Market News
Seafood Consumption on decline??
(07/18/08)
The cause of the decline was because Americans had less access to shrimp. In 2007, total shrimp imports fell 5.7%, and domestic landings fell 22.2%. In 2006, domestic landings were 160.4 million pounds (headless shrimp) in 2007 they fell to only 124.7 million pounds.
This was the first time shrimp imports have fallen on a year to year basis since 1996.
It is highly likely that the restriction in access to shrimp led to the decrease in consumption. In June of 2007, the FDA issued an import alert and put shrimp imports from China on automatic detention. Chinese shrimp shipments to the U.S. fell 29%.
Also, Thailand's shipments fell about 3%, while Ecuador and Indonesia remained steady, and Vietnam increased 6%.
If you look at Urner Barry's white shrimp price index, you can see that prices began moving up in the second half of the year, following the import restrictions on China. Also, the chart shows that by August, 2007 import volumes were falling behind the 2006 level.
What we have here is a clear picture of the seafood market being hurt by import restrictions and supply issues, not a choice on the part of Americans to eat less seafood. Unfortunately, these restrictions have come about at the same time as price pressures have been building, and they suggest that the upward price pressures will be exacerbated by the reductions in supply and import barriers. The cost to the industry will be further reductions in consumption.
Texas Shrimp Season Opens today!
(07/17/08)
These are mostly freezer vessels, making trips of 35 to 45 days. They expect to catch around 600 to 1000 pounds of shrimp per day. The fishing starts near shore, and then most of the boats head offshore 20 or 30 miles. July and August represent the heart of the Gulf shrimp season, although fishing extends until next May.
The dollar losses again
(07/15/08)
The dollar hit a record low against the Euro toay, trading over €1.60 to the dollar today. The reasons are that currency traders expect testimony today from the U.S. government that credit woes will continue to hurt the U.S. economy.
The Japanese Yen remained steady as the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged, but “the yen may rise as high as 100 per dollar this year as the Bank of Japan is more likely to raise interest rates than the Federal Reserve, said Toyoo Gyohten, former currency-policy chief at Japan's Ministry of Finance in Bloomberg News.
Japan's central bank may increase borrowing costs should inflation accelerate and the economy sustain growth of at least 1 percent, Gyohten said.
``The Fed is most likely to maintain its current level of interest rates,'' Gyohten, president for the Institute of International Monetary Affairs in Tokyo, said in an interview yesterday. ``The BOJ is more likely to raise rates. The medium- term trend is for a weaker dollar and a stronger yen.''
The trend towards an even weaker dollar means that Japanese and European buyers gain a further advantage over U.S. seafood buyers, forcing higher imported seafood prices in the U.S., declining supplies, or both. For U.S. export products like pollock, crab and salmon, the currency swing likely means the overseas markets can sustain higher U.S. dollar prices.
Sustainability an issue here to stay
(07/14/08)
As society's early adopters and thought leaders, LOHAS consumers have contributed to what now constitutes an influential lifestyle across design, art, fashion, furnishings, luxury consumer products, architecture, cuisine, technology and travel. In fact, in today's market, it's not just the LOHAS consumers who are becoming part of the green movement - in totality, environmental sustainability affects about 80% of American adults across a range of attitudes and behavior patterns.
The explosion of eco-tourism is just one example. Now the fastest growing sector of the tourism industry, eco-tourism provides travelers with sustainable resort environments while minimizing their carbon footprints. An example is Grounding Work, an art and environment initiative in Boston, Massachusetts that aims to 'explore the intersection of art and environmental concerns'. The green movement has profoundly saturated all aspects of our culture and is becoming the significant movement of our time.
Fisherman using trash to fuel the !
(07/11/08)
In the past, fisherman like Mirarchi were faced with a choice: Throw the trash back in the water to be caught again, or haul it to shore and dispose of it at their own expense.
Now the trash, which ranges from lobster traps to toilet seats, Mirarchi said, will be collected at the Scituate transfer station and turned into energy that will heat homes as part of the "Fishing for Energy" program.
The program is organized by Covanta Energy, a Fairfield, N.J., operator of energy-from-waste plants, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On Tuesday, Scituate became the third Massachusetts community to join the initiative. It was launched earlier this year in the state's two largest fishing ports, New Bedford and Gloucester.
"We need to make the fishing business become more accountable," said Mirarchi, who approached the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary about pursuing a trash-disposal program 18 months ago.
"This brings the way we treat the land to the way we treat he water," he said. "We are casting a vote for the sustainability of commercial-based fisheries."
Now trash that is hauled ashore will be brought to a special bin at the town transfer station. Covanta will transport full trash containers to its incinerator in Haverhill, where the trash will be burned and used to power electricity turbines, said Christine McCoy, manager of external affairs for Covanta.
The company estimates that one ton of marine debris can generate enough fuel to power a home for 25 days.
McCoy said Scituate, while smaller than the other ports involved in the initiative, was chosen because of the enthusiasm of people like Mirarchi and Scituate Harbormaster Mark Patterson. Over the past 18 months, Patterson worked with Mirarchi and Ben Cowie- Haskell, the Stellwagen sanctuary's assistant superintendent, to organize debris collection among local fisherman. During that time Mirarchi collected about 4,000 pounds of trash.
"For this to work, people in the community need to want to sustain it," McCoy said. "Scituate was very enthusiastic about it."
The Covanta trash bin will be at the transfer station starting today. Mirarchi said town officials are looking into ways for fisherman from surrounding towns to be able to dump there as well.
Omega 3's fed to infants may help with Asthma!
(07/09/08)
The research, carried out by a team from Denmark as part of the EC-funded EARNEST project ,[1] traced the children born to mothers who had taken part in a trial conducted in1990. In this original trial, more than 500 pregnant women were randomised into three different groups for the last 10 weeks of their pregnancy.
One group was given fish oil supplements, another olive oil supplements and the third no supplements. The aim of that trial was to see whether fish oil reduced the risk of pre-term delivery and low birth weight. Mothers in the fish oil supplementation group increased, on average, the length of their pregnancies by 4 days and the average birth weight of their babies by about 100g.
'We wanted to see whether the effects of fish oil in very early life had any effect on the child's risk of developing asthma as they grew up,' said Professor Sjurdur F Olsen, the lead investigator from the Maternal Nutrition Group, Statens Serum Institut in Denmark. The researchers managed to trace all but three of the babies born to the mothers in the original trial.
By the time they were sixteen years old, 19 children had developed such severe asthma at some point that they had had to go to hospital. The risk of developing asthma was reduced in those whose mothers had been given fish oil supplements, compared to those whose mothers had been given olive oil supplements.
'There is strong biochemical evidence that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil may have modulatory effects on the immune system. The reason fish oil might protect a fetus from developing asthma in later life could possibly also be related to its effect on increasing pregnancy duration,' suggested Professor Olsen. Pre-term children have a higher risk of developing asthma and it is possible that the omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oils could both reduce the risk of pre-term birth and the likelihood of a baby later becoming asthmatic through their effect on reducing inflammation.
'It may be that the period shortly before delivery is the critical window for these effects of omega 3 fatty acids,' Professor Sjurdur F Olsen said.
However, Professor Sjurdur F Olsen added a note of caution: 'These are results from a relatively small trial and therefore it is most important that our results are confirmed by other trials before we change any dietary recommendations for pregnant women.'
Barton Seaver Leaves Hook
(07/07/08)
According to the Washington Post, Seaver's lawyer and Hook's owner Jonathan Umbel are working out the details of Seaver's contract. In late June, just days after resigning, he was named a rising star by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington for his work at Hook.
Seaver told the Post that he had "the utmost respect for Hook, the work the staff has done and the future that Hook is going to have."
He said he has not decided what he will do next but may increase his involvement with D.C. Central Kitchen.
"It was great to have a stage to formulate a lot of these ideas about sustainability and drive the business" at Hook, he said. "But I really believe that sustainability is not about a few white-tablecloth chefs providing an example. It's about making it accessible to everyone."
At the International Boston Seafood Show in February, Seafood Choices Alliance of Silver Spring, Md., recognized Seaver as a pioneer of sustainable seafood, naming him one of six Seafood Champions. The annual award recognizes individuals and companies for leadership in promoting environmentally responsible seafood.
