*********************************** Please Help Hungry Families eat more seafood: PSPA and APA have a joint venture underway to help feed hungry families, children, and communities more seafood in 2020. We realize that in this age of COVID-19 all of us in the seafood industry are navigating challenging times. Even so, there are friends and neighbors in our nation that have it even worse than we do. Food banks are struggling to keep up with demands to feed hungry people protein and seafood is largely absent from their menus. SeaShare is a nonprofit organization that was established 25 years ago to help us maximize the results of our collective donations and we’ve once again partnered with them to get food to people in need. PSPA and APA have worked with others to donate over one million pounds of high protein seafood over the last 3 months, but the need remains. We know there is more seafood available for hungry families if we can raise the funds needed to process and distribute to food banks. PSPA and APA are asking our friends, colleagues, and associates to consider giving during this time of incredible need. We have set up a live donation page at https://www.seashare.org/donate/pspa-apa-donate. Please make a donation to help. Thank you. ***********************************
Alaska Alaska fishermen face ‘perfect storm’ of problems during COVID but state grants could help KTUU by Sean Maguire - August 6, 2020 JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) - Alaska’s commercial fishermen are facing poor salmon returns, low fish prices and challenges connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, but state grants could help ease the financial pain. https://www.ktuu.com/2020/08/07/alaska-fishermen-face-perfect-storm-of-problems-during-covid-but-state-grants-could-help/ AK CARES Funding Program: Informational Sheet and Checklist In response to Governor Mike Dunleavy's Public Health Disaster Emergency Declaration on March 11, 2020, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED), working with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), established a grant program to provide economic relief to small Alaskan businesses impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency. DCCED contracted with AIDEA to manage and implement the program, and AIDEA contracted with a program operator – Credit Union 1 – to process grant applications and disburse funds. AIDEA is currently in the process of bringing on another program operator. https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/ded/AKCARESGrant/FAQ.aspx Cordova urges state to declare fishery disaster Cordova Times by Zachary Snowdon Smith - August 6, 2020 Wednesday, Aug. 5, Cordova City Council voted unanimously to encourage the state to declare an economic disaster in Cordova. The decision was made in response to extremely low numbers of salmon harvested in 2018 and 2020, as well as to the economic damage done to the fishing industry by the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2020/08/06/cordova-urges-state-to-declare-fishery-disaster/ OBI Seafoods COVID-19 outbreak at remote Kodiak Island processing plant KMXT by Rhonda McBride - August 6, 2020 OBI Seafoods has ended weeks of speculation about a wave of new COVID-19 cases on Kodiak Island. Up until now, health officials would only say that these positive tests occurred in a remote part of the borough and were related to the seafood industry — but in a statement released on Wednesday, OBI Seafoods confirmed that a COVID outbreak began at its Alitak plant on July 28. Twenty-six of those 37 cases were reported on Wednesday. OBI Statement on Alitak plant 8 5 2020 https://kmxt.org/2020/08/31411/ West Coast NOAA cancels several more ecosystem and fishery surveys due to COVID-19 Seafood Source by Chris Chase - August 6, 2020 NOAA Fisheries has announced that is canceling more fishery and ecosystem surveys that were supposed to take place in 2020, citing the complications created by COVID-19. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/environment-sustainability/noaa-cancels-several-more-ecosystem-and-fishery-surveys-due-to-covid-19 International Seafood task force submits recommendations to US Trade Representative Seafood Source by Steve Bittenbender - August 6, 2020 A task force looking at bolstering the competitiveness of the U.S. seafood industry submitted its recommendations to do just that to the U.S. Trade Representatives on Wednesday, 5 August, NOAA announced in a release on Thursday, 6 August. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/seafood-task-force-submits-recommendations-to-us-trade-representative 5% Tariff Exclusions Extended for Certain Crab Meats, Alaskan Sole Urner Barry by Amanda Buckle - August 7, 2020 On Thursday the USTR issued a Notice of Product Exclusion Extensions — one day before the exemptions were set to expire. In September 2018 the U.S. Trade Representative imposed an additional 10% duty on goods from China with an annual trade value of approximately $200 billion. The move was part of the action in the Section 301 investigation of China’s acts, policies and practices related to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation. That additional duty was increased to 25% in May 2019. The exclusion process was initiated on June 24, 2019, and granted 15 set of exclusions under the $200 billion action. However, these exclusions were set to expire on August 7, 2020. Now, the notice of product exclusion extensions pushes that expiration to December 31, 2020. According to the notice from the USTR, the U.S. Trade Representative has granted more than 6,700 exclusion requests. The list of seafood items in the new notice of product exclusion extensions can be found below: -Alaskan sole (yellowfin, rock or flathead), frozen in blocks, in cases with net weight of more than 4.5 kg (described in statistical reporting number 0304.83.5015) -King crab meat, frozen in blocks each weighing at least 1 kg but not more than 1.2 kg, in airtight containers (described in statistical reporting number 1605.10.2010) -Snow crab meat (C. opilio), frozen in blocks, in airtight containers each with net weight of not more than 1.2 kg (described in statistical reporting number 1605.10.2022) -Dungeness crab meat, frozen in blocks, in airtight containers with net weight of not more than 1.2 kg (described in statistical reporting number 1605.10.2030) -Crab meat (other than King crab, Snow crab, Dungeness or swimming crabs), frozen in blocks, in airtight containers with net weight of not more than 1.5 kg (described in statistical reporting number 1605.10.2090)
The document can be found here. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1177768/25-percent-Tariff-Exclusions-Extended-for-Certain-Crab-Meats-Alaskan-Sole Labeling and Marketing 3MMI - Buyer's Update on the Current Market Conditions for All Wild Pacific Salmon TradexFoods - August 5, 2020 Alaska's Summer Salmon Harvest reached over 60 million fish last week translating to about 45 percent of the 132.7 million fish forecasted for the 2020 Season. Sockeye harvest in Alaska is nearly complete as the fishing is winding down and fishermen start shifting gears to Pink Salmon. The 2020 Alaskan Chum Salmon Season is being cited as one of the worst in at least 12 years with many processors giving up on holding out for the run. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=m_JS4Gm1C5M&feature=emb_logo FYI’s NOAA Launches Right Whale Slow Zones Campaign Urner Barry by Amanda Buckle - August 7, 2020 NOAA Fisheries has launched a new Right Whale Slow Zones campaign following the death of a North Atlantic right whale calf in June. As SeafoodNews previously reported, a deceased North Atlantic right whale was spotted off the coast of Elberon, New Jersey on June 25. The whale was identified as a male calf of #3560, and marked the first observed right whale death in American waters this year. A necropsy ultimately revealed that a vessel collision led to the whale calf’s death. Evidence showed at least a pair of vessel collisions, with propeller wounds across its head and chest believed to be weeks old. Additional propeller wounds, and a skreg or rudder wound across the tail stock, suggest that the whale also suffered from a recent vessel strike. The June loss of the calf, as well as a confirmed vessel strike of another calf off the coast of Georgia in mid-January, has led NOAA to ask vessel operators to get involved in reducing the risk of vessel strikes while in U.S waters. The Slow Zones campaign works by providing coordinates to vessels that indicate areas where right whales have been recently detected. Vessel operators who are in those areas are asked to take precautions for 15 days by slowing to 10 knots or less in those areas. The coordinates are based on sound collected from underwater acoustic listening devices, as well as visual sightings. These areas can be anywhere from Maine through Virginia. Once established, notifications will be sent across multiple channels, including email notifications, the @NOAAFIsheriesNEMA Facebook page, the @NOAAFish_GARFO Twitter page, the online right whale sightings map, and the free Whale Alert app. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1177786/All-Hands-Event-Goes-virtual-Asks-Public-for-Ideas-Internet-Reliability
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