Shut Down Woes:  Already Soft Crabmeat Market Hit Hard as Mid-Atlantic Demand Dries Up

The Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions take about 57% of foodservice crab sales, according to NPD SupplyTrack data given at the recent NFI Global Seafood Market Conference.

Within this area, the mid-Atlantic favors crabmeat while the south Atlantic favors inshell crab like snow crab.

So Foodservice operators from Pennsylvania to North Carolina are the backbone of the crabmeat industry, representing between 40% and 50% of the volume.

Already the crabmeat market has been correcting from high prices.  The latest Urner Barry quotations show a weakening trend on blue swimming crab meat since last fall, and recently red swimming crab meat has begun to weaken as well...

Halibut Commission to Address a Request for Minimum Area Allocation Next Week

The agenda for the week-long annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission is brimming with new ways to look at catch limits, new tools to assess risk, and new ideas for research, but the issue grabbing the most attention is allocation of this year’s fishery.

Which regional area gets how much of the coastwide catch is a perennial topic, but it’s sharper this year by a stock that remains low compared to a decade ago, little sign of recruitment, and the yet unresolved issue that created an impasse between Canada and the U.S. at last year’s meeting.

Indeed, progress at the 2018 meeting to reach an agreement on catch limits ran aground ...

Oceana’s Anchovy Lawsuit Backfires, as Judge Asks NMFS to Update Science in Ruling Likely to Increase Catches

Oceana, an organization that is a frequent plaintiff against NMFS, thought they had a good case in 2016 when they filed suit against NMFS arguing that a 25,000 ton Central California anchovy allocation exceeded the entire stock, and should be overturned.

Their objective was to shut down the fishery based on an argument of flawed science.

Last week, federal district court  Judge Lucy Koh reaffirmed her 2018 decision that NMFS indeed did not use the best available science, and would need to do a reassessment on this stock.

With the government shutdown, it is not clear when NMFS might be able to respond to the ruling, but since then, the science ...

Mazzetta May Appeal Shrimp Duty Calculation to Supreme Court on Behalf of Vietnam Supplers

The Mazzetta Company said today they were considering an appeal to the US Supreme Court over the US Commerce Department’s rulings on duties for shrimp from Vietnam.

The case is based on the fact that the Dept. of Commerce used cost calculations based on black tiger shrimp from Bangladesh to estimate the costs of Vannamei cultivation in Vietnam.

As anyone in the industry knows, these are two very different industries, with black tiger being an extensively grown crop from wild seed harvest, while Vannamei is intensively grown from brood stock in tightly controlled pond environments.  Black Tiger shrimp has much higher production costs per hectare.

The Commerce dept. concluded that measuring costs by size ...

Iceland Seafood International Appoints Bjarni Armannsson CEO as Helgi Eriksson Steps Down

Helgi Anton Eiríksson who has been the CEO of Iceland Seafood International for the past 9 years has decided to step down as CEO. Lee Camfield, Chief Operations Officer, also announced that he is leaving his position at ISI. After almost a decade at the helm they will both work closely with Bjarni and ISI’s senior management team in the coming months to secure a smooth transition.

The transition comes at a time when ISI appears ready to post very strong results for 2018.

“I am extremely excited to be appointed the Group CEO of ISI. I have in my role as Chairman of the board seen first hand the opportunities ...

Russia May Consider Change in This Year's Crab Quota Auctions to 20% Instead of 50%

GSMC Panel Sheds Light On the Seafood Consumer 

Americans consumed 16 pounds of seafood in 2017, which was a big jump from the 14.9 pounds consumer in 2016. However, those numbers are nowhere near the amount of poultry and meat that Americans consume on a yearly basis. According to the USDA, Americans consumed 109 pounds of poultry and 108 pounds of meat in a year. So, how can the seafood industry compete?

That was the hot topic during the National Fisheries Institute’s “The Power of Seafood 2019” panel at the Global Seafood Market Conference last week...

BAP Program Finishes 2018 With 2,287 Certified Facilities Worldwide

The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) third-party certification program is continuing to grow. The Global Aquaculture Alliance announced that 2018 concluded with 2,287 BAP-certified facilities worldwide – a 29% jump from 2017.

“The BAP Program took the needs of the marketplace for confidence in food safety, environmental impact, social responsibility and animal welfare and applied them to each stage of the aquaculture value chain,” said Andrew Mallison, executive director of GAA, which administers the BAP program. “This end-to-end approach, with a broad assessment of risks...

Horace Dawson of Red Lobster Joins GSA’s Board of Directors

Global Seafood Assurances (GSA) announced on Monday that Horace Dawson, the executive VP and general counsel of Red Lobster Seafood Co., has joined their board of directors.

GSA is a non-profit organization that was launched by the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) back in April 2018 with the goal of building a single platform for “comprehensive, fully supply chain seafood assurance.” The non-profit is currently focusing on “filling the gaps in assurance.”

“Horace Dawson’s involvement with global seafood restaurant operations brings an exceptional level of...

