November 19, 2024 — Seafood sales rose at U.S. retail stores in October, thanks in part to a slight uptick in price inflation.
Shelf-stable seafood sales have performed consistently well in 2024 and did the same in October, realizing a sales spike by value of 1.7 percent year over year to USD 244 million (EUR 230 million). Sales by volume in the category rose 4.7 percent during the month, according to data from research firm Circana that was analyzed by 210 Analytics.
November 18, 2024 — The volume and value of America’s commercial fishing industry both fell according to newly released federal figures, though members of the industry said the decline was to be expected following a recent spike in supply.
The catch at U.S. ports in the 50 states fell 2.6% to 8.4 billion pounds in 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Fisheries of the United States” report, which the agency released this month. The same report said the catch was worth $5.9 billion at the docks in 2022, the most recent year with available statistics, and that was a drop of 11%.
America also ate a little bit less seafood in 2022, as per capita consumption fell about 3% to 19.8 pounds in 2022, the report said. However, 2021 was a historically high year for seafood consumption, and the supply of available seafood surged, said Gavin Gibbons, chief strategy officer with the National Fisheries Institute in Reston, Virginia.
November 15, 2024 — Increased debt loads carried by governments around the world are resulting in the need for private sector investments to fund better management of global fish stocks, according to Jim Cannon.
Speaking at the IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organization’s 2024 annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal, Cannon – who is the head of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, a Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.-based nonprofit that aims to ensure healthy marine ecosystems – said most countries can’t afford better management of their stocks through government funds alone.
November 14, 2024 — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) has released its annual top 10 list of most consumed species for 2022, showing that Americans ate 19.7 pounds of seafood per capita, down 0.8 pounds from 2021 when consumption reached record highs during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The 2022 list reflects the correction that took place following the 2021 supply surge which saw a 9 percent increase in available seafood,” NFI Programs Director Richard Barry said. “Since the previous year experienced record high supply growth, a slight dip the following year was expected. The 2022 per capita number, however, remains higher than pre-pandemic consumption, an encouraging sign of retained seafood consumers.”
November 13 2024 — The recent election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency will have myriad effects on the U.S. restaurant and retail sectors, according to professionals in both industries.
According to Jennifer Bushman, co-founder and executive director of the San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-based nonprofit Fed by Blue, which supports the creation of responsible blue food systems, a Trump presidency will likely create a more volatile environment for seafood both at retail and on restaurant menus.
November 13, 2024 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
At NOAA Fisheries, we know U.S. seafood is good for people, good for our planet, and good for our economy. But we know less about where it goes, how it gets there, and who benefits along the way. By definition, the shortest supply chains are achieved through direct marketing. Seafood harvesters engaged in direct marketing sell their wild-caught or farm-raised seafood directly to consumers, fish markets, restaurants, or institutions without going through a wholesaler or distributor. We caught up with direct marketing operations on the East and West Coasts to learn about how they are building community connections and increasing access to sustainable seafood.
Captain Allen Smith has been shrimping off the coast of North Carolina since 1984. For decades, he sold his shrimp to the local fish house. When shrimp prices crashed in the mid-2000s, driving many shrimpers out of business, he wasn’t ready to stop. On a whim, he and his then-wife set up a chair and an ice chest with 50 pounds of shrimp in front of their home on Highway 70. Gina was sold out of shrimp before Allen finished mowing the lawn.
Today, Miss Gina’s Fresh Shrimp maintains a small roadside stand with a loyal customer base in Beaufort, North Carolina. Allen and his son, Thomas Smith, captain three day boats, shrimping primarily in Core and Pamlico Sounds and occasionally offshore. Thomas’ wife, Monica Smith, handles the sales. The Smiths also employ a full-time deckhand and several part-time sales assistants.
At first, the customer base for Miss Gina’s consisted of their neighbors in eastern Carteret County. But as word spread, the business attracted seafood lovers farther inland, as well as tourists visiting the shore to angle for their own seafood.
