Economic Impact

Good Harbor Fillet, a homegrown, value-added, fish processor-distributor operating in a 67,000 square foot plant in Blackburn Industrial Park, has been acquired for integration into American Seafoods, a privately held conglomerate, that describes itself as "one of the largest integrated seafood companies in the U.S. in terms of revenues."

The acquisition of Good Harbor Fillet from Creo Capital Partners LLC — which pulled Good Harbor out of bankruptcy in 2006, investing $8 million in the settlement — was announced late Monday from American Seafoods Group headquarters in Seattle. No terms or figures were announced, and officials said no decisions have been made as to how the deal will affect jobs or operations at the Gloucester facility.

The acquisition was predicated on integrating Good Harbor with American Pride Seafoods, a New Bedford company owned by the conglomerate, which like Good Harbor, owns a value a added processing facility and cold storage warehouse as well as a scallop processing plant.

The implications for the employees at Good Harbor are unclear. Bill Stride, the president of Good Harbor who founded the company in 1985, declined comment and referred questions to American Pride.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times

 

 

 

 

 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Northern Shrimp Section shortened the season this year to counteract results of recent seasons, which reduced the population of northern shrimp.

The Andersons coordinate with their customers through their Web site, rimrackfish.com. Padi said it usually takes a while for their customers to realize it's shrimp season, and she expressed concern it might be over before people have acted upon the opportunity.

She said an extended season is better for fishermen so they can provide a consistent supply over a longer period of time and catch the larger shrimp that arrive in February. A longer season is also better for processors and the fisheries managers, who would receive better and more reliable reporting, she said.

After a strong first week, Anderson said there were concerns the shrimp season would not survive the month. "I'd love to see it go into March," she said, adding she would support measures such as fewer landing days if it meant a longer season. "I'm OK with anything, so long as we can extend the season and protect the resources."

Read the complete story from Seacoast Online.

 

 

 

 

 

A potential tweak to a federal guestworker program has thrown a big scare at Middle Peninsula seafood processors who count on hiring workers from outside the United States to deliver oysters, clams, crabs and other Chesapeake Bay products to tables and grocery shelves across the country.

The H-2B program run by the federal government allows employers to hire foreign workers, many from Mexico, to temporarily come to the United States and work in nonagricultural services such as seafood processing.

Last year, a new U.S. Department of Labor rule scheduled to take effect Oct. 1 would have changed the method for determining the wages of H-2B workers. In some cases, wages would have risen as much as 83 percent, local business owners say.

Implementation of the rule has been delayed, which is fine with seafood processors such as Ron Sopko, owner of Mathews-based Sea Farms.

Read the complete story from The Daily Press

 

 

 

 

 

Dick Gutting, in his Foreign Trade Alerts, reports today that for 2011, seafood import refusals by the FDA increased 50% over 2010. By his preliminary calculation, seafood refusals in 2011 totaled 2,776, up 50% from 2010.

A single import refusal may prompt FDA to list the exporter for future import detentions. Urner Barry maintains a database of all seafood rejections, so you can determine if your supplier has a violation using Foreign Trade Data.

Gutting says, “If you think that there were a lot of Import Refusals last year – you're right. The total for seafood in 2011 is 2,776, up 50 percent from 2010.

This three-year increase appears to be partly the result of an increase in FDA inspectors and inspections, rather than a decrease in industry compliance. FDA's budget proposals for FY 2012, for example, explain that FDA field inspections of food imports rose 23 percent to 170,392 in FY 2010 saying:

“With the increase in funding, FDA was able to bring on a significant number of new investigators. Field exams play a significant role in new investigator training . . . .”

Looking to the future FDA told Congress that it plans to better target its food import inspections in 2012 rather than increase their total number. However, whether the number of FDA inspections levels off this year, and what impact this will have on Import Refusals, remains to be seen.

Republished with permission from SeafoodNews.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

An oily, bony fish that usually measures less than seven inches will be the focus of intense and emotional public comment starting next month. The outcome of the discussion could have a big effect on the economy of Virginia’s Northern Neck and the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), an interstate regulatory board, will invite public input on a proposal to cut back on Atlantic menhaden harvesting, possibly by about one-third, starting 2013.  The average annual landings of menhaden on the East Coast from 2000 to 2009 was about 427 million pounds. Of that total, Virginia accounted for an average of 388 million pounds a year, making Reedsville one of the largest commercial fishing ports in the U.S.

If ASMFC decides to limit the catch, Northern Neck counties fear some of the roughly 300 menhaden harvesting and processing workers employed by Houston-based Omega Protein could lose their jobs. Trickle-down losses could hit other companies.

“It would be devastating from a standpoint of employment,” says Northumberland County Administrator Kenny Eads.  “In a county of 13,000 people, where a third of them are retired, you see how small our work force is and how much Omega [which accounts for 80 percent of the menhaden catch] means.” Unemployment in Northumberland is now 7 percent; Eads estimates it would reach 15 percent with the menhaden harvest reduction.

Calling itself the world’s largest producer of omega-3 fish oil, a dietary ingredient that helps prevent heart disease, Omega Protein also produces fish meal fed to livestock, and fish-soluble products that enhance plant yield.

