Snow Crab Landings Update For NL, Gulf and Maritimes Region As Of May 30

The snow crab season in Newfoundland and Labrador is scheduled to end in exactly one month—and 8% of their 54,279 MT quota has been caught. 

According to the preliminary data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador have landed 4,167 MT so far. And while harvesters should just be focused on the remaining quota of 50,112 MT, FFAW is once again at odds with the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP). This time the union is accusing ASP of harming the crab resource...

DFO Announces First Seasonal Grid Closures For Gulf of St. Lawrence in 2023

The first seasonal grid closures in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were announced by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on Monday. 

Grid closures are part of Canada’s management plans to protect endangered North Atlantic right whales. Scientists estimate that less than 350 of these whales remain. Temporary grid closures are in place for 15 days. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, if a North Atlantic right whale is detected again during days 9 to 15 of the temporary closure, then the grid will become seasonally closed...

ADF&G Commissioner Announces Highest Priorities for State at Federal NPFMC

Ten days before the June meeting of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council begins, Alaska’s Commissioner of Fish and Game issued a press release outlining the priorities the state’s representative on the federal council. 

Almost all of the items involve bycatch, a nod to Governor Dunleavy’s Task Force on the subject, who came up with a final report last November. Doug Vincent-Lang, the Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game, recently established the Bycatch Advisory Council “to advise the department on ways to implement the recommendations contained ...

Pair of Maine Lobstermen Have Licenses Suspended for Marine Resource Law Violations

A pair of Maine lobstermen had their licenses suspended by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) for violating “laws intended to protect harvesters’ property and to sustain the lobster resource.”

Calvin Pinkham, 55, of Steuben, was charged last year for stealing 59 lobster traps that belonged to seven other fishermen. DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher suspended Pinkham's license for three years.

Pinkham pleaded guilty to seven counts of trap molesting and was ordered to pay $8,732 in restitution to the victims. His license will be reinstated in 2025...

April Salmon Sales at the Tokyo Central Wholesale Markets

Sales of salmon and trout at the Tokyo Central Wholesale Markets in April showed a slight slowdown in frozen and salted salmon amid continued high prices overall, while fresh salmon sales finally turned positive. The Suisan Keizai Shimbun reported that although imports of fresh salmon continued to be sluggish, farmed coho from Miyagi Prefecture showed some consistency from an early stage.

Fresh salmon

The total sales volume was 482 tons, which finally started to pick up after a period of sluggishness due to a decline in imports triggered by soaring...

CPF and Nichirei Join Forces to Make the Food Supply Chain More Sustainable

Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL. (CPF) and its business partner, Nichirei Fresh Inc., a leading Japanese seafood supplier, are committed to leveraging a socially and environmentally responsible food supply chain in response to consumers' worldwide preference for products produced using environmentally and ethically responsible practices and procedures. The two companies have recently launched the "CPF-Nichirei's collaborative biodiversity and mangrove ecosystem protection" project to help mitigate the impacts of global warming, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (SDGs)...

1 Dead, 4 Missing From Sitka Fishing Charter Boat as Intense Search Continues

One body has been recovered from the water near a partially submerged charter fishing boat while the search continues for four more passengers who were last seen aboard the vessel Sunday afternoon off Cape Edgecumbe on Kruzof Island. The disabled vessel, owned by Kingfishers Charters located in Sitka, was found later Sunday off Shoals Point, approximately 10 miles southwest of Sitka. 

The search is led by Coast Guard Sector Juneau Command Center, and includes Air Station Sitka and their MH-60 Helicopter aircrew, Air Station Kodiak and ...

Norwegian Salmon Tax Reduced From 35% to 25%

A new agreement has lowered the resource rent tax on aquaculture in Norway to 25%. The tax rate was initially proposed at 40% before being lowered to 35% earlier this year. 

“After a long process, we are now ensuring that the Storting [parliament] adopts the principle of ground rent in aquaculture,” Geir Pollestaf of the Centre Party said in a press release. “The parties to the agreement also secure a majority for a tax rate of 25% and an increase in the discount on the property tax value for farming concessions...