Eat fish be healthy
(07/01/08)
of omega-6 fatty acids, according to new research. As a result of this and
other studies, government dietary recommendations--especially those aimed at
pregnant women--should emphasize fish over soy and corn oils, which are
respectively high in these fatty acids, says Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist
and lipid biochemist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism in Bethesda, Maryland. "We don't want the brain to be deficient
in its critical nutrients during development." The omega-3 advantage was
first hinted at in studies of distribution of body fat. Earlier this year,
William Lassek, an epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh in
Pennsylvania, and anthropologist Steven Gaulin of the University of
California, Santa Barbara, reported that women who accumulated more fat on
their hips than on their waists--and who, therefore, had low waist-hip
ratios like many movie stars--had higher cognitive test scores, as did their
children. They proposed that because the fat on the hips and thighs contains
more omega-3s than belly fat does, these women were storing omega-3s
critical for fetal and infant brain development--and boosting their own
brainpower as they grew up. They also predicted that women who ate more
omega-3s would perform better on cognitive tests than those who ate more
omega-6s.
To test this hypothesis, Lassek and Gaulin analyzed data on about 4000 girls
and boys between the ages of 6 and 16. The children had participated in the
Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, part of a U.S.
project to assess the health and nutritional status of kids and adults.
After the researchers controlled for the parents' income and education and
for the children's age, race, number of siblings, and blood lead levels,
they found that girls who ate more omega-3 scored significantly better on
four cognitive tests, including an IQ test.
Although genetics and parental education influence intelligence far more,
the dietary effect explained about 1% of the difference in test scores
between girls, about the same amount as exposure to lead, says Lassek. Boys
also perform a bit better on cognitive tests if they eat more omega-3s than
other fatty acids, but the effect is "twice as great in girls as in boys,"
says Lassek. That disparity suggests that evolution has favored girls who
stow omega-3 fats on their lower bodies. The team, which presented its
findings earlier this month at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society
meeting in Kyoto, Japan, also found that omega-6 fatty acids interfere with
cognition, because girls who ate more of these oils didn't perform as well.
Other researchers who have studied omega-3s are not surprised to see the
link between omega-3s and intelligence: "Deficiency in omega-3 intake in
modern diets is associated with an increased risk of violence, major
depression, suicide, and bipolar disorder," says Hibbeln, so seeing a
connection to another aspect of brain function makes sense, particularly
because neurons use fatty acids to build axons. Most important, he says, is
the omega-6 finding. "The big change in the Western diet of the past 100
years is a massive increase in the dietary intake of omega-6 fatty acids,"
he says. Hibbeln has advised the U.S. government to revise its recent
advisory warning that pregnant women reduce their consumption of fish during
pregnancy because of mercury toxicity; he says the dangers can be avoided
easily by limiting consumption of certain fish.
Sustaining the shrimp supply
(06/26/08)
In 2001, shrimp surpassed canned tuna as the most-consumed seafood in America, and our appetite for it hasn't flagged much since. In Las Vegas, king of the all-you-can-eat buffet, a whopping 60,000 pounds of shrimp are prepared and consumed per day.
But with food costs rising and public concern about the environmental impact of food choices increasing, even shrimp are affected. Is our appetite for these tiny sea creatures something we can sustain?
"People need to think about seasonality if they want to think about sustainability," says Corey Peet, aquaculture research manager for the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sustainable Seafood Initiative and Seafood Watch program. "These are finite supplies, particularly in the wild. But even in aquaculture, they're finite supplies."
While U.S. shrimp fisheries, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic, are some of the largest and most valuable fisheries in the nation, just 13 percent (approximately) of shrimp consumed in the United States is caught domestically. The other 87 percent of shrimp consumed in the U.S. is foreign — either farmed or wild-caught.
Chances are, unless one lives in a state where shrimping is a mainstay of the local economy, the shrimp in that cocktail or the prawns in that stir-fry aren't wild, and most certainly aren't American.
But who cares? Shrimp are shrimp, right?
Since the late 1980s, environmentalists and watch groups, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, have raised concerns about the health, safety and environmental impact of farmed shrimp, particularly from Asia.
"You take people who are dependent on the wild environment and turn them into low-paid factory workers," says Paul Johnson, owner of Monterey Fish in San Francisco and Berkeley and the author of "Fish Forever." But, according to Peet, things have gotten a lot better. "In the early '90s it was really bad, but there's been some attention put on the farms, and they're better than they used to be," he says.
Still, Seafood Watch puts farmed and wild shrimp from foreign sources on their "Avoid" list. With varying regulations in wild foreign fisheries and more than 300,000 shrimp farms in the world, it's hard to track where any given shrimp comes from. Until Sept. 30, 2004, when country of origin labeling laws took effect, it was even more difficult for consumers to discern the difference between a domestic shrimp and a foreign shrimp, or a wild shrimp from a farmed one. Now, U.S. law requires that the country of origin and method of production information be available on all shrimp.
The good news, Peet says, is that U.S. farmed shrimp will move to Seafood Watch's "Best Choices" list in July, making it easier for consumers to make decisions at the seafood counter.
Everyone likes Green - especially fisherman
(06/23/08)
Martin's move
Jody Martin, the Gloucester skipper of the approximately 117-foot combination seiner/pair trawler, Sunlight, has saved thousands of dollars in fuel costs this year by simply throttling back the vessel's 1,000-horsepower main Cat diesel while traveling to and from the fishing grounds.
'You have to; otherwise, you can't make any money,' he said.
The Sunlight's engine used to burn 39 gallons per hour running at 1,800 rpm. 'We now steam at about 1,300 rpm and only burn about 10 gallons an hour. It takes a little longer. We used to steam at about 101/2 knots. We now go about 8 knots,' Martin said.
At least one twin-screwed vessel, the 109-foot seiner/mid-water trawler Providian that's propelled by two nearly-1,500 horsepower Detroit diesels, only uses one main engine steaming, while leaving the second engine idling to save fuel.
But, in the herring and mackerel fisheries, where horsepower catches fish, vessels such as the Providian and Sunlight still have to throttle up their engines while fishing. Throttling back steaming is cost effective to vessels in fisheries that aren't regulated by days-at-sea clocks where the fuel savings by taking longer to travel could be offset by using up expensive days-at-sea time.
New exhaust odor
Diesel engine exhausts mimicking the odor of cooking french fries have become more commonplace in recent months at Pigeon Cove Harbor Ñ the home of Capt. Bob Fisher's 40-foot dragger/lobster boat Marina Rose and Capt. Dylan Caldwell's 36-foot lobster/tuna boat Ella Briggs. Both fishermen are now bio-fueling their diesels with the very used fryolator oil in which area restaurants previously fried seafood, and especially french fries. Many eateries change that oil, often a combination of corn, soy and other vegetable oils, every day.
First to do it
'I'm the first one to do it locally. I first thought about using the used fryolator oil about a year ago,' said Fisher, who began experimenting with the biofuel on an old furnace he picked up at the Rockport dump.
'I played around with the percentages (of biofuel and heating oil) and eventually got to a percentage that worked well. I then began thinking about using it in the boat,' he explained.
After researching biofuels on the Internet, Fisher tried one formula that worked with the older model 6-71 Detroit diesel that powers his vessel. 'Then I thought why not try straight fryolator oil with no additives, and it worked,' he stated. Fisher describes his diesel as 'an old in-line-6 that will burn anything.'
Caldwell got the idea from Fisher and first began using biofuel in his 3208 Cat diesel, which is also an older model engine in comparison to current electronic diesels.
'My diesel is a little more sensitive than Bob's. I've been cutting it (the biofuel and diesel oil) 50/50,' he explained.
Both men first lined up local sources to whom they pay a minimal amount for the used fryolator oil. The fishermen then invested in several 55-gallon drums, pumps, hosing and filters needed to transport the oil from the eateries to their purifying centers at home where it is naturally cleansed of particulate matter before being pumped into their vessels' tanks.
'Once you're set up, it's easy,' said Caldwell. Picking up and purifying the fryolator oil has simply become part of the men's weekly routine, just like getting lobster bait.
Caldwell's oil goes through eight filters to remove any particulates by the time it enters his engine. 'You look for clarity in the end product. You want the oil to be almost clear by the time it enters the engine,' he said. He also checks the oil's acidity. Caldwell added, 'You don't want it to be acidic. So far, this has not been a problem.'
The oil also has to be heated before entering the engine. Fisher installed a heat exchanger that warms his oil to 180 degrees F. 'I will have to further thin the oil in the wintertime. I've got it working well for at least this time of year,' he said.