Company public affairs director Ben Landry says that “political science — more than marine science” is at work in the harvest reduction proposal. Only once in the past 10 years, he says, has there been hard evidence of menhaden overfishing.

Also asking “why now” is Jack Travelstead, fisheries management chief of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. Even if the menhaden population has declined, he says, “multiple decades of management of the resources shows no relationship between the size of the spawning population and the number [of offspring] they produce.” Environmental conditions play a greater role, he explains.
Pushing for limits, Chesapeake Bay Foundation science advocate Chris Moore says a management plan would rebuild the menhaden population so that both industry and habitat can thrive. The menhaden’s natural mission, Moore notes, is “to be eaten by fish, birds and mammals.”

Whatever ASMFC decides by the end of 2012, Virginia will have to go along — or risk the federal government shutting down the state’s menhaden fishery until the population is deemed satisfactory.

Read the article at Virginia Business.

 

Lobster prices may be low, but scallop fishermen are smiling with prices near a 10-year high.

Keith Amero has been a scallop fisherman in Digby for 33 years, and since last winter he's seen the price per pound gradually rise.

"From late summer on we've been in the $9 range. And I've heard some prices have topped out over $10 lately, just little spot markets. Generally they're on the high end of prices for us," he said.

Amero, who sells to small brokers, said it's the highest price he's seen in about 10 years.

A variety of factors are contributing to the spike such as high demand, he said, especially in Europe.

Read the complete story from CBC.

 

 

 

 

 

In an industry where agreement comes slowly, the sudden prospect of huge fishing cuts to protect New England’s codfish inspired a quick consensus: Scores of fishermen will be ruined if those cuts are passed.

But it’s not clear how or if that pain can be avoided, weeks after new scientific numbers indicated cod in the Gulf of Maine is much weaker than thought.

“We really haven’t heard of something that works right now,’’ said Gib Brogan, of the environmental group Oceana.

Fishery science and law present major obstacles to preserving both cod and fishermen.

The law requires scientists to set a limit on how hard fishermen can fish for any species. If they exceed it, they’re illegally overfishing and regulators are charged with “immediately’’ stopping it. That means, given the grim new estimate of cod’s health, fishermen would have to accept a debilitating cut of about 90 percent in their cod catch next year, and there’s little wiggle room to avoid it.

Read the complete story by Jay Lindsay of The AP at The Boston Globe.

Listen to the Saving Seafood Radio Show about cod with Eric Schwaab. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine scallop fishermen expect to get record prices for their catch this season with strong global demand and a diminished supply from Japan and other competing, scallop-producing nations.

The weak U.S. dollar also is helping boost prices, said Dana Temple, who owns Crescent Bay Inc. seafood company in Cape Elizabeth.

"The prices these guys are going to get are probably going to be higher than they've ever gotten in the history of this fishery," said Temple, who's been selling scallops for 35 years. The higher price for fishermen also means consumers will pay more in restaurants and food stores.

Sea scallops, which are similar to but bigger than bay scallops, have been harvested along the Maine coast since the late 1800s, and at times, it has been the state's second most-valuable seafood, behind lobsters.

Read the complete story by The AP at The San Francisco Gate.

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Johnson of IN-SITE LLC, Project Advisory will serve as project director for the American Seafood Exchange, a $69 million project planned for Boston’s Seaport District, the company announced today.

Johnson, who has overseen numerous large-scale industrial projects, will guide the seafood processing and distribution center from its current stage – planning and permitting – through its opening. He will lead the project team through all aspects of the development process, including market analysis, design and construction, and final tenant lease agreements.

In March of 2011, the Boston Redevelopment Authority approved the tentative designation of American Seafood Exchange’s project for parcels M & N of its Marine Industrial Park at 3 Dolphin Way. The 422,000-square-foot seafood processing and cold storage facility is expected to revitalize Boston’s seafood processing industry and re-establish the city as a working port. American Seafood Exchange will include a public display auction, public cold storage, fresh transfer and public packing houses and retail space in close proximity to Logan International Airport, Conley Cargo Terminal and the interstate highway system, which will allow fisherman to bring the catch to the customer in record time. It is expected to create more than 300 union construction jobs and up to 1,500 permanent jobs, and to stimulate region-wide job growth in the seafood industry.

Read the complete story at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

As we head into the final days of December ocean water temperatures are still holding above the 50-degree mark. As a result the inshore striper fishing is still pretty lively. Anglers are also landing some nice blackfish on the inshore structures while the boats fishing offshore are returning to the docks with sea bass and cod.

Capt. Rob Semkewyc on the Sea Hunter out of Atlantic Highlands reported plenty of nice keeper stripers around along with some shorts and big blues this week. He said they been fishing with diamond jigs and working around diving birds is where they have been finding fish.

“It’s amazing to see the amount of big bass for this time of year, usually in December the shorts are plentiful and we only see a very odd keeper and the blues are usually gone. The fish have been feeding on a bounty of sand eels and with water temperature staying about the same the fish should hang around for awhile,” Semkewyc said.

Read the complete story from My Central Jersey.