Economic Impact

ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. – North Carolina commercial seafood harvests rose slightly, by 4 percent, in 2010 to the highest level since 2005.

The same was true for recreational harvests, which inched up 6 percent after a 15 percent decline in 2009.

“The increase is a surprise considering increased regulations, including many seasonal closures, imposed by the federal councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service, as well as restrictions from the sea turtle lawsuit settlement,” said N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Louis Daniel. “Additional increases in fuel and commodity prices might have been expected to actually cause the numbers to decline.”

Commercial fishermen brought in 72 million pounds of fish and shellfish, with a dockside value of $80 million in 2010, according to the division’s Commercial Trip Ticket Program. That was a 3 percent increase from the previous five-year landings average of 70 million pounds.

Read the complete story from Cape Fear Business News.

 

 

 

 

 

May 14, 2011 – Emphasizing "welcome news" about the first year under Amendment 16, the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service has noted data in a scientific report showing an increase in revenues nine months into the new regimen, which includes the catch share system.

But across the industry Friday, NMFS chief Eric Schwaab's report was met with disdain and dismissal because it ignores any data on costs.

A press release about the interim study by a team from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center focused on increased revenue figures — even though the authors' executive summary noted the research did not include any data whatsoever on the new expenses and operating costs engineered into the system.

Industry leaders scoffed at the half story buttressing the good news.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

PORTLAND, Maine — Fishing vessels in the Northeast that catch haddock, cod and other so-called groundfish earned more money during the first nine months of new commercial fishing regulations than the year before, even while their harvest fell, federal fishery officials said Thursday.

Revenues went up because fishermen received higher prices for their catches, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report comparing the first nine months of the 2010-11 fishing season, from May 1 to Dec. 31, with the same period in 2009.

For 2010, groundfish boats in the seven-state region from Maine to New Jersey caught 192.1 million pounds of groundfish and other seafood species, down 7 percent from the 2009 season. The catch of groundfish alone totaled 43.6 million pounds, down about 15 percent.

At the same time, fishing revenues rose nearly $24 million to $226.4 million. Groundfish revenues alone increased from $59.6 million to $62.3 million.

Read the complete story by The AP from The Daily Reporter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEABROOK — Two days of testimony and meetings on the devastating effect new federal "catch share" regulations are having on the state's once-thriving fishing fleet ended yesterday with a boatload of doubt.

The assessment team included representatives from the U.S. departments of Labor, Environmental Protection, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Associations. Its visit was part of a tour of New England and New York fishing ports affected by the recent federal changes.

Among the information the team gleaned in Seabrook that will be included in the report:

The impact the flood of inexpensive foreign fish is having on local fishermen's ability to sell their catch at industry-sustaining prices.

Financial loss and hopelessness led to three attempted suicides and six divorces in the 22-boat fleet.

The lack of capital available to fishermen because of the volatile nature of their trade.

The aging of the fishing community and this generation's reluctance to train their children to follow them.

The trickle-down effect the loss of fishing boats is having on other related marine businesses and the economy.

The importance of the fishing industry to the cultural heritage of New Hampshire and its Seacoast tourism base.

Yet for the fishing industry representatives in the room, it was what team members didn't say that was the problem.

"I hope part of your report (addresses) the regulatory conditions that have caused the economic conditions that you people are here to respond to," said Padi Anderson, who with her husband has fished commercially out of Rye Harbor for decades.

There also was no mention of recommending the alleviation of some of the burdens still to be imposed, such as the NOAA's requirement that by 2013 boat captains pay the cost of federal dock-side and at-sea monitors. Some estimate the cost could run into thousands of dollars a day.

"Once NOAA transitions (the cost) of at-sea and dock-side monitors to boat owners, we're out of business," Anderson said. "It's the kiss of death. New Hampshire is lost."

Read the complete story from Newburyport News.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The practical likelihood the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will vote this Spring to close all lobster fishing from Cape Cod south to Virginia is extremely doubtful, regardless of press stories to the contrary.

Despite some modest growth in lobster landings in the recent years, Dr. Robert Beyer, executive director of the Lobster Institute in Rockland, Maine. said “the brood stock of lobsters never has recovered from the massive die-off in Long Island Sound in 1999.” And he added, the conditions that caused this didn’t just happen in one year!

