Economic Impact

November 13, 2012 — A few months ago, baymen across the East End were looking forward to a big scallop season, a harvest so thick and rich it would bring back memories of record crops from decades ago.

Checks of scallop beds during the spring and early summer showed the tiny, tasty shellfish were growing well, and there were more than had been seen in years.

But something yet to be identified began killing off many of the scallops, and superstorm Sandy finished the job. The storm introduced so much pollution into the bays that the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a closure order that put off the opening of scallop season, an order renewed Tuesday for most of the bigger bays on Long Island.

But the blanket closure of bays to shellfishing was slightly modified Tuesday to allow the harvest of shellfish in part of Noyack Bay in Southampton, part of Northwest Harbor and Napeague Bay in East Hampton, and some normally certified shellfish areas in Shelter Island, Smithtown and Brookhaven's north shore.

But the scallops are gone.

"It's devastating," said Eric Schultz, president of the Southold Town trustees, an independently elected body that protects the town's natural resources. "There was so much hope. . . . Now they're gone."

The scallop season normally begins on the first Monday in November, but the approach of Sandy — which produced coastal flooding that washed pollutants and bacteria into the bays and creeks — caused the DEC to close Long Island waters to shellfishing on Oct. 29.

That ban ran through Nov. 13, and was extended Tuesday to Nov. 20. The emergency order noted the flooding ". . . disrupted sewage treatment plants and flooded nearshore septic systems, resulting in conditions which may cause shellfish to be hazardous for use as food . . ."

 

Read the full story at Newsday

 

 

November 13, 2012 —  Federal regulators say groundfish stocks are low. To rebuild them, they’re going to have to drop the amount fishermen can catch.

The Obama administration has declared the New England groundfish fishery a disaster. That federal declaration paves the way for Congress to fund emergency relief.

Gloucester Mayor Carolyn Kirk doesn’t agree. She says the pending federal assistance is an opportunity that her city can’t afford to squander.

“You know, we’ve been fishing for over 400 years,” Kirk says. “So, you lose Gloucester, it’s really a symbol that you’re giving up on being in that business.”

Kirk is a former management consultant, and she thinks some of the money should go to shoreside businesses.

“[Saying] it shouldn’t all go to fishermen is very controversial,” Kirk says emphatically. “I’m the mayor of Gloucester! I’m saying: It shouldn’t all go to fishermen. It should also go to X, Y, Z. If we don’t have a city that can handle the fishing industry, we won’t have any fishermen, now or in the future.”

Kirk hopes that by using disaster relief money to maintain the port and the businesses around it, Gloucester might be able to attract different kinds of working boats, such as research vessels. She’s been meeting with marine business owners and entrepreneurs.

Kirk says Gloucester needs to diversify its oceanside economy if the city wants to keep people working on the shoreline for the next 100 years, rather than just living there for the view.

“You know, the easy way would be to go for the condos, right?” Kirk asks rhetorically.

“The harder way is to lay in place a different type of economy for the city,” she says. “Of course, Gloucester, being who we are, we’re taking that harder path that preserves what we value. Which is a working waterfront with good infrastructure to support the future of the ocean economy. That’s our opportunity.”

 

Read the article and listen to the story at NPR affiliate WBUR

 

 

November 12, 2012 — The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has urged its members to "Take Action for the Menhaden Fishery: Tell the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Not to Hurt Working Families Before the Facts are in".

 

The ASMFC [Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission] is considering harvest restrictions that could threaten the future of the menhaden fishery and thousands of families who depend on it. 

Please let the ASMFC know that you care by sharing your concerns below. We’ve done the leg work for you by drafting up a form letter, so please take a moment to sign the attached letter and show the ASMFC that you stand with the menhaden fishery. Please support our Omega Protein Fisherman by signing a letter requesting leniency re proposed catch restrictions. Please sign the letter here.

 

Read the article here

 

 

November 7, 2012 — Thanks to Hurricane Sandy, fresh fish won’t be on the menu — or at the grocers — for awhile.

Yes, in addition to leaving much of the New York and New Jersey coastlines flooded and without power, Sandy has also managed to wreck the mid-Atlantic region’s fishing industry.

Major issues with transportation and Atlantic fishing operations mean that restaurateurs as far as Ohio and Kentucky will have to go without some of the season’s most popular (and tasty) catches — such as lobster, crab and cod – for at least a few weeks, reports Business First.

And while snobby seafood-starved diners may complain about the lack of sashimi or moules frites, it’s nothing compared to what the fresh-fish industry is going through right now.

Last week, Columbus-based seafood wholesaler Frank Gonzalez said that he expected his sales to be down as much as 50 percent due to the post-tropical storm — something he’s never seen in his 20-plus years in the business. Ouch. “You can’t buy fresh fish and sit on it,” he told Business First.

 

Read the full article at Foodbeast

 

 

November 3, 2012 — A steady stream of shoppers were lured to Maine’s fish markets by some of the year’s lowest prices due to a drop in demand across the Northeast.