Going green by burning used fryolator oil 'was the only answer for me to continue fishing. It's cut my fuel bill by 50 percent or greater,' explained Caldwell, who burns about 80 gallons of fuel a day tuna fishing and up to 15 gallons daily lobstering. At around $4.37 per gallon for diesel today, the daily fuel consumption adds up quickly, especially when prices for tuna and lobster haven't generally kept up with energy costs. Fisher's fuel expense has been cut about 75 percent. He has also just bought a diesel truck and plans to run it on biofuel.
'The biofuel burns cleaner than diesel oil, and the engine smokes less,' Caldwell explained. Fisher added, 'My engine runs the same as before with diesel oil, and there's been no change in the consumption. Even better, the exhaust smells good Ñ like french fries.' Both men wonder if modern diesels could run on used fryolator oil.
'The only complaint I've had about using it came from a couple of guys at Pigeon Cove Harbor who have gotten hungry smelling the nice exhaust and have gained a little weight,' joked Fisher.
More Positive News for Fish Eaters!
(06/11/08)
Scientists combined the results of nine studies looking at the effects of omega-3 on age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
The analysis, which pooled data from almost 90,000 study participants, showed that a high dietary intake of omega-3 was associated with a 38% reduction in the risk of advanced AMD.
Eating fish twice a week was associated with a reduced risk of both early and advanced AMD.
Macular degeneration affects the centre of the retina, causing gradual loss of vision. It is the most common cause of blindness in the UK. One in 50 people over the age of 50, and one in five of the age of 85, have AMD.
The study authors led by Dr Elaine Chong, from the University of Melbourne, Australia, wrote in the journal Archives of Ophthalmology: ``Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.. form an integral part of the neural retina, the layer of nerve cells in the retina.
``Outer cells of the retina are continually shed and regenerated, and deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids may therefore initiate AMD. A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and fish, as a proxy for long-chain omega-3 fatty acid intake, has therefore been hypothesised as a means to prevent AMD.''
However the researchers stressed that more evidence was needed to prove that omega-3 can protect against the disease. Few prospective studies and no randomised clinical trials had been carried out, and it was too early to offer advice on omega-3 intake.
Can Monkeys Fish?
(06/10/08)
Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.
Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.
The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.
"It's exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month's International Journal of Primatology. "It's an indication of how little we know about the species."
Meijaard, a senior science adviser at The Nature Conservancy, said it was unclear what prompted the long-tailed macaques to go fishing. But he said it showed a side of the monkeys that is well-known to researchers - an ability to adapt to the changing environment and shifting food sources.
"They are a survivor species, which has the knowledge to cope with difficult conditions," Meijaard said Tuesday. "This behavior potentially symbolizes that ecological flexibility."
The other authors of the paper, which describes the fishing as "rare and isolated" behavior, are The Nature Conservancy volunteers Anne-Marie E. Stewart, Chris H. Gordon and Philippa Schroor, and Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust.
Some other primates have exhibited fishing behavior, Meijaard wrote, including Japanese macaques, chacma baboons, olive baboons, chimpanzees and orangutans.
Agustin Fuentes, a University of Notre Dame anthropology professor who studies long-tailed macaques, or macaca fascicularis, on the Indonesian island of Bali and in Singapore, said he was "heartened" to see the finding published because such details can offer insight into the "complexity of these animals."
"It was not surprising to me because they are very adaptive," he said. "If you provide them with an opportunity to get something tasty, they will do their best to get it."
Fuentes, who is not connected with the published study, said he has seen similar behavior in Bali, where he has observed long-tailed macaques in flooded paddy fields foraging for frogs and crabs. He said it affirms his belief that their ability to thrive in urban and rural environments from Indonesia to northern Thailand could offer lessons for endangered species.
"We look at so many primate species not doing well. But at the same time, these macaques are doing very well," he said. "We should learn what they do successfully in relation to other species."
Still, Fuentes and Meijaard said further research was needed to understand the full significance of the behavior. Among the lingering questions are what prompted the monkeys to go fishing and how common it is among the species.
Long-tailed macaques were twice observed catching fish by The Nature Conservancy researchers in 2007, and Wich spotted them doing it two times in 1998 while studying orangutans.
Coho Salmon a good Seller
(06/10/08)
But supplies of king salmon will be tighter this season, and prices should be - and already are in the case of Copper River fish - higher as a result. Alaska fishermen are forecasted to catch about as many kings as they did last year. But the Washington fishery is limited this season, and the California and Oregon fisheries are completely off-limits due to the collapse of the Sacramento River chinook population.
Only a handful of consumers can afford to dish out $20 or $30 a pound, or more, for king salmon. Now is an ideal opportunity for retailers and foodservice operators across the Lower 48 to introduced consumers to other species of Pacific salmon, especially coho. Coho's relatively moderate size, high fat content and exceptional color retention make it a desirable fish.
"We'll see [seafood buyers] working more species of Pacific salmon into their product mix this season," says one Alaska seafood official. "They'll be looking at cohos. They'll be looking at ketas (chums)."
And there should be plenty of coho to go around. Alaska's coho harvest is projected to yield 4.4 million fish in 2008, up from 3.7 million fish last year. Coho is, in fact, the backbone of Alaska's salmon troll fishery. Don't miss this opportunity to feature it on your menu or in your case.
Truckers Strike in Chile Ends - only slight interuption in supply
(06/06/08)
Rodrigo Infante, the general manager of SalmonChile, said that the entire supply chain of salmon production was completely stalled due to the trucker strike.
According to Infante, this situation generated transport problems in every area: from feed to the harvest centres; fish to processing plants; and finished products to airports and ports.
Products did not exit harvest centres to the processing plants and as a result, the plants couldn't operate normally due to the lack of raw materials. Similarly, product that at processing plants could not move to airports or ports, given the lack of trucks to carry the fish from one place to another.
Regarding feed, Infante mentioned that due to the continuous rotation system required to feed the fish, the cycle has little room for disruption. Fish can live without eating for a while, yet, this is not ideal from a productive point of view, neither is this something we want to do Infante emphasized.
He added that In Puerto Montt and at the Island of Chiloe, the situation turned a bit worrisome. There were no fuel reserves and that made processing plants stop all operations due to the lack of fuel to operate the generators or raw materials to process.
Processors currently send out close to 1,500 t of fresh products every week, and the strike forced the sector's companies to readjust programs with their truckers. As a result, many international deliveries were delayed.
Close to 3:30 am as of this Friday, the strike ended. Representatives of the Government, led by Rene Cortazar who is the Transportation Minister, gathered with the truckers and announced the end of the strike as the Government committed to return them 80% of the tax collected for this year, and 100% starting in 2009.
Farm raised Salmon has less Mercury
(06/05/08)
A large proportion of the farmed salmon consumed in the United States originates in British Columbia, Canada.
Over the years, there have been health concerns because high levels of methyl mercury have been found in long-lived fish species nearer to the top of the food chain -such as tuna and salmon. High mercury levels have been associated with anincrease in the risk of cancer, and this has led many people to avoid consuming certain fishes.
This most recent study has determined that levels of mercury and other tracemetals measured in both farmed and wild salmon were significantly below HealthCanada's consumption guidelines. Compared to wild salmon, the researchers foundthat farmed salmon did not have significantly higher concentrations of metals suchas arsenic, cobalt, copper, or cadmium.
The threefold higher mercury concentrationobserved in the flesh of wild salmon than in farmed salmon is potentially explainedby farmed salmon's low gastrointestinal absorption efficiency, its negligible transfer of metals to muscle tissue, and its rapid growth cycles (growth dilution). In farmed fish, there were no differences in metal levels found between pre- and post processing.
For comparison to other parts of the human diet, the researchers indicate that total mercury levels were slightly higher in wild or farmed salmon than in chicken, beef,or pork and about the same as in fruit, vegetables, honey, and eggs. Compared toother foods, salmon contains lower levels of other trace elements. The average dietary intake of mercury and trace metals from salmon still remains a paltry 0.05%to 32% compared to the 68% to 99% that is absorbed from meat, poultry, fruit, andvegetables. Salmon also contains its own protection against mercury in the form ofthe element selenium. The moderate surplus of this metal can counteract mercury'stoxicity.
'Estimates of human dietary exposure indicate that human health risks associatedwith trace metal exposure via consumption of farmed and wild British Columbiasalmon are negligible,' conclude the authors. 'The current scientific evidencetherefore supports the weekly consumption of oily fish species (including all BritishColumbia salmon sources) as recommended by the American Heart Association.'
Louisiana Fisherman finally seeing disaster relief
(06/02/08)
With more than 8,000 qualified applicants, though, individual payouts will be spread thinly across the industry that took the first lashing from the storms. The state's fishing infrastructure took a $500 million hit after the storm, and many in the industry are miffed by the slow pace of government aid to one of the state's iconic professions.
