bill was read twice before being referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation...

Maine Gov. Mills Directs State to Present Alternative Plan to Protect Endangered Right Whales

Maine's govenor has asked the director of the Maine Department of Marine Resources to craft a new plan for the state's lobster industry to help protect endangered right whale from gear entanglements. 

Governor Janet Mills says she won’t allow “foolish” regulations to make life harder for the state’s fishermen, according to a report from the Portland Press Herald yesterday.

NOAA Fisheries has asked Maine for a detailed plan by September to reduce the lobster industry’s threat to right whales by 60 percent. Federal regulators say entanglement ...

NY/NJ Baykeeper Deploys 1 Million Oysters in Raritan Bay

NY/NJ Baykeeper, an organization that aims to protect, preserve and restore the ecological integrity and productivity of the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary, announced that they have deployed one million oysters in the Raritan Bay.

The juvenile oysters were transported from Leonardo State Marina and taken to the Living Shoreline at Naval Weapons Station Earle (NWSE), where they were introduced by scientists working with NY/NJ Baykeeper. According to a press release from the organization, the oyster larvae are grown at the NWSE facility and then released...

How a NOAA Aerial Whale Survey Team Aided Canadian Rescuers in Effort to Disentangle Right Whale

The NOAA Fisheries aerial whale survey team worked with Canadian rescuers last week in an effort to entangle one of the three North Atlantic right whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

On July 9 the aerial whale survey team was flying over the Gulf of St. Lawrence to document where, and which right whales are using habitat in the area. It was during that aerial survey that they spotted entangled whale #4440. Fading light and low fuel resulted in....

ASC Revises Salmon and Freshwater Trout Standard

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) announced last week that they have revised their Salmon and Freshwater Trout Standard following a "rigorous multi-stakeholder, science-based review process." According to the organization, the update is part of their ongoing commitment to "continuously improve standards and adapt to changes in the industry."

The update to the Salmon and Freshwater Trout Standard will resolve any inconsistencies between the two standards. Moving forward, all freshwater salmonid farming, including salmon smolt production, will now be audited against the...

'Deadliest Catch' Star Sig Hansen Helps Launch Resqunit's Canadian Operations

Sig Hansen, star of Discovery Channel's hit TV series "Deadliest Catch," was on hand at Dartmouth's Centre for Ocean Venture & Entrepreneurship's Start-Up Yard in Nova Scotia to help Resqunit launch their new Canadian operations.

Resqunit is a flotation device that secures fishing gear and prevents gear from getting lost. The device is attached to lobster traps or crab pots, and when the gear gets lost, or is under water for a certain period of time, the Resqunit is released, bringing the gear back up to the surface...

Coast Guard Coordinates Complex Rescue of 2 Fishermen More than 1300 Miles Southwest of San Diego 

On Friday the U.S. Coast Guard 11th District Pacific Southwest coordinated the rescue of two Mexican fishermen who were injured while their fishing vessel was more than 1300 miles southwest of San Diego in international waters.

The two men were part of the tuna fishing fleet Pesca Azteca. On Tuesday evening a crane on the f/v Mazatun collapsed while recovering nets. The crane collapse injured three people, with two of them suffering serious head and leg injuries...

Urner Barry Rolls Out Updated Foreign Trade Data Platform

New Site to Include Red Meat Import/Export Stats for the First Time Ever

Urner Barry, the leading provider of protein market news and information in the food industry, is pleased to announce the launch of a new and improved Foreign Trade Data service, complete with newly added Customs and Census data for pork, beef, lamb and veal.

Foreign Trade Data has long provided detailed information on each and every frozen, waterborne shipment of seafood entering the United States, with records being updated regularly with the most recent data available. Now, U.S. Customs export data has also been newly added for seafood. Subscribers can now track Customs exports of crab and other species.

And for the first time ever, Foreign Trade Data subscribers will have access to the latest intelligence surrounding red meat imports and exports. Users can...

Amazon Prime Day: 5 Seafood Organizations You Can Support For Free While You Shop

This Amazon Prime Day you have a chance to score epic deals – all while making a donation to an organization aiding the seafood industry. And the best part is that you don't have to spend an extra dime!

Prime Day is a shopping event for Amazon Prime subscribers that runs July 15 and July 16. Throughout the day subscribers will be able to score "epic deals" on a wide range of items. However, what many don't realize is that if they shop via AmazonSmile...

Alaska’s Fisheries No Longer the Gold Standard, as Budget Fiasco Threatens Research and Management

[The Winding Glass is an opinion and commentary column from SeafoodNews Founder and Publisher John Sackton.]

For nearly 40 years, Alaska has been the gold standard in Global Fisheries.  State management brought wild salmon back from the brink of commercial extinction in many rivers, so that today Bristol Bay, for example, is consistently producing bigger runs than in the past 100 years.

State management also lived by a few broad principles. Fisheries sustainability was written into the Alaska constitution. And decisions were guided by science...

Bristol Bay Catches Continue Up a Week After the Season’s Historical Peak

It’s Friday in the second week in July which, in Alaska, means the Bristol Bay salmon season should be winding down. Catch figures, however, say anything but. 

Since ADF&G’s last report early yesterday, another 2.2 million sockeyes have been landed in the state, of which 1.9 million came from Bristol Bay. 

Total Bristol Bay sockeye landings to date are now 28.3 million, with the breakdown in river districts below.

The Naknek-Kvichak District saw an increase of almost .7 million sockeyes to reach a cumulative total of...

VIDEO: Maine's Lobster Bait Crisis; Sea Shepherd Petition; Prime Day; Protecting Right Whales

Join SeafoodNews Weekly Video hosts Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione as they talk about Maine's lobster bait crisis; Sea Shepherd's petition against imported New Zealand seafood; Amazon Prime Day deals involving seafood; annd what's being done to protect the North Atlantic Right Whales.

This episode was brought to you by Maine Lobster. Summer means that it's officially lobster season in Maine. Between June and July lobsters in the cold waters of the Gulf of Maine shed their shells and the result is Maine New Shell Lobster....

Maine Delegation Sends Letter to Trump Regarding Impact of Right Whale Regulations on Lobster Industry

Earlier this week Maine lawmakers sent a letter to President Donald Trump regarding the livelihoods of Maine lobstermen and the impact that the North Atlantic right whale regulations will have on them.

As we've previously reported, NOAA's Take Reduction Team announced earlier this year that in order to reduce whale deaths, Maine lobstermen would have to cut their number of vertical lines to prevent fatal fishing gear entanglements. The rule was designed to reduce serious injuries and deaths among whales by 60%...