Alaska/Pacific Coast
Alaska ports lead nation in seafood catches, new fishing report shows KTUU by Leroy Polk - December 13, 2018 ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - In two separate reports issued Thursday, government officials handling fishing trends, and their economic impacts, announced slight gains over the previous year in terms of catch, as well as importing from other countries. https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Alaska-leads-nation-in-seafood-catches-new-fishing-report-shows-502729501.html West Coast Fishery Rebounds After Years Of Conservation Efforts OPB by Cassandra Profita - December 13, 2018 Federal fishery managers are increasing the catch limits for several West Coast species that were overfished and severely restricted for years. https://www.opb.org/news/article/groundfish-recovery-west-coast/ 2019 Togiak herring forecast signals stable population, says ADF&G The quota for the sac roe herring fishery is third greater than the 10-average harvest. KDLG by Avery Lill - December 14, 2018 The Togiak Pacific herring fishery will see a large return this spring, according to the recently released Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2019 forecast. https://www.kdlg.org/post/2019-togiak-herring-forecast-signals-stable-population-says-adfg#stream/0 360,000 spring chinook die at aging Oregon fish hatchery Associated Press - December 15, 2018 ROSEBURG -- Oregon wildlife officials say 360,000 young salmon and eggs have died at a western Oregon fish hatchery. https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/12/officials-360000-spring-chinook-die-at-aging-fish-hatchery.html ADF&G Releases Annual Outlook for 2019 Groundfish Harvests in Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - December 14, 2018 A revised overview of what Alaska processors and fishermen can expect in the upcoming groundfish fishery in Prince William Sound and Cook Inlet was released this week. The notice announced Guideline Harvest Limits (GHLs) on pollock, cod, sablefish, and rockfish along with limits on bycatch and important rules about avoiding seabirds and marine mammals and new rules on electronic monitoring. PWS Pollock, Sablefish, Cod The 2019 pollock GHL in Prince William Sound at 6.6 million lbs, a 16% decrease from the 2018 GHL. The fishery will open at 12:00 noon January 20, 2019. Fishermen must be registered no later than Monday, January 14. While the directed fishery is open, all pollock caught as bycatch must be retained by fishermen who are targeting other groundfish fisheries in PWS. After the directed fishery closes, pollock must be retained up to the maximum allowable bycatch amount of 20% to other open directed groundfish fisheries. ADF&G will solicit bids for a test fishery prior to the season opener with 900,000lbs available for harvest and sale. The sablefish (or black cod) GHL in the Sound will be up slightly from this year’s limit of 133,000 lbs, to 134,000 lbs. This year’s harvest was 88,135 lbs, an increase from 2017 by 15,000 lbs. The trend upward is expected to continue in 2019. The PWS Pacific cod state-waters fishery GHL for the 2019 season is 936,965 lb., down from the 2018 GHL of 992,080 lbs. The state-waters fishery opens January 1 and will be managed concurrently with NMFS management of the fishery in federal waters. The two P-cod seasons, the “parallel” and the “state-waters,” each have distinct requirements including different registrations and gear limits. Each registration is specific to gear type. During the parallel season, PWS is a nonexclusive registration area for all gear types. Pot tags are required for pot vessels participating in the state-waters season. The parallel Pacific cod season will open January 1 and be managed concurrently with NMFS management of the Pacific cod fishery in adjacent federal waters of the Central Gulf of Alaska (CGOA). The federal CGOA Pacific cod “B” season for vessels using jig gear will open June 10, whereas for pot and longline gear the “B” season will open September 1. The Sound is designated an exclusive registration area for longline and pot gear, and a nonexclusive registration area for jig gear, during the state-waters season. The state-waters Pacific cod season will open to longline gear seven days after the closure of the parallel longline season, which coincides with the federal less than 50 foot hook-and-line gear sector, but not earlier than the individual fishing quota (IFQ) halibut season opening date. (The halibut opener will be decided on February 1, 2019, but is usually in early March.) The state-waters season will open to jig gear and/or pot gear 24 hours following the closure of the parallel season to those respective gear types. Cook Inlet cod, sablefish, and lingcod In Cook Inlet, the total ‘parallel’ and the ‘state-waters’ fishery limit will be 633,857 lb. GHL, about a third less than PWS. and about 6% less than the 2018 GHL of 671,141lbs. That amount is allocated 85% to pot gear and 15% to jig gear. A further restriction is that only 25% of the total GHL may be harvested by vessels greater than 58’ while fishing with pot gear. There is no fishery for pollock in Cook Inlet, but if it’s caught as bycatch, it must be retained up to the maximum bycatch amount of 20%. The GHL for sablefish in Cook Inlet will be 62,000 lbs., the same level as last year. It will open at noon on July 15 by emergency order. Cook Inlet’s lingcod fishery opens July 1 for jig gear only. The GHL for this fleet is 52,500 lb. The regulations and policies can be read in detail here and ADF&G will be issuing further notices before each season begins. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1126318/ADFG-Releases-Annual-Outlook-for-2019-Groundfish-Harvests-in-Prince-William-Sound-and-Cook-Inlet National U.S. Commercial Fishing Growing, Thanks to Science, Conservation and a Taste for Salmon Fortune by Grace Dobush - December 14, 2018 Two new reports on fishing in the U.S. show that Americans are catching, importing and eating more seafood. http://fortune.com/2018/12/14/u-s-fishing-science-conservation-salmon International China Cracks Down on Smuggling and Improves Logistics for Legal Imports SeafoodNews.com by Amy Zhong - December 17, 2018 Smuggling has been haunting China’s seafood industry for long time, and the country's customs bureaus have decided to take stricter measures to eradicate the problem. They have recently cracked down on a series of smuggling cases through cooperation with other departments. For example, customs bureaus in China’s nine cities like Tianjin, Shenyang, Shanghai, Qingdao, Zhanjiang and Nanning have taken action together and broken up 16 smuggling gangs in China. This case involved 30,700 tons of frozen seafood and its value was about 1.45 billion yuan (~$210 million USD), according to one initial estimation. These gangs are said to have sourced seafood in regions like South America since 2015, according to media reports, and smuggle them into China through border trade. In late October, Zhanjiang customs broke up another nine seafood smuggling gangs and arrested 25 suspects with the support of customs from six other cities such as Nanning, Shanghai and Qingdao. Customs officials uncovered 1,400 tons of frozen seafood like shrimps and dozens of documents like contracts and invoices on the spot. These gangs have been in operation since 2015 and smuggled more than 7,800 tons of frozen seafood worth about 417 million yuan (~$60 million USD) in total into China through border trade, according to state and media reports. Guangxi customs also announced recently that it seized 5,993 smuggling cases involving commodities like frozen seafood and beef from January to September, for a total value of about 1.78 billion yuan (~$258 million USD). It is very difficult to smuggle seafood into China through border trade now, said an anonymous manager for a logistic company in Guangxi, and the costs have grown considerably. Recently, thousands of containers were abandoned in Haiphong because their buyers have been arrested, according to media reports. Meanwhile, some local people’s procurators have initiated public prosecution against smuggling gangs. For example, a court in Jiangsu province recently tried such a case. The defendants are three local sellers who allegedly smuggled shrimp products supplied by two Vietnam companies, Cty Tnhh Anh Khoa and Trang Khanh Seafood, into China through border trade from February 2015 to December 2017. They were reported to have evaded tariffs and other taxes of more than 52 million yuan. They supposedly also bought from a Malaysian supplier and then similarly smuggled them into China between July 2015 and November 2017, which resulted in tax evasion worth more than 3 million yuan. To deal with this, domestic seafood traders have taken actions such as changing to domestic basa. Foreign traders, like white shrimp suppliers in Ecuador, have started to sell seafood to China through legal channels. In the meantime, the government has also taken measures to boost seafood imports in order to satisfy he demand of domestic foodies. In addition to signing free trade agreements with seafood suppliers, China has spent great effort securing customs clearances quickly and improving logistics. For example, one trade company in Chongqing finished customs clearance of 1.2 tons of white shrimps from Thailand in less than one hour this month. It used to take about three hours for the company to get seafood after it was landed, which led to survival rates of about 70 percent. But now the survival rates have risen about 10 to 20 percent, thanks to local customs’ one-hour fast lane for fresh food clearance. Generally speaking, local clearance periods dropped by 61.4 percent for cargo flights and 71.4 percent for those carrying both passengers and commodities now, compared with the beginning of 2018. Apart from Chongqing, Shenzhen customs has also simplified clearance procedures, according to reports. Furthermore, importers can apply online once flights loaded with their purchases take off in foreign countries. If everything matches he relevant documents, they can get heir commodities immediately without further inspection. These measures have cut clearance periods by more than one half, while also boosting local fresh imports. Earlier this month, it cleared abalones imported from Australia in about 50 minutes, which helped increase the survival rates and maintain food freshness. China’s seafood industry has been overshadowed by smuggling gangs for long time. Now the government is determined to break the vicious cycle before it’s too late. Its carrot-and-stick approach seems to be working well at present, media has reported. This is believed to benefit the industry in the long term, though its drastic changes may have caused some temporary labor pains. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1126477/China-Cracks-Down-on-Smuggling-and-Improves-Logistics-for-Legal-Imports Labeling and Marketing Alaska Seafood Marketing Update: ASMI Seeks Candidates for Executive Director, New Ibotta Promotions, China Culinary Training School ASMI - December 14, 2018 Alaska Seafood Marketing Update: ASMI Seeks Candidates for Executive Director, New Ibotta Promotions, China Culinary Training School ... https://mailchi.mp/alaskaseafood/alaska-seafood-marketing-update-asmi-leaders-speak-at-women-in-seafood-2656001 3MMI - Greatest Expansion of a West Coast Fishery in Years TradexFoods - December 17, 2018 Subscribe to our 3-Minute Market Insight - http://www.tradexfoods.com/3mmi/signu... Read Report: http://www.tradexfoods.com/3mmi/2018-... --- Catch limits for many species of groundfish on the west Coast will more than double, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. More than 90 species of rockfish share the same habitat so the risk of bycatch on restricted species pressured harvest potential as well as catch limits... https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=MOYw0GYuNEU
Ann Owens Pacific Seafood Processors Association Office Manager 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: pspafish@gmail.com; Website: www.pspafish.net Our office days/hours are Monday-Friday 8:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. *Inclusion of a news article, report, or other document in this email does not imply PSPA support or endorsement of the information or opinion expressed in the document.