'We need to contrast the loss in comparison with the money we're going to get,' said George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fisherman's Association, who was closely involved in developing the program with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. 'Yes, it is a little help, but it's not going to put you anywhere near what you lost.'
Money will be doled out to individual licensed fishers and seafood dealers based on the amount of seafood they brought to shore in the year before Katrina, as reported through a trip ticket system with Wildlife and Fisheries. Each sector of the industry -- shrimp, crab, oyster, crawfish, menhaden, finfish and seafood dealers -- will receive varying payments based on how much they contributed to the overall value of the state's seafood industry.
The department divided fishers into categories based on their share of the catch. Every fisher gets at least $50, and each would get higher payments depending on their pre-storm haul: anywhere from an additional $250 to more than $4,000. Those who are in multiple fisheries, such as shrimping and crabbing, could qualify for payouts under both sectors.
Many of the criticisms from the industry have to do with the equal distribution across the board. Some feel that those who don't derive most of their income from fishing should be excluded from the payouts so more money can go to full-time fishers.
Although this is the first federal program specifically targeted to individual commercial fishers, many were able to qualify last year for $20,000 small-business grants through the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the state Office of Community Development. The state announced a second round of such grants Tuesday.
Many were unable to qualify for the assistance through that program or the Small Business Administration.
'They had people in Venice, Louisiana, who lost their boats, their house, every possession they had in the world but the clothes off their backs, who did not qualify,' said Clint Guidry, a board member for the Louisiana Shrimp Association who lobbied Wildlife and Fisheries.
And for fishers who have tapped into savings to get back on the water, the money is seen as too little, too late -- a point even state fisheries officials acknowledge.
'This money is totally inadequate for the purposes of making anybody whole,' said Jim Hanifen, assistant administrator with the department's marine fisheries division. 'Given what we had to work with, we tried to make it as fair as possible. . . . The truth is we barely can even put a Band-Aid on it with $27 million.'
The $27 million was from a $41 million fisheries aid package approved in last summer's emergency supplemental bill from Congress. The rest of the money will go to programs for recreational fishers, including research and infrastructure projects such as fishing piers and docks, and toward administrative costs.
Fishers will receive paperwork in the mail, and must return it by an Oct. 31 deadline. Once the packet is returned, Wildlife and Fisheries will process the check.
Acid in Pacific Waters hurts Sea Life
(06/02/08)
The increasingly corrosive water threatens the survival of many organisms, from microscopic plants and animals at the base of the food chain to shellfish, corals and the young of some marine species, the researchers told a congressional field hearing Tuesday at the Seattle Aquarium.
The data indicates acidic water is appearing along the Pacific Coast decades earlier than expected. The acidified water does not pose a threat to humans, but it could dissolve the shells of clams, oysters and other shellfish.
The acidic seawater is moving closer to shallow waters containing the bulk of marine life, according to a recent article in the journal Science.
One of the article's authors, Christopher Sabine, said Tuesday he watched small marine snails placed in water of similar acidity to that recorded last summer off the northern California coast.
'We actually saw the shells dissolving off these living organisms. They were dissolving off the terapods as they were swimming around,' Sabine said. Such creatures comprise as much as 40 percent of the Pacific king salmon's diet.
Global ocean currents make the Pacific Northwest's coastal ecosystems particularly vulnerable to acidification's effects, Sabine said.
A worldwide 'conveyor belt' very slowly carries colder water from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific. Along the way, the water accumulates carbon dioxide from dead organisms, so it naturally has a higher carbon dioxide concentration before man-made carbon dioxide is added. A process known as 'up-welling' drags this water into shallower, coastal areas.
'As long as CO2 continues to increase in the atmosphere, the oceans will continue to absorb that,' Sabine said. 'What we're seeing is only going to get worse.'
Corrosive water could be disastrous for Washington state's shellfish industry, noted one panel member, Brian Bishop, owner of Little Skookum Shellfish Growers in Shelton, Washington. Washington state produces 85 percent of all shellfish on the West Coast, Bishop said.
'This acidity dissolves calcium carbonate, which is the thing that shells are made out of. If diatoms, corals, clams and oysters succumb to this it not only wipes out the shellfish industry but potentially the entire marine food chain,' said Bishop, a fifth-generation shellfish harvester.
The panel members said they did not know exactly how acidification will affect Puget Sound and other Northwest coastal waters.
'We know very little about the biological effects of acidification on the West Coast,' said Terrie Klinger, of the University of Washington's School of Marine Affairs. However, research has demonstrated that there will be early and strong effects in Northwest coastal ecosystems, she added.
'We won't see a total collapse in food chains, but we will see substitutions,' Klinger said. 'We may end up with food chains or food webs that are highly undesirable and not productive for the means that we use them today.'
Alaska Moves to Protect its resources
(05/22/08)
'Alaska has set the gold standard in ensuring robust fish stocks for commercial, recreational, and subsistence purposes,' said Senator Stevens. 'Science-based management has kept fisheries a cornerstone of our economy and preserved an important piece of Alaska Native culture. Global climate change is opening up the Arctic and we must act to protect its fisheries. After the President signs this resolution I will work with the State Department to bring this issue to the United Nations.'
'Conserving our fish stocks requires action both domestically and internationally,' said Senator Murkowski. 'The North Pacific Fisheries Management Council is taking action to develop a fisheries management plan for the Chukchi and Beauford Seas. Congress must now ensure that steps are taken to create an international framework for the management of fisheries in Arctic waters.'
Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska) helped speed the bill through the House of Representatives under the suspension of the rules.
'Alaskan fishermen have worked both at home in our own waters, through the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, and in international regional fishery organizations to make sure that North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea fisheries are sustainably managed and that management is based on sound science,' said Congressman Don Young (R-Alaska). 'This resolution makes it clear that the United States wants this track record of sound management to continue into new areas of the Arctic Ocean if they become open to fishing. I commend Senator Stevens for taking the lead on this resolution and I hope the State Department will work with us to ensure that Arctic fisheries are well managed through an appropriate international agreement.'
Currently, commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean has been limited by the distribution of fish habitat and short fishing seasons. Due to the possible impacts of climate change, ocean temperatures may shift, causing fish to enter new habitats and creating more favorable fishing conditions. The North Pacific Fishery Management Council recognized the importance of properly managing these emerging fisheries and it proposed in June that the U.S. close all federal waters in the Arctic Ocean until a management regime is put in place. S.J. Res 17 is consistent with that effort.
The resolution also addresses the problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It calls upon the U.S. to help prevent fishing on the high seas of the Arctic until an international fisheries management plan is developed. The plan would contain measures to combat IUU fishing that continues to undermine fisheries worldwide. Senator Stevens is leading the fight against IUU fishing and believes that eliminating these illegal fishing practices is a key to maintaining the health of Alaska's fisheries.
Copper River through the Roof!
(05/20/08)
The limited availability pushed fishermen's starting prices to a record $4.50/lb for sockeye salmon and $6.50 for kings. That compares to $3.75 and $6/lb last year. As usual, Cordova was busy with buyers scrambling to be the first to offer the famous first of the season fish to their customers, as promised. Bill Gilbert is manager of Norquest Seafoods in Cordova -
It's great. And the marketing of Copper River salmon is good for the community and the entire fishery and it's a real positive thing.'
Alaska Airlines landed 7,500 pounds of the first fish in Seattle early Friday morning. One pilot literally carried a whole king across a red carpet for media photo opps. Industry reports said Copper River king salmon fillets fetched $50 a pound at Tacoma's Northern Fish Company. Whole kings were commanding $29.99/lb at Metropolitan, and $38.99 for fillets. Copper River reds were priced at $23.99 a pound for whole fish and $33.99 for fillets. At FishEx in Anchorage, king fillets were listed at $34.95 and $19.95 for sockeye salmon. Meanwhile, a second opener on the Copper River was set for yesterday. Fish prices will ratchet downwards as catches pick up and more Alaska salmon fisheries come on line.
Salmon on the rise
(05/19/08)
Similarly, the prices of Norwegian-farmed salmon have been soaring on massive buying from Russia and China.
Demand for the Japanese-produced salmon is also growing reflecting consumers' awareness of healthy food.
Although farmed salmon production in the world has been expanding annually, the pace of growth in demand is outstripping that of supply.
The domestic wholesale prices of Chilean frozen coho, which is mainly sold in slices, now stand at Y480 per kilo (for 2/3kg size, headed and gutted), which showed an increase of 17% as compared with February when the prices hit the bottom.
