Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Alaska Wild Alaskan Company Donates Over 95K Pounds of Wild-Caught Salmon to Food Bank of Alaska Urner Barry by Ryan Doyle - April 12, 2022 Direct to consumer seafood firm Wild Alaskan Company has donated over 95,000 pounds of sealed and individually portioned, wild-caught salmon to the Food Bank of Alaska, with a retail value in excess of $1.4 million. The contribution includes both Sockeye and Coho salmon and comes as communities in the state face a number of challenges including COVID-19 impacts, economic hardships and food insecurity, the company explained. “There would be no Wild Alaskan Company without Alaska. We are fortunate to be in a position to give back to Alaskans during this time of need — so that’s what we did,” said Arron Kallenberg, Founder and CEO of Wild Alaskan Company. Wild Alaskan Company noted a study conducted by Northwestern University that found almost one in five Alaskans face food insecurity as of May 2020. “On behalf of Food Bank of Alaska and our partners, I would like to thank Wild Alaskan Company for its generous donation of wild Alaska-caught salmon,” said Mike Reusser, Chief Operating Officer of the Food Bank of Alaska. The transportation of the salmon was facilitated by TOTE Maritime Alaska, per Wild Alaskan company. “FBA will be distributing this healthy and desirable protein to Alaskans in need of food assistance in partnership with our 60 active Anchorage and Valley agency partners, the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank and their 40 active agency partners, as well as through our nine Anchorage Mobile Food Pantry distribution sites,” Reusser said. “Because of your efforts, tens of thousands of Alaskans in need of food assistance will have the opportunity to enjoy this for months to come.” Last week, the company decided to raise the price of its subscriptions for the first time in its history, which started in 2017. “Supply chain and inflation concerns are taking over dinner table conversations and headlines across the world; the impact can be felt in the waters of Alaska, as well,” the company posted in a blog regarding a change to membership. “Since launching the company, we’ve resisted increasing prices for our members through multiple challenges, including: rising labor and supply chain costs, ongoing price inflation within the seafood industry, and limited availability of certain Alaskan species. However, a pandemic that has dragged on for a third year running – in combination with the current international instability – has further compounded the challenges of bringing sustainably-caught, wild seafood to your doorstep.” As SeafoodNews’ Managing Editor Amanda Buckle wrote, “Wild Alaskan Company says that the “confluence of these events” has led them to raise their prices for the first time. A 12-pack is now $145, up from $131.88, and a 24-pack is now $267, up from $239.76.” https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1223288/Wild-Alaskan-Company-Donates-Over-95K-Pounds-of-Wild-Caught-Salmon-to-Food-Bank-of-Alaska National US House passes USD 42 billion restaurant funding bill Seafood Source by Christine Blank - April 11, 2022 On 7 April, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act, which would allocate USD 42 billion (EUR 39 billion) for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) and USD 13 billion (EUR 12 billion) for other businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/us-house-passes-usd-42-billion-restaurant-funding-bill Inflation harms fresh seafood sales, but COVID-19 concerns ease Seafood Source by Christine Blank - April 11, 2022 Record-high inflation impacted U.S. fresh seafood sales in March, but frozen and shelf-stable sales spiked. The results are partially the result of public concern about the impacts of rising inflation, polling found. But Americans are now much less concerned about COVID-19, a potential boon to the foodservice sector. https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/inflation-harms-fresh-seafood-sales-but-covid-19-concerns-ease International Russian Crab Suppliers Attach More Importance to China and the South Korea SeafoodNews.com by Amy Zhong - April 11, 2022 The war between Russia and Ukraine has triggered a massive ripple effect on global trade, and one case in point is that of seafood. Europe has imposed sanctions on Russian seafood, while America has announced limitations on such imports. One of the species hit by the chaos is Russian crabs. And sellers along with buyers have also suffered from these decisions. Russia’s export value of frozen king crabs and snow crabs has reached US$1.49 billion last year, according to statistics from the International Trade Center. Among them, exports worth US$0.929 billion were sold to the Netherlands, and after arrival, many were delivered to different European markets. But now this trade has been banned with Europe’s sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, America has also been gradually limiting imports. The seafood used to be transported there after transfer in such countries as South Korea. But this trade is very likely to be halted with its ban on Russia seafood, including those sent from South Korea. The prohibition is said to go into effect this June. Facing such a situation, importers in America have been complaining anxiously about a terrible shortage, and ballooning prices together with market fluctuations, according to Shijieshipin.com. Their import is said to have skyrocketed in the past two years, and it is hardly possible for them to source substitutes anytime soon. Replacements like Dungeness crabs are said to be insufficient to meet rising demand in America. Meanwhile, crab suppliers in America are not pleased by this either. Rather, they are under great pressure. The decision to close Bristol Bay last year has already led to lower supply of king crabs, and America’s harvest of snow crabs this year is predicted to hit the lowest level within the past 40-odd years. The largest snow crab supplier in Alaska said all have been ordered, and there are just no more to satisfy demand of new buyers. American importers are still trying to find a way out, while some exporters in Russia have seemingly found one feasible option, which is to raise exports to South Korea and China. Live crab imports of China and South Korea were US$0.546 billion and US$0.335 billion respectively last year, and they have made up 95% of Russia’s total exports. And South Korea has bought frozen king crabs and snow crabs worth US$0.54 billion, too. In China, restaurants are main buyers of frozen crabs from Russia. And they still show preference to such imports, and with more supplies, price contraction has already started within the past few weeks. Moreover, though still limited in number, some frozen ones are sold to other countries after being processed in China. The market prospect looks promising for frozen crabs in China, but it still looks uncertain for live ones. Due to the recurrent COVID-19, some cities are trapped partially in lockdown, and Shanghai, one main importer of live crabs, is just planning to ease restrictions. But things are estimated to be much better for Russian exporters if the pandemic gets under control in China from July to September, the crab harvest season. Unluckily they may not be so for king crab buyers in Europe and America, considering Russia’s fishing quota constitutes 94% of the total this year. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1223173/Russian-Crab-Suppliers-Attach-More-Importance-to-China-and-the-South-Korea Environment/Science Pacific salmon can now reproduce in Alaska’s Arctic, researchers find A single juvenile fish found in a lagoon on Alaska's North Slope proved salmon can reproduce in the North American Arctic. Arctic Today by Yereth Rosen - April 6, 2022 Waist-deep in the waters of Jago Lagoon off Alaska’s North Slope, biologist Vanessa von Biela and her research partners got a big surprise in the summer of 2017 when they were sorting through Arctic fish that had been captured in a test net. Among the hundreds of Arctic cisco in the net was a juvenile chum salmon — the first direct proof of successful salmon reproduction that far north in North America. https://www.arctictoday.com/pacific-salmon-can-now-reproduce-in-alaskas-arctic-researchers-find/?wallit_nosession=1 Pacific Seafood Processors Association 1900 W Emerson Place Suite 205, Seattle, WA 98119 Phone: 206.281.1667 E-mail: admin@pspafish.net; 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.