California Dungeness Crab Get Qualified Thumbs-Up in Tests for Domoic Acid  California is testing Dungeness crabs for domoic acid early this year and so far the results are positive for the season to get going on time. Crabs are testing positive for domoic acid but that is normal for this time of the year according to California state health officials. “We’re at the tail end of the time we would normally expect to see pseudo-nitzschia and domoic acid present in certain species. It’s not alarming," said Patrick Kennelly, chief of food safety at California's State Health Department. Around this time last year, crabs collected up and down the coast had unusually high levels of domoic acid. California's commercial fishery was delayed for fourth months because of high levels of domoic acid last season. So far, this does not seem like it will be the case. The commercial fishery scheduled to start on November 15. Red Lobster has opened 21 overseas locations since it spun-off from Darden Restaurants when it was acquired by Golden Gate Capital in 2014. The expansion has brought the total number of Red Lobster’s overseas restaurants to 51, not including Canada. “We think the biggest opportunity is Asia,” Red Lobster Chief Executive Officer Kim Lopdrup said in an interview. “And China is a particular interest to us.” In other news, China is continuing to import more Chilean salmon. The figures for Los Lagos (Lakes Region) released by the National Statistics Institute show that salmon accounted for 73.9% of the region's export value. Salmon experienced a 33% decline in volume, but only a 3.1% decline in value, due to the rapid increase in salmon prices. The US continues to be the primary market, accounting for 40.3% of export. However, China remains the highest growth market with imports up 41.5% in volume, and 125.3% in value over the past twelve months. Meanwhile, a federal fishery management plan is needed for the Alaskan salmon fisheries in Cook Inlet, Prince William Sound and Alaska Peninsula after an Appeals court ruled last week that the area needs federal oversight. The decision was a victory for the United Cook Inlet Drift Association and the Cook Inlet Fishermen’s Fund that sued NMFS to return salmon management back to federal authorities. Finally, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) formally adopted a resolution calling on State and Government Agency Members to close off 30 percent of all marine areas from extractive activities by 2030. However, John Sackton writes that according to Europêche, the IUCN takes decisions on fisheries issues whilst disregarding the huge socio-economic impacts that closure would have on coastal communities and food security. The decision caused outrage to Europêche and the European body representing producer organisations (EAPO). “This is a typical broad brush approach which will lead to unworkable situations in coastal areas and estuaries," said Pim Visser, President of EAPO. "A 30 percent closure will erase all fishing activities in these areas and negatively affect fishermen, their families and their communities."