Saving Seafood

US State Department bars import of wild-caught shrimp from China, Venezuela

April 30, 2020 โ€” In a public notice posted to the Federal Register on 30 April, the U.S. Department of State announced that it is suspending the certification of wild-caught shrimp from China and Venezuela, making it ineligible to enter the U.S. for sale.

The suspension was in accordance with Section 609 of Public Law 101-162, which requires countries harvesting wild-caught shrimp in areas that contain sea turtles prove they have adequate laws regarding turtle excluding devices (TEDs). Chinaโ€™s certification was suspended due to โ€œthe use of methods of harvesting shrimp that may adversely affect sea turtles,โ€ while Venezuela was suspended โ€œdue to the inability to confirm whether methods of harvesting shrimp may adversely affect sea turtles.โ€

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Stimulus funding process proving tricky to navigate for smaller seafood operators

April 14, 2020 โ€” The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the U.S. seafood industry being upended as restaurant closures drive down the prices of seafood, leading a number of food organizations to request relief from the government.

The U.S. government launched a relief package in late March consisting of USD 2 trillion (EUR 1.8 trillion) in aid for businesses in the U.S., including USD 300 million (EUR 273.5 million) earmarked specifically for the seafood industry. That package includes incentives to encourage employers to keep people on their payrolls, direct payments to low- to middle-income families, and aid to seafood companies that have lost revenue due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Southern Shrimp Alliance wants Labor Department agency to close slave labor loophole

January 16, 2020 โ€” The Southern Shrimp Alliance is requesting the U.S. Department of Labor to revise policies the trade group claims allow certain seafood imports to avoid being associated with child and forced labor practices.

SSA Executive Director John Williams sent the letter to the departmentโ€™s Bureau of International Labor Affairs on Monday 13 January. For more than a decade, the bureau has been responsible for producing a list of products that are produced through exploitative labor practices. That does include some seafood products, like shrimp harvested in such countries as Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NMFS, SSA Report Poor Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Landings in July

August 29, 2019 โ€” SEAFOOD NEWS โ€” Shrimp landings in the Gulf of Mexico have been some of the worst in recent history, according to the Fishery Monitoring Branch of the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

NMFS reported shrimp landings in the Gulf for July were only 7 million pounds, well below the 7.9 million pounds in July 2018 and the 8 million pounds in July 2017. The July commercial shrimp landings were 37.8 percent below the prior 17-year historic average of 11.3 million pounds for July.

Only 1.6 million pounds of shrimp were reported as landed in Louisiana โ€” the third lowest volume for the state for a July in the last 18 years. All told, Louisiana landings were 62.1 percent below the prior 17-year historic average of 4.2 million pounds in July.

In Mississippi, only 415,000 pounds of shrimp were reported as landed, the second lowest total reported for any July from that state in the last 18 years, according to a Southern Shrimp Alliance press release.

For the year, landings of shrimp in Louisiana and the west coast of Florida are at the lowest levels they have ever been through the first seven months. Outside of 2010, the landings reported in Mississippi for the year are the lowest they have been in the past 18 years.

Shrimp harvests at historical levels in Texas and significantly above historical levels in Alabama have somewhat offset the low numbers from the rest of the Gulf, but landings in the region, at 35.6 million pounds, are the second lowest volume reported in the last 18 years.

Last month, NMFS reported ex-vessel prices for four of six count sizes of shrimp landed in the eastern Gulf (west coast of Florida) and five of six count sizes of shrimp landed in the northern Gulf (Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi). In the northern Gulf and western Gulf, the ex-vessel prices showed a large divergence between prices for large shrimp, U15, and all other shrimp. In the western Gulf, prices for U15 size shrimp were the highest reported for any July (not adjusting for inflation) in the 19-year database maintained by the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

US shrimp industry advocate Elaine Walker Knight passes away

July 23, 2019 โ€” Elaine Walker Knight, founding director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance and founding director of Wild American Shrimp Inc., passed away on 15 July.

Knight, 79, was the first president and founding director of Wild American Shrimp, Inc., the United States shrimp industryโ€™s first national marketing initiative.

Knight was also founding director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance and served two terms as president.