California, Oregon Choose Different Dates to Open Remaining Coastline to Crabbing

It seems the process to open as much of the coastline as possible to crabbing at the same time went out the window when domoic acid and meat recovery rates became monkeywrenches in the system.

This year's West Coast Dungeness crab season required a lot of industry and fishery managers' time and patience as only some areas showed crab were fully and clear of toxins in December and early January. The new year proved no different as the California/Oregon border area crab had issues stretching past ...

Roughly One-Third of Russia’s Fish Harvest Continues to be Lost or Destroyed

Up to 30% of Russian-caught fish and seafood is destroyed, despite the recent efforts of the state to reduce these figures over several years, according to recent statements of some leading Russian fishermen and experts of the Russian Federal Agency of Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo).

According to latest assessments of scientists of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, one of Russia’s leading research institutions in the field of fishing, of the 5 million tonnes of fish annually produced in Russia, about 1.7 million tonnes are not used.

In general, most of the ...

Unexpected Squid War Breaks out in Chile

In Chile violent protests have broken out over regulations regarding Humboldt Squid, which local papers are calling ‘the Squid War.”

Last week there were riots in Concepcion, in Southern Chile, following the passage of a bill to regulate large scale squid fshing.  Workers in this sector have been on strike since January 9th.

Last Friday, hundreds of protestors marched to the presidential palace in Santiago.

According to an article in La Terca, the violence of the protests has caught the Government off guard. 

The new regulation, pushed through with support of environmental lobbies, prohibits mid-water trawling for squid, and instead required only “artisanal’ methods, which include handlines and gillnets.

The companies in the industry strongly objected to this, saying that method destroys the quality of the squid, and makes it unsuitable...

Government Shutdown Costing Fishing Industry Millions; Some Damage is Irreversible

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is impacting all U.S. fishing ports on three levels: no federal workers to finalize certain documents needed to go fishing, no federal science teams to conclude stock assessments and no workers to begin survey work, and an extraordinary strain on enforcement and search and rescue duties of the U.S. Coast Guard, an agency now run by service members who are not being paid.

Tomorrow the shutdown will be five weeks old. The handicaps of the shutdown are resulting in millions...

Austral Fisheries and BCG Digital Ventures Launch New Tracking Platform

In what is being described as a “world first”, Perth-based Austral Fisheries and BCG Digital Ventures launched a new digital platform that uses blockchain technology to track seafood and help buyers avoid illegal, environmentally-damaging or unethical products.

Austral Fisheries Glacier 51 Toothfish will be the centerpiece in displaying the platform’s ability.

Called OpenSC, the platform enables anyone to scan product QR codes with a smartphone camera, which will then provide information about where a specific product came from, when and how it was produced, and...

Angry Crab Shack Celebrates Fifth Anniversary, Plans Expansion

Arizona-based Angry Crab Shack is celebrating their fifth anniversary and plotting a major expansion. The company, which was founded in 2013 and currently has seven locations, is planning on opening 100 locations by 2023.

“We celebrated a lot of milestones in 2018, including our five year anniversary, and we hope to build on that momentum in the upcoming year with new franchise locations,” Angry Crab Shack president Andrew Diamond said in a press release. “We have built a brand that has a strong infrastructure that can grow through...

East Coast Seafood Consolidation of Groton Facility Comes from Years of Planning, Company Says

East Coast Seafood Group said the move of its live lobster packing operations in Groton Connecticut to Prospect Harbor Maine has long been planned as part of the companies investment strategy.

The Groton plant will close this week.  The company is offering positions at other subsidiary locations where possible, absorbing benefit costs of covered employees for a period of time, offering severance to each employee affected, and providing recommendation letters and other support requested by employees during their transition...

Despite Predictions, Russian Fisherman Do Not Expect Pollock Decline Over Next 5 Years

Russian leading fishermen do not expect the decline of domestic pollock production during the next five years, despite recent predictions by some analysts. Some researchers have noted the potential exhaustion of pollock reserves, according to recent statements by the president of the Russian Pollock Association, Herman Zverev.

At the end of last year, Ilya Shestakov, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo), said a possible reduction in the stocks and catch volumes of pollock may be observed during the next 4 to 5 years...

News Summary January 22, 2019 
Today's Main Story: Community Still Recovering, But Hopeful After Fire That Changed Deer Island

Today's lead item is a look at Deer Island and the Paturel International lobster processing plant almost a year after the devastating fire that destroyed the building and took away about 100 jobs. The plant has not been rebuilt, but the remaining branch of the company that deals with live lobster is booming...

Quinault Pride Seafood Buys Ownership Stake in Pacific Harvest

Quinault Pride Seafood and Pacific Harvest announced today that Quinault has taken an ownership stake in Pacific Harvest.

The two companies have had a close relationship for more than ten years.

Quinault Pride Seafood is a tribal seafood processor based on the Washington coast.  They operate a full line processing facility in Taholah, Washington at the mouth of the Quinault River serving razor clam harvesters and tribal fishermen on four river systems.