NOAA Fisheries Updates “Significant” Activity on WFC vs Quan Impact Against Alaska Trollers

Earlier this week, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) filed a response to the May 2, 2023 court ruling on Wild Fish Conservancy v. Quan, ordering NMFS to correct portions of a 2019 NOAA Fisheries Biological Opinion that analyzed two actions related to salmon fishing in Southeast Alaska and a third action on a conservation program for habitat improvement and hatchery production to be implemented in the Pacific Northwest. The court ruling found for the plaintiff regarding portions of the BiOp, essentially shutting down the Southeast Alaska ...

SeafoodNews Closed on Monday, May 29

SeafoodNews will not be publishing on Monday, May 29, 2023 in observance of Memorial Day. We will return to our normal publishing schedule on Tuesday, May 30.

In the meantime, catch up on our recent major news stories by checking our Featured Stories page. 

You can also watch all the latest SeafoodNews Weekly Videos here or listen to the latest SeafoodNews Podcast episodes here. And for more fun content follow @Watchuseat_seafood on Instagram!

Blue Harvest’s New Groundfish Vessel, Nobska, Completes Inaugural Deployment

Blue Harvest Fisheries’ newest groundfish vessel, the F/V Nobska, is back at port after a successful first deployment. 

The Nobska, originally known as the Francis Dawn, and renamed for an older Blue Harvest vessel, was built in 2019 and acquired by Blue Harvest Fisheries in February 2023. The company said at the time that the purchase “represents the first step in implementing the company’s plans for the future of its groundfish operations.” 

Now, Blue Harvest is celebrating the vessel’s first round of trips, which occurred between April 7 and...

Russian Fish Sector Faced With Record Drop of Profits in 2022

Crab sanctions and rising costs led to a drop in profits for Russian fisherman in 2022. Profits dropped by almost a third from 231 billion rubles in 2021 up to 158 billion rubles in 2022, according to latest data, provided by Russian Rosrybolovstvo.

Representatives say that one of the reasons was the decline of export earnings of crab producers, whose profitability used to be higher than other fishermen. At the same time, there was some growth of revenue in the industry.

According to latest data of Rosrybolovstvo, in 2022...

Instant Dishes Create More Profits for Guolian

Guolian’s revenue has increased by 33.23% to 1.415 billion yuan during this first quarter (Q1) compared with the same period last year. Net income has increased by 10% to 10.41 million yuan, according to Shanghai Securities News. One main reason for the better performance is the great popularity of its instant dishes, whose revenue, for example, has gone up by 34.48% to 1.131 billion yuan in 2022. Meanwhile the company’s total has risen by 14.31% to 5.114 billion yuan.

To meet rising demand at home, the company has spent more developing instant dishes...

Georgia Oyster Seasons Set to Close for Summer

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that recreational and commercial oyster harvesting in the state will close at 6 a.m. June 1, 2023, and re-open for the year thirty minutes before sunrise on Saturday, October 1, 2023.

This routine closure meets the requirements of Georgia's Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) control plan, which protects public health, per the DNR.

"This closure ensures that Georgia meets the requirements of the National Shellfish Sanitation Program to protect public health by implementing a Vp control plan," explained Dominic Guadagnoli, shellfish fish and...

ANALYSIS: Snow Crab at Retail Heats Up

The Canadian snow crab market in the U.S. has seen 2023 product out of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. And as of this writing with data from May 24, just under 85 percent of the quota has been caught. Pricing has been very steady for the past five weeks since the open of the Gulf on 5-8s. Gulf 8 and 10-ups have seen upward pricing pressure and quotations adjusted higher May 23.

Out of Newfoundland, the stalemate has ended, and fishing has begun...

CDFW Announces $20.4 Million in Grant Funding to Protect Salmon Habitat, Other Wildlife

California salmon will benefit from millions of dollars in a third round of funding designed to benefit the state's fish and wildlife.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Thursday that $20.4 million has been awarded for 15 projects to improve salmon habitat and support climate resiliency, wildlife corridors and wetlands restoration. The funding was made available last year under Drought, Climate and Nature-Based Solutions Initiatives, bringing the total grant funding awarded to nearly $80 million ...

Snow Crab Landings Update For NL, Gulf and Maritimes Region As Of May 26

With the June 30 closure about a month away, Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab harvesters are continuing to chip away at their quota after being stuck on land for six weeks. 

Last Friday the tie-up came to an end with an agreement reached between FFAW and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP). Both parties agreed on a minimum price of $2.20 per pound for the season, with incremental increases as Urner Barry’s market price increases...