In 2007, about 72,000 tons of Chilean coho were shipped to Japan.
In Chile, workers' wages have been rising reflecting the booming economy. Also, the prices of fishmeal feeds and fuel are staying at high levels.
'As production costs climbed 20-30%, we cannot make profit unless we sell at Y500 per kilo or higher,' says a spokesman of the Japan office of Chilean producers. He says that producers are now restraining shipments to Japan.
The wholesale prices of fresh Atlantic salmon from Norway, which are sold as sashimi in Japan, now fetch around Y1,100 per kilo (for 5/6 kg size, gutted). About 18,000 tons were imported to Japan in 2007.
The prices shot up 20% in May. A Japanese trader explains that the sharp price rise was due to 'massive buying by Russia and China' prior to June-July when Norway's shipments usually show declines.
On the domestic front, the prices at producing places of farmed coho from Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, stood at around Y500 per kilo (with head and guts) which was a level 10% higher than in the previous year.
Fish growth delayed because of low temperatures during last winter and demand is expanding at revolving sushi restaurant chains as consumers sought domestically-produced salmon.
Also, rising prices of imported salmon are bottoming up the wholesale prices of the domestic products.
On retailers' level, prices of Norwegian Atlantic salmon are beginning upturn, while those of Chilean coho, for which the price zone of Y100 per slice has been widely accepted among consumers, are staying more or less unchanged.
A mass retailer said: 'We see no need to raise prices for the time being as the profit ratio of Chilean salmon is high,' but he suggested there will be fewer bargain sales.
The production of farmed salmon in the world in 2007 increased more than 30% over 2001 to about 1.9 million tons, which is about double the harvests from the wild.
Salmon is said to have wider consumer acceptance in the world than other fish such as tuna, and international competition in buying is foreseen to intensify in the future.
Under the circumstances, 'there is a concern that imports to Japan may further decrease,' said an official of Daito Gyorui, a major wholesaler at Tokyo's Tsukiji Market.
Grouper and Snappper fighting government hook regulations
(05/19/08)
Members of the recreational and commercial industries in the Florida Keys have asked to work on proposed studies to answer the telling question: Can circle hooks catch shallow-water species like yellowtail snapper and mangrove snapper?
In less than a month, the South Atlantic Council will be asked to consider emergency rules that could create a January-to-April closure for most types of grouper, and require circle hooks for all snapper and grouper fishing.
At a May 7 hearing in Key Largo, Keys fishermen contended the proposed emergency rules were too stringent, too soon.
Particularly bothersome to local fishermen is the fact the species that generated the proposed rules - vermilion snapper and gag grouper - are seldom caught in the Keys.
But protective rules recommended by council staff could affect major Keys species like yellowtail snapper and black grouper.
Fishermen at subsequent workshops this week in Cape Canaveral and Georgia voiced similar concerns, Iarocci said after speaking with council staff.
"With everything going on with fuel prices and the economy, we may have to postpone some stuff so we can be sure about the science," Iarocci said. "Some of these rules could affect people who are hurting big-time."
Bill Kelly of the Islamorada Charter Boat Association and the newly formed South Atlantic Charter Boat Association said when it comes to the proposed rules on snapper and grouper, "the commercial and recreational for-hire groups stand on common ground more often than not."
Conservation-minded anglers likely would accept circle hooks for more species, if it can be shown that they are as effective as the more popular J-hooks, he said.
"We have for-hire operators and commercial fishermen willing to conduct tests to establish the efficacy of circle hooks," Kelly said. "If the managers are right, this would only bolster their case for mandating the hooks."
While circle books have proven effective in billfishing and deepwater bottom fishing, Kelly said, the same is not necessarily true for mangrove snapper and yellowtail, which require a "more aggressive" technique.
"Circle hooks are a joke" for Keys snapper fishing, Key West charter captain Billy Bullard said at the Key Largo hearing. "I'd rather make a J-hook out of a bobby pin."
Iarocci he will seek to "draw some lines" on the South Atlantic map to differentiate between areas with various types of fishing and concerns.
"Now is the time for fishermen to speak up," he said. "This is not a done deal, but it could be if they just sit back until it's too late."
Making Sense of Sustainable Accreditation
(05/12/08)
The move is aimed at providing the NGO's with a common platform with which to approach businesses on seafood sustainability issues. The groups range from the David Suzuki Foundation to the New England Aquarium, and span a range of approaches to working with companies on sourcing, from confrontational to collaborative, from ideological frameworks to science based frameworks. The test of the coalition will be whether they can agree on concrete action steps to recommend to foodservice and retailers. Notably absent is Greenpeace, which is conducting its own campaign for retailers to remove certain seafood products, and the MSC, which while supported by some of the groups in the coalition, has its own label and does not recognize other metrics for sustainability.
The 14 organizations that are participating which all have a strong history of working with the seafood industry and policymakerson environmentally responsible seafood issues have partnered to form the Conservation Alliance for SeafoodSolutions.
Our Common Vision outlines an ambitious but realistic path toward sustainable seafood that businesses canfollow to safeguard the future viability of their industry, said Mark Powell, vice president for fish conservation,Ocean Conservancy.
In the past, we've heard from companies that there is too much competing information about environmentallyresponsible seafood, said Jennifer Lash, executive director, Living Oceans Society. Seafood buyers andsuppliers now have clear and consistent input from a broad range of conservation groups about how to moveforward.
Meanwhile, NFI said the sustainability blueprint was a good step, but incomplete since none of the groups saw fit to include the seafood community, which has been working hard on sustainability issues, in Alaska, for example, for decades, and has been recognized by groups such as the MSC for doing so.
It is good to see these groups focusing on sustainability and acknowledging the vital role the seafood community plays in those efforts, said NFI president John Connelly. ÒHowever, the common vision is their common vision. Its calls for action were not developed with the input of the full seafood community. We have in the past and will continue to maintain a full commitment to the sustainable use of our global resources. Perhaps better than anyone we know the commitment it takes to successfully harvest enough fish now to feed Americans, while leaving plenty for future generations. It is the key to our livelihood.
Todays release calls on seafood businesses to support, policies and practices that protect the oceans and the long-term viability of our seafood supply.
As a community we are and have been fully vested in supporting projects that promote the health of the oceans and the seafood supply, said Connelly. ÒWe continue to demonstrate that commitment day in and day out through partnerships with environmentally minded groups that help us promote sustainability, safety and certification. Our efforts to incorporate comprehensive programs and strategies are ongoing.
The coalition says it recognizes that fulfilling the vision for environmental sustainability is a journey involving many steps.
But step one should be recognizing that the seafood community are stewards of suitability and our input and efforts are vital to success. A common vision requires input from the full community-- not a statement that is developed behind closed doors, said Connelly.
The NGO's Common Vision identifies six critical areas where companies can take action to ensure a sustainableseafood supply and protect ocean environments:
Making a commitment to develop and implement a comprehensive, corporate policy on sustainableseafood;
Collecting data to assess and monitor the environmental sustainability of their seafood products;
Buying environmentally responsible seafood;
Making information regarding their seafood products publicly available;
Educating their consumers, suppliers, employees and other key stakeholders about environmentallyresponsible seafood; and
Engaging in and supporting policy and management changes that lead to positive environmentaloutcomes in fisheries and aquaculture.
Seafood buyers and suppliers can be a powerful force for improving the environmental performance of theseafood industry. A number of businesses including Plitt Company, Ahold USA and Compass Group NorthAmerica have voiced their support for the Common Vision Ð and for the need to improve ocean health tomaintain the long-term viability of the seafood supply.
It just makes good business sense for companies that buy and sell seafood to ensure a long-term supply ofseafood through direct support for environmentally responsible seafood policies and practices, said TobiasAguirre, executive director, FishWise.
We recognize that achieving the Common Vision is a journey with many steps, said Rebecca Goldburg,senior scientist, Environmental Defense Fund. We want to join together with committed companies to moveforward, using this Common Vision as a guide.
The Common Vision outlines new opportunities for companies to expand enterprise in a more responsible waywith long-term benefits for the industry, Bill Wareham, senior marine conservation specialist, David SuzukiFoundation.
The following organizations developed and are actively supporting the Common Vision:
Blue Ocean Institute
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
David Suzuki Foundation
Ecology Action Centre
Environmental Defense Fund
FishChoice
FishWise
Living Oceans Society
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Natural Resources Defense Council
New England Aquarium
Ocean Conservancy
Sierra Club British Columbia
World Wildlife Fund Ð US
Squid Wars
(05/09/08)
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has said, in a letter to importers, The Service does not consider that cephalopods other than nautilus meet the definition of a shellfish under 50 CFR 10.12, since they are not aquatic invertebrates with a shell. In addition the SErvice does not consider these three groups of animals (squids, octopus, and cuttlefish) to fall under the fishery product exemption.
