Newfoundland's Dorset Fisheries Plant in Trinity 
Bay Burns to the Ground
A massive fire has destroyed the Dorset Fisheries processing plant located in the Newfoundland town of Trinity Bay. caught fire, which spread throughout the facility within minutes according to the town's fire chief. Plant manager Terry Reid said 70 to 80 people had been working at the fish plant, processing capelin. Nobody was injured in the blaze. At peak production, the plant employs about 240 people. This is the second fish plant in Newfoundland to catch fire this year since the Quinlan Brothers snow crab processing plant was destroyed in April.
Shrimp landings out of the Gulf of Mexico through June are up sharply compared to last year’s figures but buyers and processors indicate that the catch is lacking in several key market sizes and shrimp types. Landings have so far consisted of a lot of larger sized white shrimp while Louisiana's brown shrimp season was mostly a bust. Additionally, the catch has mostly consisted of larger sized shrimp and white shrimp, this has put upwards pricing pressure on many smaller count varieties and for brown PUDS.
In other news, Bristol Bay's total sockeye run has reached the ADF&G's forecasted 46.55 million run projection. Cumulative catches of all five river systems in the Bay last Wednesday were 34,744,736 salmon, far above the forecasted 29.52 million catch prediction. Escapement totals as of Wednesday, however, were below the 15.31 million salmon predicted, at 11,219,721 salmon.
Meanwhile, Sweden will have a tough time proving to a WTO Panel that imported North American live lobsters pose an environmental threat and should be banned from their market. We run a legal analysis of the case that shows precedents exist where the WTO requires reasonable scientific evidence to support such bans.
Finally, Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game announced August 1 as the opening date for the golden king crab season in the Aleutian Islands. The catch limit for the 2016-17 season is a combined total of 5.545 million pounds. Aleutian Islands golden king crab are managed east and west of 174° W longitude with a separate TAC for each area. East of 174° W the TAC for IFQ holders is 2.979 million pounds and 331,000 for CDQ holders. West of the line the TAC is 2,011,500 pounds for IFQ and 223,500 for the Adak Community Allocation (ACA).
Have a great weekend.
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