“Once we became a big name, I started noticing our shrimp were going everywhere,” Monica explains. She clarifies that Miss Gina’s doesn’t ship-–the customers transport the shrimp themselves. Eventually Monica bought a map of the United States and started adding a sticker each time a customer mentioned they were taking the shrimp home to a new state. “Last I checked we were only missing six states!”
Key to this expansion has been social media marketing. Monica posts photos of the fresh catch and advertises the products and prices daily. Customers can comment, message, or call with requests. They can then arrange to pick up the shrimp from the stand or from the box truck Miss Gina’s drives to the towns of Goldsboro and Clayton most Saturdays. Recently, the business expanded to offering bay scallops and clams from other vessels and oysters from local farms.
Because she sells directly to customers, Monica has the freedom to set the prices week to week, depending on the catch. The flexibility of direct marketing, and the lasting relationships it creates with customers, strengthen the resilience of the business.
Direct marketing, Monica emphasizes, is all about relationships. (“I have phenomenal relationships with our customers!”) She learns her regular customers’ preferences and accommodates after-hours pick ups at the stand. And she ensures that Miss Gina’s gives back to the local community, sponsoring fundraisers and organizing meal drives. The result is a base of customers who value the business’s survival. “I have customers who will come buy extra shrimp from me if they know I need to move them, just to support us.”
November 12, 2024 — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s stated plans to raise tariffs on a wide swath of imports has trade experts and seafood trade groups predicting a tumultuous four years for the seafood industry.
Trump has promised to institute a range of trade policies in his coming administration, including adding tariffs as high as 60 percent on goods from China and 20 percent on goods from other countries. Peter Quinter, a U.S. customs and international trade attorney at Florida-based law firm Gunster, told SeafoodSource that any additional import barriers will affect most of the seafood Americans eat.
November 12, 2024 — A coalition of U.S. East Coast states have selected two firms to manage the Offshore Wind Fisheries Compensation Fund, a mitigation program built to compensate commercial and recreation for-hire fishers for revenue lost due to offshore wind developments.
The fund is a collaboration between the governments of 11 East Coast states – Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina – to provide financial compensation for economic loss caused by offshore wind projects along the Atlantic Coast. The states launched a competition earlier this year to select an administrator to run the new fund.
November 6, 2024 — Richmond claims resolution firm BrownGreer PLC and London’s The Carbon Trust have been tapped to design and roll out a regional fisheries mitigation program on the East Coast.
The program is aimed at providing financial compensation to the commercial and recreational for-hire fishing industries related to the impacts of new offshore wind farms.
BrownGreer and The Carbon Trust will work with 11 East Coast states and their respective fishing industry communities on the program. The groups have established a design oversight committee and a for-hire committee to provide advice and guidance from respective parties on the program.
The involved states include Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.
November 5, 2024 — Offshore wind energy developers already invested heavily in U.S. Atlantic waters are looking for new power purchase agreements with Northeast states, a quest complicated by uncertainty over the presidential election, the wind industry group Oceantic says in a new report.
“This slowdown comes at a critical time: states have reorganized their project portfolios after rising costs scrambled industry economics and are pushing hard for new offtake agreements,” Oceantic says in its recently published 2024 third quarter report. But the group says “the federal government has hit its stride in permitting advancements and has begun releasing Inflation Reduction Act funding. The market is primed for impressive growth.”
With support from the Biden administration, Northeast state governments and a determined permitting drive by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, BOEM has issued permits in various stages for 10 projects, according to the Oceantic report.
The group’s optimistic outlook came out just before a lackluster BOEM lease auction in the deepwater Gulf of Maine that drew $21.9 million in bids for four out of nine tracts offered. The prospects for developing arrays of floating wind turbines in the Northeast U.S. still depend on future development of suitable ports, infrastructure and technology.