We recognize that we have had some inconsistent implementation of this exemption at our ports. We are working to correct this problem.
This is a blatant attempt to expand the power of the USFWS to require endangered species act exemption permits, over the objections of NOAA.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is enforcing rules on import permits for squid, octopus and cuttlefish to make sure that importers are complying with endangered and threatened species laws.
When Congress first gave the Fish and Wildlife Service authority to require import permits under the Endangered species act, they exempted ''shellfish and fishery products''.
The Fish and Wildlife Service is changing the definition of the exemption to ''shell fish and non-living fish products''.
This means that by saying that molluscan shellfish such as squid and cuttlefish and octopus are not shellfish, each import must be accompanied by the required exemption permit stating the product is not subject to endangered species regulations.
So far NOAA has been unable to reign in this drastic change, which leaves a whole sector of the seafood industry exposed to new fees, regulations, and prohibitions, that was never intended by Congress.
Tuna Farming in Chile
(05/06/08)
The main objective is to establish preliminary productive bases for a commercial harvest center of bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus) in northern Chile. For that, they are inviting 6 companies within the industry to participate in the business modeling. the salmon industry managed to consolidate itself in southern Chile when pricing for this fish was around US$4/kg. In the worst case, tuna can be traded at US$30-50/kg and thus could be a very good developing tool in the northern part of Chile, Catalan commented.
The project is divided in three stages. The first is a trip to the productive centers in Spain and Mexico. Thereafter, a pilot harvest-center will be built to feed and grow tuna fish taking into consideration current production quality standards that are applied to off-shore fish harvesting. Finally, with the expertise of Corfo and FAO, the final stage will be based on the reproduction of tuna fish based on the results obtained in the previous stage.
Bluefin tuna is a highly demanded species worldwide, especially in Japan. From a biological standpoint tuna is a very fast-growing species, approximately 20 times faster than other species like sea bream and sea bass Catalan added.
Tuna is without a doubt an overfished, overexploited resource due to its good and constant demand worldwide. Therefore, sustainable exploitation of tuna depends largely of the conservation measures and regulation. Populations of tuna migrate every year thousands of kilometers through exclusive economic zones, and thus its fisheries demand a high level of regulation.
Japan is one of the largest consumers of tuna in the world, and the only in which sashimi grade tuna constitutes an essential part of their diet. For instance, annual consumption oscillates around 450,000 metric tons, 60% of which are imported. Last year, 78 countries exported sashimi grade tuna to Japan. This is a large number of suppliers is we take into account that in 1985 there were only 33.
Catalan has a long history in the aquaculture and fishing sector. For 14 years he worked as the production manager for Empresas Chisal S.A., Salmones Tecmar S.A., and Salmones Unimarc. Later he was a consultant to the World Bank in Brazil.
Diesel Hurts
(05/06/08)
Members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on Tuesday took up the rising diesel prices that have hampered the trucking industry.
"People are losing their trucks and losing their business," said Rep. Peter DaFazio, D-Ore. "But there are some places where an appropriate action by Congress might mitigate these problems."
The cost of diesel has risen 26% since beginning of this year, compared to an 18% rise in the price of regular gas. The national average price for diesel stands at $4.24 a gallon on May 1, while gasoline averages at $3.60 a gallon.
Most of diesel's historical rise can be attributed to the surging price of crude oil. And as oil prices hit $122 a barrel Tuesday, there were no immediate signs of diesel prices retreating. But global demand for the fuel has outpaced that of gasoline in the past 12 months, especially in China and Europe but also in the United States.
Rising diesel costs have dug into the trucking industry's profits, whose trucks run on the fuel. The American Trucking Association predicted that truckers will have to shell out $140 billion for diesel in 2008 after spending more than $112 billion in 2007.
Hundreds of truckers joined a protest and circled the U.S. Capitol on April 28.
Squid another example of Government oversight
(05/05/08)
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by John Sackton - May 5, 2008 - Northeast squid importers have been hit with new language from the Fish and Wildlife Service that would not allow squid to be imported with the usual exemptions given other fish and shellfish products. What this means is that because squid was left out of the definition used by the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant exemptions from the Endangered Species Act permitting requirements, squid importers are now seeing their shipments held up for lack of permits acceptable to the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Now both some Congressional leaders and NMFS have weighed in on the issue, asking that the status quo be restored.
In a letter, NOAA said ''Serious questions have arisen from seafood importers in the northeast as to whether [the definition] of shellfish should include wildlife species such as squid, octopus, and cuttlefish. NMFS understanding is that organisms in this class are shellfish.
Based on the concerns we have identified, NMFS strongly recommends FWS provide clarification in this rule on the definition of shellfish to help those importing and exporting seafood better understand the import/export requirements of the FWS.''
Rep. Henry Brown, from South Carolina, who is the ranking member on the ocean subcommittee of the Fish and Wildlife committee says:
''The notice of the FWS provides no specific evidence, work experiences, or case studies to back up the proposal to repeal existing exemptions relative to shellfish and fishery products. ..I see no jurisdiction under the Endangered species act in this case and otherwise I am curious to how the Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to now regulate seafood''..
Interesting use of Salmon
(05/02/08)
Mega fish-farming giant Gustav Witzoe said it believes putting millions into making salmon dogs is a wise investment because the food will please parents by giving children a healthy meal, Aftenposten reported.
The push for salmon dogs may have come at a good time, due to the falling cost of export salmon, the state central statistics bureau said.
In the past, the company has made salmon balls and salmon burgers that taste like fish, but the dogs reportedly will go a different route.
Witzoe said the new dogs will look and taste just like a traditional hot dogs in an effort to appeal to kids.
Increasing Labor Costs in Chile
(05/01/08)
According to the Chile Salmon Farming Association, Chile's salmon/trout exports in January-December 2007 totaled 397,039 tons, up 3% over the previous year.
Of this amount, 145,960 tons were exported to Japan, which was a decrease of 2% over the previous year, followed by 114,320 tons to the United States (up 5%), 40,705 tons to Europe (down 12%), and 36,398 tons to Latin America (up 24%), with exports to other destinations combined coming to 59,656 tons (up 11%).
Year-on-year growth was observed in shipments to Latin America and 'other markets.' Among Latin American countries, exports to Brazil jumped 65.9%, and, among 'other markets,' Russia registered a visible increase of 24.9%.
By species, 200,481 tons of Atlantic salmon was exported, a predominant part of which went to the U.S., with only 6,106 tons, or 3%, coming to Japan.
Exports of coho totaled 82,297 tons, of which 69,023 tons, or 84%, were shipped to Japan. However, this showed a decline in the share of the Japanese market, which in earlier years held more than 90%.
Analysts point out the conspicuous expansion of demand in newly emerging countries such as China and Russia in clear contrast to the declining shares of Japan.
Regarding trout, 68,833 tons, or 63%, of Chile's overall trout exports of 108,908 tons were shipped to Japan, and 11,513 tons, or 11%, were exported to Russia.
According to industry sources, shipments of H&G products to Russia have been growing at a fast pace.
It has been reported that the Russian government dispatched a research mission to Chile last fall, and only 13 packers were granted the license for exports to Russia as a result of the examination on hygienic state, including production processes.
Projections for Chile's salmon production for next season has not been made available yet. But Marine Harvest, one of the packers, has made it clear that it will pull out from production of coho from the coming season.
Industry sources believe that it is certain that coho production will be slashed by over 10,000 tons next season.
Conversely, local producers are now shifting to production of Atlantic salmon, a product that can compete internationally better than coho which suffers a sluggish market. For this reason, production volume of Atlantic salmon is foreseen to grow in the years ahead.
One of the big topics in the farmed salmon industry in Chile is the rising wages.
A strike was staged for the duration of nearly 40 days from January this year at a major packer as wage negotiations between the management and the labor broke down.
It is said that average monthly wage per worker in Chile almost doubled from $500-600 two years ago to over $1,000.
Producers are trying hard to minimize manual labor by automating the production processes. Industry observers foresee that this efforts will continue in the years ahead.
One factor behind the rising wages is that the new Chilean government is taking the policy of protecting workers against the background of the growth of Chile's industry, as witnessed in enlarging demand for copper produced in Chile, one of the leading cooper producing countries in the world.