Hurricane Sandy virtually shut down major seafood markets in New York where fish and lobster are the last things on the minds of people wrestling with the aftereffects of the storm. At the same time, all the fishing boats came in to port to get out of the storm, dumping a lot of fish on the market at once.

The price of groundfish plummeted $3 to $5 a pound in the last week. At Harbor Fish Market in Portland, haddock was on sale for $6.99, down from $9.99 last week. Cod was $8.99 a pound, down from $13.99 before the storm.

 

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

 

October 31, 2012 — Restaurant chains including Boston Market Corp., Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and Applebee’s may see a boost in sales as consumers flock to eateries after Hurricane Sandy flooded the East Coast, leaving millions without power. 

While restaurants may be “hit initially” because of store closings, sales will start picking up as consumers who lost power along the East Coast eat out more frequently, said Stephen Anderson, an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York.

“There is cabin fever — the same thing happened after Hurricane Irene last year,” he said. “October’s loss will be November’s gain” for restaurants, Anderson said.

Sandy, spanning 900 miles, caused flooding, high winds and fallen trees that cut power to about 8 million customers from South Carolina to Maine. Economic damage and losses from the storm may be as much as $20 billion, according to Eqecat Inc., a risk-management company in Oakland, California.

Texas Roadhouse Inc. (TXRH) had a surge of customers in Long Island yesterday, said Travis Doster, a spokesman for the Louisville, Kentucky-based company. Power may not be restored for as many as 10 days to more than 2 million New York customers, mostly on Long Island and in New York City.

“Usually Tuesdays, we’re not as busy, and we had the whole restaurant packed,” Stefanie Diaz, service manager at a Texas Roadhouse in East Meadow on Long Island, said in an interview. Customers wore pajamas and children brought pillows to the restaurant, where they charged laptops and mobile phones, she said.

 

Read the full story on Bloomberg 

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine — November 1, 2012 — After enduring low prices because of a lobster glut this summer, Peter McAleney felt the seafood industry was finally starting to stabilize this fall.

That is, until Superstorm Sandy hit the coast. The storm not only spread physical devastation, it shut down major seafood markets.

"There's been nothing going on — no trucks, planes or anything going down through Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania," said McAleney, who owns New Meadows Lobster Co. in Portland. "People aren't interested in seafood right now. They're interested in getting their lives back in order."

The result is likely to be a repeat of the lobster glut — affecting the entire seafood industry this time — with demand dropping out of sight in the biggest markets of the Northeast.

McAleney said he lost a big order from Pennsylvania Thursday morning because his customer decided he wouldn't sell much lobster to thousands of people who still don't have electricity.

"Seafood is the last thing you're going to bring home to a house without power," said Chris Fream, senior sales executive with North Atlantic Seafood in Portland.

The industry's "wheels are falling off," said Fream. "New York is not taking fish and all the seaside restaurants up and down the East Coast are not open or not having any demand."

 

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

 

 

GLOUCESTER, Mass. — October 31,2012 — Hurricane and then Post-Tropical Storm Sandy struck the fishing industry in multiple ways, which together brought short-term paralysis.

Physical damage was not widespread due to forecasts and due diligence born of waterfront experience. But in Brooklyn, N.Y., the Agger Fish Co., a major broker and exporter, suffered an electrical meltdown from the enormous storm surge up the East River.

The repair and replacement of cooling systems could take “two to three” weeks and cost the company $1-2 million in lost business transactions, said Mark Agger, CEO and owner of the company in the Navy Yard industrial redevelopment.

The storm surge up the East River and other south facing rivers along the coast was unprecedented, according to the National Weather Service. Agger estimated the surge through the former Navy yard was at least 10 feet and came with a high tide Monday night.

”First it’s the government, now Mother Nature,” said Agger, who has been a leader of East Coast industry resistance to excessive law enforcement and regulatory policies.

Sandy essentially shut down the restaurant capitals of the urban East Coast — New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington — eliminating demand in advance of the storm. All four metro areas were battened down and dark as they awaited the storm surge and near hurricane level winds and gusts that topped 90 miles an hour.

Sandy also barred international air transport in advance of its actual arrival at the major East Coast airports, eliminating supply to European markets and it kept most boats in port, creating a vacuum or a glut at the auction houses and independent buyers in Gloucester and New Bedford where most groundfish and other species are landed.

The combined effect was industry stasis — from vanished demand, and generally lack of supply.

But the industry has survived by its resilience and the resilience of the ocean ecosystem which was churned as if in a blender or food processor within sight of land and built up titanic wave heights, worthy of a perfect storm.

Canastra and other brokers predicted the market trauma would ripple into normal by week’s end.

”These were the highest tides I’ve seen in 40 years,” said Jeff Reichel, president of Lund Fisheries, Cape May, N.J. which was at or near the eye of the storm when it made landfall Monday evening.