โ€œSeventeen years ago, leaders of the shrimp industry from across the countryโ€™s southern coastline came together in response to what they saw as an immediate threat to the continued existence of the commercial fishery. Volunteering their time, their money, and their reputations, these industry veterans built a national response to the challenges facing shrimpers throughout the South Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico,โ€ the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Gulf Shrimp Landings Fall Below 2017 Average for Second Month in a Row

February 7, 2019 โ€” SEAFOOD NEWS โ€” Gulf shrimp landings have fallen below both the 2017 figure and the prior eight-year average for the second month in a row. According to seafood market reporter Jim Kenny, the drop below the eight-year average has actually occurred 8 out of 11 months this year.

Due to the government shutdown, the National Marine Fisheries Service just released numbers for November 2018 and landings for all species, headless came in at 8.207 million lbs. To compare, landings in November 2017 hit 8.898 million lbs. The cumulative total now stands at 89.971 million lbs.; 3.7 million pounds or four percent below the January โ€“ November 2017 total of 93.681 million lbs. Compared to the prior eight-year average, November 2018 landings are 10 percent lower.

Novemberโ€™s low Gulf shrimp landings come after the lowest reported commercial shrimp harvest in the Gulf of Mexico for any October. The Southern Shrimp Alliance reported that only 10.4 million pounds were harvested in October 2018, a 30% drop from the 16-year historical average for October landings. In October low volumes were being blamed on a lack of reporting of any shrimp landings from the West Coast of Florida, as well as the reporting of only 3.6 million pounds of shrimp from Louisiana. For comparison, the 16-year-historical average for Louisiana landings in October is 7.7 million pounds.

This story was originally published by SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

Agreement to end government shutdown brings relief to US seafood industry

January 28, 2019 โ€” Workers at NOAA Fisheries and other federal agencies returned to their jobs Monday, 28 January, for the first time in more than a month, thanks to an agreement reached Friday between the U.S. Congress and the administration of President Donald Trump.

However, the resumption could be short-lived, as the deal to fund several government agencies lasts for only three weeks. That means another shutdown could happen next month if lawmakers and President Trump cannot finalize spending priorities for the 2019 fiscal year or approve another temporary bill.

While the talks hinge on whether the president gets funding for a border wall, numerous other policies and initiatives have been affected by the impasse. That includes some tied to the seafood industry.

For example, while the Food and Drug Administration maintained inspecting foreign seafood imports during the shutdown, funding for additional inspections remains in limbo.

Last July, the Senate passed a bill that would add more than USD 3 million (EUR 2.6 million) in funding for such inspections. However, the House failed to pass the bill, which would increase inspection funding by 26 percent, before Congressโ€™ term ended at the beginning of this month.

Since the new Congress convened, the House has passed a bill that includes the funding, first proposed by U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana). That bill has yet to pass in the Senate.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US fishing vessels now have permanent waiver from incidental discharge rule

December 10, 2018 โ€” When U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Frank LoBiondo Coast Guard Authorization Act into law last week, it finally โ€“ and permanently โ€“ relieved the fishing industry from Environmental Protection Agency regulations regarding incidental discharge on their boats.

The regulation required vessel operators to get EPA permits to perform routine actions, such as using pumped ocean water to clean off the deck after harvesting. It stemmed from a 2005 federal court ruling, and the Southern Shrimp Alliance said the system was a hindrance to more than 80,000 commercial fishing boats.

โ€œThis permit requirement should never have existed,โ€ said John Williams, SSAโ€™s executive director. โ€œIt was lawsuit driven by environmental groups in a California court a long time ago. SSA has been working ever since with Congress and other fishing groups across the nation to put a temporary stop to it. I have to say, after working to prevent this disaster for more than a decade, it feels pretty good to finally put this one to bed, permanently.โ€

Read the full article at Seafood Source

October was record low month for US wild-caught shrimp in Gulf of Mexico

November 23, 2018 โ€” Itโ€™s no wonder US wild-caught shrimp have been a little harder to find of late.

The 10.4 million pounds of shrimp caught by US commercial harvesters in the Gulf of Mexico during the month of October was the lowest for that month since records have been maintained, going back to 2002, reports the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), a trade association that represents the harvesters.

Based on data provided Wednesday by the fishery monitoring branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationโ€™s Southeast Fisheries Science Center, total landings for the month were about 30% below the prior 16-year historical average (14.8m lbs).

In particular, the low volumes were driven by a lack of reporting of any shrimp landings from the west coast of Florida, as well as only 3.6m lbs reported as landed in Louisiana โ€“ by far the lowest total for any October going back to 2002 and less than half of the prior 16-year average (7.7m lbs) for the state, according to SSA.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News