Other issues in the Chilean salmon farming industry is the occurrence of diseases in the salmon farms and slow growth of fish.
Last year ISA broke out in the farms for Atlantic salmon, compelling farmers to dispose of large quantities of salmon.
Higher temperatures caused slowdown in the growth of coho and trout. Further, soaring fishmeal prices prompted the development of feed using vegetable materials, which also caused the pace-down of growth.
Other factors, such as changes in regulations on the use of antibiotics, are also affecting salmon production.
Congress tries to control oversight of ocean management
(04/29/08)
The Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans voted 11-3 to approve the bill (HR 21) after defeating a slate of GOP amendments designed to pare it down.
The bill would create regional partnerships to share information and coordinate federal ocean activities. It would codify a committee on ocean policy that now exists under executive order, establish a council of advisers on ocean policy, and create an oceans adviser to the president.
A separate section of the bill would establish the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a unit in the Department of Commerce.
The agency was established under a 1970 presidential order, but it has not been formally codified into law.
The bill would make NOAA responsible for conducting research on the oceans, weather, atmosphere and climate; for monitoring changes in the environment; and for conducting education and outreach on those areas. It would also require NOAA to develop a restructuring plan.
Some Republicans on the panel said the bill would create a new bureaucracy that could impede commercial activities with an impact on the ocean. The panel approved by voice vote a substitute amendment by Chairwoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Da?`Guam, which made a series of changes intended to attract wider support.
These changes were not enough to satisfy the bill's critics. Ranking subcommittee Republican Henry E. Brown Jr. of South Carolina called the bill 'the biggest change to ocean policy in 40 years.' He offered amendments to remove sections of the bill he considered harmful, but the panel soundly defeated them.
The effects of fuel - a closer look
(04/29/08)
"A (shrimp) trawler can burn 100 gallons a night. At $3.75 a gallon, that adds up. That has an effect on everybody," said Dean Smith, owner of Luther L. Smith & Son Seafood in Carteret County."
High fuel prices can dictate how often a fisherman takes his boat out, Smith said. But he said prices at the pump aren't the only thing that can affect seafood landings.
"The rules and regulations are hurting them, too. All of it adds up," Smith said.
High fuel prices and regulations are both cited as possible impacts on 2007 landings figures released this week by the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.
The amount of seafood commercial fishermen brought to the docks in North Carolina dropped for the fifth straight year in 2007, but the dockside value of the catch increased from 2006 figures, DMF said.
According to harvest data collected by the N.C. Trip Ticket Program, commercial fishermen harvested landed 62.9 million pounds of fish and shellfish in 2007, an 8.5 percent drop from 2006.
However, the 2007 harvest value was estimated at $82.3 million, which was $12.2 million more than 2006.
The numbers could indicate that higher fuel prices are forcing fishermen to target the higher-dollar catches, said Louis Daniel, director of the Division of Marine Fisheries.
"In some instances, the decline that we have seen from 2006 to 2007 may be closely related to coastwide quotas and other regulations," he said via a news release on the landings report.
Bluefish, summer flounder, snowy grouper, river herring, sharks, and spiny dogfish are examples of species where regulations are significant enough to affect landings, he said.
"Declines are also apparent in some of the higher volume, often lower valued fisheries, like croaker and spot," Daniel said. "That may be a result of high fuel costs or a shift in fishing effort."
High valued seafood such as sea scallops, vermillion snapper, triggerfish, wahoo, red grouper and sea mullet showed significant increases in landings, he said.
The decline in croaker and spot landings could also indicate a problem with the resources.
According to DMF, the most recent Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission stock assessment shows that croaker are not overfished in the Mid-Atlantic region north of Hatteras, but the stock status in the South Atlantic region south of Hatteras is unknown.
Hard crabs remained the top commercial seafood harvest in North Carolina by weight and value. Fishermen landed 20.5 million pounds of crabs in 2007 worth $18.1 million. But the landings were still 16 percent below 2006 levels and 35 percent lower than the previous five-year average.
Landings of other top commercial species declined as well, including Atlantic croaker, summer flounder, and bluefish.
But there were also increases.
Harvests of shrimp were at 9.5 million pounds, up 66 percent from 2006 and 64 percent from the previous five-year average. White shrimp harvests almost doubled those of 2006 and warmer winter waters farther north contributed to the high catch of white shrimp from Pamlico Sound since 1999, DMF said.
Total recreational landings by pounds decreased by 7.3 percent from 2006 to 23.1 million pounds. However, the number of fish caught and kept increased from 12 million in 2006 to 14.7 million in 2007.
Top recreational species harvested were dolphinfish, 5.5 million pounds; yellowfin tuna, 3.3 million pounds; king mackerel, 2 million pounds; bluefish, 1.5 million pounds; and spot, 1.4 million pounds.
Fishermen holding recreational commercial gear licenses harvested a total of 433,152 pounds of fish and crab. Top species harvested were blue crabs, 98,003 pounds; spot, 97,753 pounds; flounder, 41,542 pounds; striped mullet, 37,958 pounds; and shrimp, 33,778 pounds.
A complete list of 2007 landings can be downloaded from the NC Division of Marine Fisheries Web site at http://www.ncfisheries.net/download/index/html under the "Statistics, Reports, Bulletins, and Summaries" heading.
Contact Carteret County reporter Jannette Pippin at jpippin@freedomenc.com or 252-808-2275.
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Greenpeace harrasses illegal Pacific Tuna harvetsers
(04/27/08)
In the latest confrontation, crew from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza boarded a Taiwanese boat, the Nian Sheng 3, to inspect their catch, a spokesman said.
The captain of the tuna boat, which also contained hundreds of frozen shark fins and tails, allowed the activists to board, Greenpeace campaign leader Lagi Toribau told AFP by telephone from the Esperanza.
Greenpeace are not a violent campaigning organisation, he said, while adding that the activists were prepared to interfere with their physical fishing activities in order for us to save the last tuna stocks.
On Sunday, Esperanza crew members hopped in a small boat to paint the side of the US vessel Cape Finisterre with the words Tuna Overkill, Greenpeace said in a statement.
Last Thursday, the group protested alongside the South Korean ship Olympus before activists confiscated a fish aggregation device used to attract tuna.
The latest action took place in international waters near the Solomon Islands northeast of Australia where legal fishers and pirates are both plundering Pacific tuna, Greenpeace said.
Describing tuna as the world's favourite fish, Lagi Toribau said, advances in technology mean large ships are now able to catch as much fish in two days as the fishers of the small Pacific island countries can catch in a year.
The future of the western and central Pacific tuna fishery is crucial for small Pacific states. Tuna is the only major economic resource for many, as well as one of the most important food sources.
Currently, licence fees provide them a small return of around five to six percent of the three billion US dollar annual catch in the region.
Mr Toribau said the fishing carried out by the foreign ships is technically not illegal but is unregulated, and Greenpeace is campaigning for the pockets of international waters between the island nations to be declared marine reserves.
Delegates from more than 40 countries met last December at a Pacific fisheries conference in Guam amid warning signs that the world's last great tuna fishery -- which supplies more than half the world's tuna -- is heading for crisis.
But the five-day meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which includes delegates from Pacific nations and major fishing countries, failed to reach an agreement.
Greenpeace took action against this tuna fishing operation because the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which is supposed to be managing the fishery and protecting the tuna, are failing to do their job, Mr Toribau said.
Both time and tuna are running out.
Prized for top quality sashimi in Japan and as a source of cheap canned protein on supermarket shelves all over the world, tuna stocks have been slashed in most of the world's oceans.
As tuna catches in other oceans have declined because of overfishing, these ships have moved into the Pacific, said Mr Toribau.
There are now nearly 600 purse seiners and over 3,600 tuna longliners plundering the Western and Central Pacific alone. This is clearly not sustainable.
Some modern purse-seiners, which surround schools of tuna with curtain-like nets, are capable of catching up to 10,000 tonnes annually, while long-line boats tow thousands of baited hooks at a time.
The Esperanza was heading for a stopover in the Solomon Islands before returning to international waters to continue the protests, Mr Toribau said.
Continuous USDA Inspection could be coming!
(04/27/08)
Such a huge change - opposed by the industry for more than 25 years, would radically upset the entire seafood regulatory and inspection system in the U.S.
The seafood industry, the FDA, and NMFS decided in the 1980's to adopt a HACCP based regulatory system, which was determined to be more efficient, more cost effective, and more suitable to the actual safety issues involved in processing seafood than the existing USDA continuous meat plant inspection system.