Reliable sources inside the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission say that the March meeting will almost certainly insure adoption of measures that will further restrict the commercial fishing of lobsters in Southern New England; most certainly all of Long Island Sound.

Read the complete story from Fishery News.

 

 

 

 

 

As historic flooding along the Mississippi River continues moving south, the Corp of Engineers was forced to release fresh water through the Bonnet Carre Spillway near Norco, Louisiana Monday morning.

All of that fresh water will eventually make it into the Gulf of Mexico. And mixing fresh water with salt water could spell disaster for the seafood industry.

Joe Jewell with the Department of Marine Resources said if more fresh water is released, and expectations are that it will, there could be a devastating effect on South Mississippi's seafood industry, especially the oyster industry on the west end of the coast.

"That could have a catastrophic impact on oyster resources and forms of all species in Hancock County marshes. That is the largest marsh area in the state of Mississippi."

Read the complete story from WLOX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine lobstermen are facing a season of uncertainty despite a record catch last year.

Soaring oil prices are pushing up the cost of diesel fuel. The supply of affordable bait remains unpredictable. And it is not yet clear whether the global appetite for Maine's signature seafood has returned to pre-recession levels.

"This will be an interesting year to watch," said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association.

Lobster is by far Maine's most valuable fishery. Last year the state's 4,292 active lobstermen hauled 93.3 million pounds of lobster valued at $309 million. The industry supports thousands of other jobs as crew members and at associated businesses such as lobster dealers, restaurants, processing plants, bait companies, restaurants and boat yards.

But Maine lobstermen's profits have headed downward ever since. A study by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute concluded that by 2005, returns above operating costs for lobstermen averaged 33 percent — compared to 49 percent in 1993. Since then, the financial picture for lobstermen has only gotten worse, said Eric Thunberg, an economist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the complete story from The Kennebec Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — On the second day of a three-day visit to the city, an economic assessment team from the U.S. Department of Commerce heard about the challenges facing the fishing industry and the shore-side businesses that depend on it.

In addition to the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the office of Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury Department, the Department of Labor and the Small Business Administration were also represented on the team.

Explaining their visit at a time when fishermen are struggling with new regulations and sector management, Brian McGowan, deputy assistant secretary of commerce for economic development, said: "This is obviously a result of the regulations and how they've affected this community. It's a unique deployment with a number of federal agencies working together." Five other ports in the region will receive similar visits, he said.

The New Bedford stop is not confined strictly to the waterfront, McGowan said. "There are 6,500 people unemployed in this town. So it needs to be about more than just fishing, although we recognize that fishing is absolutely the prime economic driver."

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

NEW BEDFORD — Ten members of a federal delegation to the city sat for dinner with a dozen city officials and fishing industry leaders Wednesday and got an earful about the ill effects of what was called the misguided, agenda-driven and needless overregulation of the fishing industry.

The group was mostly from the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration but also included representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture. The dinner at Davy's Locker in the South End was a broad introduction to the city they will see much more of today and Friday.

And for many it was a basic introduction to the kind of havoc an ill-considered regulation can have on a business and community.

Peter Moore of NORPEL gave the gathering an explanation of how unjustifiably low limits on haddock bycatch had shut down his herring and mackerel fishing and export business, and with it 120 jobs.

Read the complete story from The South Coast Today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW YORK, May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Global X Funds, the New York based provider of exchange traded funds (ETFs), today launched the Global X Fishing Industry ETF (Ticker: FISN). This is the first ETF globally targeting the fishing industry. The fishing industry is comprised of two main components: commercial fishing and aquaculture.  Commercial fishing represents those companies directly involved in the capture of fish from wild fisheries, while aquaculture represents those companies that supply fish through fish farming operations.

In the past few decades the global food market has experienced unprecedented expansion and a change in global dietary patterns, with a shift toward more protein.  This is likely to continue due to the expansion of the middle classes in emerging economies. China, for instance, has seen dramatic growth in its per-capita fish consumption, with an average growth rate of 5.7 percent per year since 1961 (FAO, 2011). Taking into account the global population forecast, an additional 27 million tons of production will be needed to maintain the present level of per-capita consumption in 2030 according to the FAO (2011).

"Companies that have the infrastructure to supply the rapidly growing demand for fish consumption, from aquaculture facilities to fish processing, are likely to benefit from these demographic and dietary trends," said CEO of Global X Funds, Bruno del Ama.

Read the complete story from PR Newswire.