Monday, July 27, 2026

Alaska 

Prince William Sound commercial salmon catch crawls to 1.4M fish

The Cordova Times by Margaret Bauman - July 24, 2026

Commercial harvesters in Prince William Sound delivered an estimated 1.4 million salmon to processors through July 23, in a season marked by a healthy but well below forecast catch.

https://thecordovatimes.com/2026/07/24/prince-william-sound-commercial-salmon-catch-crawls-to-1-4m-fish/

West Coast

B.C. researchers discover deadly bacterial disease in wild chinook

UBC and the Pacific Salmon Foundation scientists have found tenacibaculosis — a bacterial disease that causes lesions and death — in wild Pacific salmon.

Vancouver Sun by Tiffany Crawford - July 24. 2026

For the first time, B.C. researchers have discovered a deadly bacterial disease in wild chinook salmon in the Pacific Ocean off Vancouver Island.

https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-researchers-deadly-bacterial-disease-wild-chinook

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National

Alaska Airlines purchases four new cargo planes to strengthen freight capacity out of Alaska, Hawai'i

SeafoodSource by Haley Jones - July 24, 2026

Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.-based Alaska Airlines announced it entered into long-term lease agreements to add four additional 737-800 Boeing Converted Freighter aircraft to its existing cargo fleet of five, increasing its fleet to nine total.

https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/alaska-airlines-purchases-four-new-cargo-planes-to-strengthen-freight-out-of-alaska-and-hawai-i

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International

EU Seafood Consumption Hits Decade Low as Price Pressure and Convenience Demands Reshape the Market

SeafoodNews by Ryan Doyle - July 27, 2026

European consumers are eating less fish than at any point in the past decade. EU apparent consumption fell from 12.94 million tonnes in 2014 to 10.25 million tonnes in 2023, with per capita intake dropping from 25.5 kg to 22.9 kg — the lowest level of the period — according to a sweeping new study from the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA). The sharpest decline came after 2019, as COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and sustained food price inflation accelerated behavioral shifts already underway.

The drop was not uniform. Spain, France, and Lithuania recorded significant consumption declines, while Italy, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia bucked the trend. Portugal and Spain remained the EU's heaviest per capita consumers, while landlocked markets like Austria and Hungary continued to record the lowest rates — underscoring the enduring role of coastal proximity in driving demand.

Price Is Now the Top Purchasing Factor

For the first time in the Eurobarometer survey series, price overtook product appearance as the single most important purchasing criterion in 2024, cited by 55% of respondents. Years of cumulative inflation have reinforced a widespread consumer perception of fish as expensive — even as the category spans a wide range of price points.

Some price-sensitive consumers have reduced frequency or portion size; others have migrated toward chicken and eggs. Yet the report cautions against treating price as a simple deterrent: salmon, one of the most expensive species on European shelves, continued to gain ground across multiple markets, demonstrating that convenience, availability, and product image can outweigh cost when all three align.

A Market Narrowing Around Salmon, Tuna, and Shrimp

EU consumption is concentrating around a small number of globally traded species. Salmon now accounts for 10% of apparent EU consumption. Skipjack tuna recorded an extraordinary 500% increase since 2014, and warmwater shrimp also grew strongly. Cod, once a cornerstone of several national diets, fell 43% over the same period, driven by quota reductions and supply constraints. Around 70% of FAPs consumed in the EU now come via imports, while domestic production fell 37% between 2014 and 2023. Large-scale retailers — now the purchase channel for 79% of EU consumers — have reinforced the trend by concentrating shelf space on imported species offering year-round supply predictability. Stakeholders in multiple countries described the result as a "standardisation" of consumption that is eroding awareness of seasonality and species diversity, particularly in Southern European markets.

Convenience Is Reshaping the Category

Across all six country case studies — Spain, France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Austria — demand for convenient, ready-to-cook, and ready-to-eat products emerged as the clearest common trend.

Portioned, prepacked, and processed formats are gaining at the direct expense of whole fresh fish, driven by reduced cooking skills among younger consumers and time constraints among working families. Traditional fishmongers continue to lose ground; nearly 5,000 have closed in Spain since 2007. As supermarkets have reduced fresh fish counters in favour of prepacked products, the report flags a compounding risk: fewer specialist retail touchpoints means less consumer education, which deepens unfamiliarity with species and preparation and further suppresses demand.

The Generational Problem

The most structurally significant finding may be the age gap. In Spain, consumption volumes among under-35s fell 71% between 2015 and 2024, against just 14% for over-50s. Across the EU, younger consumers eat fish less frequently, show less familiarity with preparation, and are more likely never to eat it at all.

Environmental and ethical considerations are growing among this cohort, but remain secondary to price, convenience, and appearance at the point of purchase. Stakeholders noted that consumers are often overwhelmed by complex sustainability messaging, with simpler origin-based claims proving more effective on shelf.

The EUMOFA report, published July 2026, lands as the EU's Vision for Fisheries and Aquaculture 2040 is being drafted. Its findings make a pointed case: with domestic production declining, imports concentrated in a handful of species, and younger consumers increasingly disconnected from the category, reconnecting European consumers with the full range of what EU fisheries and aquaculture produce is both a market opportunity and a policy imperative.

https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1349658/EU-Seafood-Consumption-Hits-Decade-Low-as-Price-Pressure-and-Convenience-Demands-Reshape-the-Market

Labeling and Marketing

3MMI - Europe Seafood Market Update | Cod Stays Tight. Value Opportunities Grow.

Tradex Foods - July 27, 2026

Europe's seafood market continues to tell two very different stories. Atlantic cod and mackerel remain supply constrained with elevated prices, while improving conditions in salmon, shrimp, pangasius, tuna, and cephalopods are creating attractive buying opportunities. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K3y--sojDo

Federal Register

Pacific Halibut Fisheries of the West Coast; 2026 Catch Sharing Plan; Inseason Action

A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 07/27/2026

NMFS announces an inseason action for the Pacific halibut recreational fishery in the International Pacific Halibut Commission's (IPHC) regulatory Area 2A. This action adds fishing dates in August and September in the Columbia River and Washington subareas.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/27/2026-15093/pacific-halibut-fisheries-of-the-west-coast-2026-catch-sharing-plan-inseason-action

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