Quinault also operates offloading and icing stations in Queets and Aberdeen and an ultra-modern plant and dock facility ...

Federal Fisheries Expert Rachel Baker Named as Deputy Commissioner ADF&G

Doug Vincent-Lang, Alaska’s all but confirmed new Fish and Game Commissioner, recently named Rachel Baker as Deputy Commissioner. Baker will take the Alaska state seat at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council on behalf of the commissioner. She will start with the department February 1 and be representing the state at the February 4-12 Council meeting in Portland, OR.

Baker, former NOAA Fisheries economic analyst and policy advisory in Juneau and most recently Branch Chief for Fishery Management and Coordination in Silver Spring, joined...

Grants for Safety Training and Research (After 9 Year Delay)

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

Saving lives and reducing injuries is the goal of fishing safety grants available to non-profit groups, municipalities, academics and businesses involved in the fishing and maritime industries.

The Fishing Safety Research Grant Program was funded in 2010 as part of the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act. The money is finally ready to be used.

“These are moneys that came to the USCG first and we are partnering with them to administer these important safety training and research grants...

Chile's Agrosuper Now Second Largest Salmon Farmer after AquaChile Acquisition Completed

Basa Industry Prospers in Vietnam; China's Industry Also Blooms

The past year has witnessed great changes to the global basa industry. The existing giant, Vietnam, has achieved success in both aquaculture and exports. Meanwhile, there are rising newcomers to this industry such as China. Following is a simple review of what has occurred to this increasingly lucrative industry.

There is no doubt that industry leader Vietnam was the biggest winner last year. Its processed basa exports has rose by 15% in 2018 to reach $2.26 billion USD compared with the year before, while its production rose by 8.4% to reach 1.42 million tons. These ...

Smaller Winter Crab Fisheries Give Economic Boost to Coastal Communities

When most people think of Alaska crab, they envision huge boats pulling up “7 bys” for millions of pounds of bounty in the Bering Sea. (7 bys refers to the 7’x7’x3’ size of the crab pots.) But it is the smaller, local crab fisheries that each winter give a big economic boost to dozens of coastal communities across the Gulf of Alaska. They occur at a time when many fishing towns are feeling a lull while awaiting the March start of halibut and herring openers...

Herring Season in San Francisco Bay Canceled as Market Dries Up

During a brief period between December and February, schools of Pacific herring arrive in San Francisco Bay to spawn in waves, laying their eggs in the intertidal zones from Paradise Cove in Marin to Coyote Point in San Mateo, with stops along the way in San Francisco, Alameda and Richmond.

When the herring arrive in the bay, Raylene Gorum, who is organizing the sixth annual Sausalito Herring Celebration on Jan. 27, is one of the first to know as a houseboat resident in the Sausalito habor...

Americans Will Pay More for Alaska Seafood, Say it Supports US Jobs

This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Americans are willing to pay more for salmon from Alaska and other seafood across the board.

A nationwide online survey of 4,000 U.S. seafood consumers over the age of 18 revealed that nearly 40 percent are willing to shell out more for the Alaska brand.

The survey was done by market researcher Technomic for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Further, 71 percent of customers said they would be willing to pay at least 10 percent more, and...

Safe Quality Seafood Associates Launches SIMP Training Course

The Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) was a hot topic at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference (GSMC) this past week, and now importers and processors with further questions can register for a new training course being offered by Safe Quality Seafood Associates (SQSA).

SQSA’s course is a monthly open course for SIMP training “based on the results of realistic examples drawn from recent second party mock SIMP audits.” The one-day, three-hour course covers an overview in regards to the regulation, catch certificates...

Delta Pride Catfish Appoints New Sales Department Product Integrity Manager

Delta Pride Catfish announced earlier this month that they have appointed Shannon Terry has their new Sales Department Product Integrity Manager.

Terry joins the Delta Pride Catfish after spending numerous years working in both retail and foodservice. His new role at Delta Pride Catfish will require him to be involved in writing specifications of new products, as well as production of new and specialty products. In addition, Terry will aid marketing and management in new product development and sourcing ingredients...

Kodiak Tanners Open After 24 Hour Weather Delay

This is Alaska Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Kodiak’s Tanner crab fishery takes off after a weather delay. It will go fast.

High winds and overall snotty weather delayed Kodiak’s Tanner crab fishery by a day and boats dropped pots in two districts on Wednesday, January 16^th.

“We had to wait 24 hours. Most of them headed out Tuesday. We had one or two of them give us a call and say that they had made it around Chiniak and it wasn’t as bad as they were anticipating...

News Summary January 23, 2019 
Today's Main Story: Gov’t Shutdown hitting crab meat demand in Mid-Atlantic

The irresponsible government shut down is hurting the seafood industry in many unforeseen ways. In one small example, it has crashed demand for crab meat in the Mid-Atlantic region, the heaviest consumption region for crab meat. This is happening with an already weakening market, and the buildup of inventories from lost restaurant visits will simply exacerbate pressure to lower prices, hurting those companies with high priced inventory ...