The USDA meat inspection program, begun over 100 years ago, specifies the requirements for each cut of meat, the processes that can be used, and requires permanent inspectors in every operating meat plant.
The USDA, in addition to its inspection programs, also has a robust marketing program that has benefited catfish farmers, who have worked closely with the USDA for years.
This year, as part of an effort to raise more barriers between imported catfish and American processed catfish, the catfish industry proposed adding catfish to the list of foods that would come under USDA inspection. Such a move would differentiate all American produced catfish, and allow sellers to claim that imported catfish, such as from China, would first have to meet USDA equivalent inspection standards (i.e. have permanent continuous inspection in plants), and it would normally take years for such a system to be implemented, if it could at all.
To the domestic catfish farmers, it seemed like an easy solution. Require plant inspection through the USDA, and then prevent Chinese catfish from entering the U.S. because it could not meet the same inspection standard.
As a result, senators from the catfish producing states were happy to add this language to the farm bill. In the course of writing the bill, it was broadened to apply to all seafood -- not just catfish.
That's when the industry, the trade associations, and other Senate committees noticed what was happening.
In a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees the National Fisheries Institute (NFI), Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and the National Restaurant Association (NRA) said ''language added to the Farm Bill that would include seafood in the list of products covered by the USDA's Federal Meat Inspection Act, poses a serious threat to the food industry's ability to provide safe, fresh and wholesome seafood to American consumers.''
'' We're concerned that USDA lacks the expertise and framework needed for proper seafood inspection'', said NFI President John Connelly.
''The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) both have the knowledge and infrastructure already in place to continue doing the job. Increasing the funding for their seafood safety programs would be a better use of tax payers' money.''
The letter says, ''It would be terribly imprudent at this point to move any amount of seafood inspection authority to the USDA's Meat Inspection Act program. Such a dramatic shift in process and policy will be costly, unnecessary and duplicative.''
In addition to the trade associations, other Senate Committees, such as the Senate Commerce committee with Stevens and Inouye, Kennedy's Health and Labor committee (FDA jurisdiction) said ''The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee is currently working onlegislation to enhance food safety, including seafood. ..we strongly urge you to resist efforts to grant any expansion of seafood inspection and grading authority to the USDA as part of the Farm Bill.''
Hill staffers now say that the language will most certainly be changed, likely to make catfish eligible for voluntary USDA inspection.
Even this provision has the potential for disruption in the industry, as competitive pressure may force catfish producers to adopt USDA continuous inspection protocols if their customers demand it.
It is highly unlikely that anyone from the processing industry has been involved in this effort, because the idea of inviting government control, by people who know little of your products and methods, to take de facto day to day oversight of your processing plant, is not something that any American processor would seek voluntarily.
Mussels help Clean the water
(04/22/08)
| Species Info |
'' Sometimes it's very difficult to try and find very low concentrations of toxics in the water supply. Measuring water requires incredible precision and expense.''
To the rescue Ð mussels.
'' Mussels are one of our fastest filter feeders and in the process, whatever toxic material gets in the water, likely gets into the algae and is picked up by the mussels. So Cut: 09 so if you want to find something in the water supply sampling mussels and looking for toxicants in mussels is an extremly good way to do it.''
The Mussel Watch Program, for example, quelled fears about disease and water safety after hurricane Katrina
'' They had a mussel watch program there so have all background data on toxicant levels. After Katrina we went back to these same sites and sampled the mussels and found there wasn't anywhere near the problem people thought would happen.''
More amazingly, RaLonde says mussels have even been used for clean up of toxic materials.
'' If you deposit mussels down there they will pull those toxicants out of the systems and then you just dispose of the mussels and you have a clean up program. ''
RaLonde says there's lots of them but harvesting mussels poses some problems in Alaska. Wild mussels tend to turn filtered silt into tiny hidden pearls that taste like a mouthful of sand. And healthy beds seem to become stressed by disease and other natural factors
'' Two years, it's a healthy mussel bed and all of a sudden its gone. We have to find a way around that stressful peirod in second year just in time when market size.''
Mussel dredge fisheries still occur in New England, but most today come from farms on both coasts. Farmers get $2-$2.50 a pound for mussels and market watchers say supply does not even come close to meeting demand.
Immigration affects Seafood Industry
(04/21/08)
Graham and Rollins, a seafood distributor in Hampton, is processing crabs with 11 employees instead of the 100 foreign workers it typically hires.
Thousands of seafood, landscaping and summer hospitality-related seasonal businesses nationally that rely on foreign workers are losing money and may go out of business unless Congress renews a visa program that allows 66,000 temporary nonagricultural workers into the country annually.
The law allowing seasonal workers to return to the United States expired in the fall, and attempts to renew it are mired in the national controversy over immigration reform.
Business owners from northeast North Carolina and southeastern Virginia traveled to Washington last week to plead with lawmakers to renew the bill.
'I've gotten weary of the fight,' said Colon Grandy of Grandy Farm Market in Currituck County, N.C., which typically hires nine foreign workers.
For some, it may be too late.
'We've already set a date for July 1 to make a decision to pull the trigger to decide our fate,' said Johnny Graham, president of the fourth-generation, family-owned crab processor in Hampton. 'One option is to close,' he said. 'There is no Plan B.'
Even if the bill were to pass now, it would take at least a month to get workers here.
The busiest time of year for Sandscapes, a small landscaping company in Kitty Hawk, N.C., is from March to May, said owner Sarah Brown, who hires eight to 10 workers from Mexico.
Sandscapes will either lose work or won't be able to get jobs done quickly enough, she said.
To replace the foreign workers, Brown said, she has unsuccessfully tried to hire local residents referred by the employment commission.
She sent certified letters guaranteeing them jobs, she said, but no one responded.
Sherrie Carawan, an owner of Mattamuskeet Seafood, said she has 'no available work force at all.'
She had relied on at least 55 Mexican crab processors, but because they were not allowed to return this spring, the plant remains closed.
'I'm losing hope Congress is going to help us,' she said. 'We're not asking for money, just help us keep our businesses.'
Others, such as Maid for You, a professional cleaning service in Nags Head, N.C., are n't taking on new work because their Mexican employees can't come back.
Local business owners who rely on the seasonal help are frustrated because they say the returning workers are being confused with illegal immigrants.
'They're all legal,' said Sandscapes' Brown. 'They pay taxes. They all go home. We don't solicit undocumented workers on the street.'
Many are experienced, such as most of the 30 to 40 employees at Pamlico Packing Co., said Don Cross, an owner of the Vandemere, N.C., seafood processor. 'We need these workers.'
Some may try to hire the hundreds of foreign students who come to the Outer Banks each summer, many from Russia and Eastern Europe.
There is no cap on the number of visiting foreign students, but they're permitted to stay here only 17 weeks, which might not be long enough to fill labor needs, said Muffy Grant with the Center for Cultural Interchange in Chicago.
The workers typically earn more than minimum wage, said local business owners affected by the visa problem, and many are like family.
'Some of my ladies have worked here 18 years,' said Tara Foreman, general manager of Captain Neill's Seafood in Columbia, N.C., which brings in about 75 Mexican workers annually. 'They went to my wedding and gave me a shower.'
Mattamuskeet Seafood's Carawan has even visited her employees' homes in Mexico and said they want to return to their jobs.
'They're calling all the time,' she said. 'I don't know what to tell them.'
the holdup
The law allowing seasonal workers to return to the United States expired in the fall, and attempts to renew it are mired in controversy over immigration reform.
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA] - April 21, 2008 -
Fish is what's good for you!
(04/19/08)
That's because fish is a valuable source of the kind of essential fatty acids (omega-3) the body cannot produce on its own but that promote brain function and protect the cardiovascular system. People with diets rich in seafood, for instance, are less likely to suffer from heart disease.
The pros keep coming. Selenium, a naturally occurring nutrient in seafood, is especially helpful for cognitive development and function. In addition to its load of omega-3s, tuna has long been heralded for its low-fat protein punch. Plus, there is little to no cholesterol in most fish and shellfish (shrimp, scallops, clams, oysters), and the variety of species and tastes make it a great addition to most restaurant and home menus.
Given all this, it's no wonder the Food and Drug Administration is wrestling with how to balance seafood's risk and benefits. Representatives there estimate a reassessment should go into public review sometime this year.
The Republican Company, Springfield, MA.] By Lynsy Smithson-Stanley - April 16, 2008
Wild Salmon can't meet demand!
(04/17/08)
| Species Info | Order | Nutrition |
The West Coast salmon fisheries are closed almost completely this year for the first time ever due to collapse