March 15, 2023 — Cooke Inc. has acquired Slade Gorton, one of the largest distributors, importers, and manufacturers of fresh and frozen seafood in the United States.
The binding purchase agreement was announced on the sidelines of the 2023 Seafood Expo North America on Tuesday, 14 March, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., near Slade Gorton’s headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Cooke said it is expected to close within weeks.
March 14, 2023 — Illegal fishing, a multibillion-dollar industry closely linked to organized crime, is set to pose a greater threat to global security as climate change warms the world’s oceans, according to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, a research organization based in London, in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trust.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated, or IUU, fishing is worth up to $36.4 billion annually, according to the report, representing up to a third of the total global catch.
Fish stocks
As climate change warms the world’s oceans, fish stocks are moving to cooler, deeper waters, and criminal operations are expected to follow.
“IUU actors and fishers in general will be chasing those fish stocks as they move. And there’s predictions, or obviously concern, that they will move in across existing maritime boundaries and IUU actors will pursue them across those boundaries,” report co-author Lauren Young told VOA.
RUSI said that global consumption of seafood has risen at more than twice the rate of population growth since the 1960s. At the same time, an increasing proportion of global fish stocks have been fished beyond biologically sustainable limits.
The report also highlights that fish play a key role in capturing carbon through feeding, so a decline in fish stocks itself could accelerate warming temperatures.
March 14, 2023 — The banking crisis that ignited with the failure of Silicon Valley Bank on 10 March, 2023, was not among the top threats to the seafood industry listed by Megan Greene, a senior fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business at the Harvard Kennedy School, during her keynote address at Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America on 12 March.
But with the subsequent failure of Signature Bank the same day, and the federal takeovers of both institutions representing the second- and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history, turmoil embroiled on the U.S. financial system as customers hurried to withdraw their deposits and investors rushed to devest from the banking sector.
March 14, 2023 — The following was released by Cooke Aquaculture Inc:
Saint John, NB and Waltham, MA – Cooke Inc. has entered into a binding purchase agreement to acquire Slade Gorton, one of the United States largest distributors, importers, and manufacturers of fresh and frozen seafood.
Headquartered in Waltham, MA, Slade Gorton maintains a storied legacy and a heritage spanning over 95 years in the seafood industry. It is known for its deep industry expertise, unmatched customer service and its mission to bring safe and sustainable seafood from around the world to America’s table. Thomas Slade Gorton, Jr. began as a fisherman’s apprentice aboard schooners fishing on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, Canada and founded the Company in 1928. His son, Michael Gorton, Sr., who led the company for over 50 years, has embodied Slade Gorton’s core values of passion, respect, humility, and grace.
Slade Gorton will continue to be led by fifth generation family members Kim Gorton, CEO and her brother Mike Gorton Jr., EVP, Business Development, who will both remain in their roles and continue to be invested in the ongoing growth and success of the business.
“Over nearly a century, Slade Gorton has built a robust and resilient world class supply chain in support of our family’s passion for making sustainable seafood accessible to everyone. As the world has evolved over the past several years, it became clear that to accelerate our mission and impact, it made sense to join forces with a diverse, vertically integrated company run by people who share our family values and vision for reshaping the consumer’s experience with seafood. There could be no better fit than Glenn Cooke and the incredible global company his team is building. We are excited to join forces with the Cooke family of companies to take the Gorton family’s legacy forward,” says Kim Gorton, CEO, Slade Gorton.
Slade Gorton currently offers more than 800 premium seafood products and maintains long-standing partnerships with hundreds of leading North American foodservice and retail customers.
“Cooke and Slade Gorton share a passion for ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to enjoy delicious, nutritious and sustainable seafood whether dining at home or in a restaurant,” says Glenn Cooke, CEO of Cooke Inc. “We will build on the expertise, innovation, and deep commitment to its customers’ success that Slade Gorton is so well-respected for. Working together with the True North Seafood sales team and leveraging Cooke’s global infrastructure and reach, we will help support our customers in increasing consumption of seafood in North America.”
With 4,000 employees and distribution locations coast to coast across the USA, Cooke offers a fully vertically integrated seafood harvesting, processing, sales, and distribution network to provide wholesale and retail customers with premium fresh and frozen seafood in every state.
Closing of the transaction is expected to occur in the coming weeks and the terms have not been disclosed as both companies are private, family-owned businesses.
March 14, 2023 — Economic obstacles related to record-high inflation, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lingering COVID-19 pandemic have left seafood suppliers, retailers, and foodservice operators contending with labor shortages and a myriad of other supply-chain hurdles. Consumers, too, are feling the pressure as they continue to grapple with rising food and energy prices.
All told, Americans’ seafood purchasing habits have been undeniably altered over the past year, FMI – The Food Industry Association Vice President of Fresh Foods Rick Stein told SeafoodSource.
March 13, 2023 — Almost exactly one year ago, Lineage Logistics Senior Vice President Brian Beattie painted a relatively grim picture of the state of cold storage from the perspective of the seafood industry: labor shortages, high energy costs, and abnormally high demand meant storage was both hard to find and came at a premium cost.
The story isn’t quite as grim as it once was, but Beattie told SeafoodSource during the 2023 Seafood Expo North America – running from 12 to 14 March in Boston, Massachusetts – that it isn’t a fairy tale either.
March 2, 2023 — A bipartisan effort is underway to provide relief to local fishermen, seafood processors, and those facing food insecurity across the country.
Last month, lawmakers including Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting the purchase of West Coast seafood products for the USDA’s Section 32 program.
Section 32 began in 1935, purchasing surplus food products from farms and fisheries to go to food assistance programs and the National School Lunch Program.
March 1, 2023 — Year-over-year sales totals at U.S. restaurants rose significantly in January, but foodservice operators continue to remain plagued by sky-high food, labor, and energy prices.
Sales at U.S. eateries soared 24 percent in January to USD 95.5 billion (EUR 90 billion) on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The figure is also up over both November and December 2022, which each saw roughly USD 89 billion (EUR 84 billion) in sales, according to the National Restaurant Association.
March 1, 2o23 — Shipping prices have cratered in recent months, giving seafood companies the ability to seek “payback” from cargo companies that inflated prices to quadruple or more what they had been prior to 2021.
A long line of transportation and logistical snags caused gridlock at ports around the world in 2021, taking more than a year to resolve. With containers and ship space at a premium, shippers like Maersk and MSC began to charge more for their services – some seafood companies reported paying more than USD 20,000 (EUR 18,900) to move a container from Asia to the United States. But now rates are around USD 1,150 (EUR 1,090) per container, and more companies are aggressively shopping around for the best rate and often finding deals on the spot market. Lawrence Burns, a consultant who formerly handled negotiations for Hyundai Merchant Marine, told Reuters importer and exporter shipping managers now have the upper hand in negotiations.
February 28, 2023 — Megan Greene, a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and Kroll Institute global chief economist, is returning to deliver the keynote launching the comprehensive conference program at Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America, and taking place from 12 to 14 March, 2023, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
The three-day conference program includes a slate of more than 30 education sessions featuring seafood, retail, environmental, and governmental experts in panels and presentations covering a number of topics relevant to the seafood industry, according to event producer Diversified Communications. [Editor’s note: Diversified Communications also owns and operates SeafoodSource.]