But he said his business which involves a lot of frozen fish for export would not suffer much from the storm. The electrical systems at Lund were not damaged, and even though the eye went over or near Cape May, the wind by then was pushing back out to sea which buffered the storm surge.

Farther from the eye, in New Bedford and Gloucester, except for the lack of business activity along the docks, Sandy proved mostly a storm surge to exposed south facing residential sectors. New Bedford closed its hurricane gate at the mouth of the harbor at Buzzards Bay, protecting the fleet at rest. The natural shape of Gloucester’s inner harbor protected its fleet.

”There will be a lot of restaurants running out of seafood in the next couple of days,” said Reichel.

Kristian Kristensen, owner of the Cape Ann Seafood Exchange in Gloucester, said buyers were panicked about their markets, unsure when they would be back in operation, and not buying product that was for sale.

”The storm broke down all transportation systems,” leaving his coolers with unsold fish.

”We’re backed up, you can’t buy too much product (under such conditions),” he said. Kristensen said he expected the markets to reform into their preexisting functionality by Thursday or Friday. Because of his backlog, Kristensen said he held an auction on Tuesday.

”It will take a little while to recover,” said Canastra. “Exports have been cancelled. Fresh (fish) is not shipping until the weekend. “We had no auction (Tuesday),” he said.

 

Read the full story in the Gloucester Times

 

 

BOSTON — October 26, 2012 — Hurricane Sandy is expected to stir up New England waters within the next few days, potentially causing trouble for the state’s already fragile lobster business.

High seas and strong winds will disrupt business and could damage costly gear, said Bill Adler, executive director of the Massachusetts Loberstermen’s Association.

“You just don’t know what it’s going to be like,” Adler said. “The traps can get banged up, moved, destroyed.”

Many lobsterman are bringing in their traps or running them into deeper water to prevent them from being tossed among waves or thrashed into rocks, he said.

“A lot of the gear has been brought in rather than chance it out there, but I don’t think everyone can bring all of their gear in,” Adler said.

Lobstermen are also securing their boats to minimize damage from the approaching storm.

Those keeping their boats secured to a mooring are adding extra lines, while the lobstermen braving the storm on the seas might add an extra anchor, he said.

“Some guys will try to go into a marina and put a lot of ropes on, but if it’s really bad you got the boat rubbing up against the dock which can cause damage,” Adler said.

Most commercial fishermen are out on the seas today hoping to get some last minute fishing in before the waters turn ugly, said Nancy Civetta, spokeswoman for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association.

“It’s not going to be a fishing day for most of the days next week,” Civetta said.

Most fishermen aren’t too worried and will ride out the storm in a harbor if the winds get too rough, she said.

“From a fisherman’s perspective, it’s not that different from a winter nor’easter,” Civetta said.

Talk of Hurricane Sandy brought Adler back to Oct. 30, 1991, when the “perfect storm” wreaked havoc along the New England coastline.

The storm hit the state’s lobster business so hard that Adler went to the governor at the time to get a disaster declaration and government assistance.

 

Read the fulll story in the Boston Globe 

 

 

October 23, 2012 — Amid rising concern that retail establishments are selling misidentified seafood, Price Chopper Supermarkets has commissioned a voluntary test of its seafood stock. The objective report concluded that 100 percent of the fish tested was correctly labeled. Price Chopper said it was the first supermarket to voluntarily commission such testing.

The Northeast regional grocer submitted more than 150 randomly selected samples from 15 fish product lines at its Rotterdam, N.Y., warehouse to Therion International, the first commercial laboratory to provide DNA testing to verify seafood species identity. Therion conducted the tests for Price Chopper at its laboratory in the ISES/INVEST incubator facility of Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y.

“Price Chopper came to us to develop a testing protocol to help them reassure their customers about their labeling and the quality of their seafood,” explained William F. Gergits, managing member of Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based Therion. “Our tests found not one incidence of mislabeling.”

“Our purpose in commissioning a course of scientifically reliable DNA testing on our seafood, in addition to our own internal control procedures, is to provide quality assurances to our customers beyond those offered by other purveyors,” noted Lee E. French, VP of seafood at Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper. “Being able to verify the various species of fish that we carry, in much the same way that we document the sustainability of our sourcing, speaks to our philosophical position, as it offers our customers a well-deserved additional peace of mind.”

“[O]ur voluntary commission of DNA testing on our seafood products clarifies the paramount importance that Price Chopper continues to place on consumer advocacy,” added Mona Golub, the grocery chain’s VP of public relations and consumer and marketing services.

Other studies of both restaurants and retail food merchants have found that red snapper and white tuna were among the most often mislabeled seafood products. Both were tested in the Price Chopper study and were found to be labeled properly. News reports in such publications as the Boston Globe cite money as a common reason for misidentifying seafood – it’s more profitable to sell a less expensive fish as a similar-tasting one that could cost significantly more.

 

Read the full story here