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...

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...

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 Dr. George Rose published a research paper titled "The State of Canada's Iconic Northern Cod: A Second Opinion." In the paper, Dr. 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 ...

ASPA Reinforces That Commercial Wild-Caught Shrimp from Gulf of Mexico is Safe to Eat

It's "business as usual" for the commercial wild-caught shrimp industry in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA). The ASPA released a statement earlier this week reinforcing that wild-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico remains safe to eat, despite reports about a freshwater influx due to flooding in the Midwest and close-to-shore algae blooms.

"The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) is continuing to test water and fish samples to ensure seafood safety in...

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%...

Maine Lawmakers Send Another Request Seeking Relief for Lobster Industry Amidst Trade War with China

Maine Senators Angus King and Susan Collins, along with Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, have sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture urging them to include "significant funding" for Maine's lobster industry, which has been impacted by the trade war with China. Their letter is a follow up to a letter that was initially sent to President Trump at the beginning of June to request aid for those who have lost business as a result of the tariffs...