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Bean’s Café continues its mission to provide seafood and other life-giving resources to the homeless population of Anchorage especially during this trying year. Typically, Bean’s Café hosts an annual fundraiser event 'Toast to the Coast' and Pacific Seafood Processors Association (PSPA) is a proud sponsor of this event, but due to COVID they’ve had to make new plans. This annual event brings awareness to and helps fight hunger, brings Alaskans together, and features the best seafood procured by Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and our collective partners.
PSPA is a strong supporter of their work and we’ve made a donation of $20,000 outside of this event for 2020 – Bean’s Café is hoping to double PSPA’s donation and raise $40,000 to help the homeless and hungry in Alaska.
Donate here: https://donate.beanscafe.org/(mention ‘Choose Alaska Seafood’ in the comments to activate the matching grant)
Please consider Bean’s Café as you finalize your end-of-year donation plans. Your donation of any amount will help Bean’s Café and Children’s Lunchbox continue their mission and continue to provide seafood and other life-giving resources to the homeless population of Anchorage.
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Alaska
The Alaska Fisheries Report
KMXT - December 17, 2020
Killer Whales, Slinky Pots, and Stock Assessments
https://kmxt.org/2020/12/the-alaska-fisheries-report-dec-17-2020/
Fifty years of Alaska Sea Grant
Alaska Sea Grant by Anne Gore - December 16, 2020
2020 marks Alaska Sea Grant’s 50th year. Over the last five decades, the program’s research, education, and outreach activities have had countless positive impacts on Alaska’s coastal communities, ecosystems, and economies.
https://alaskaseagrant.org/2020/12/16/fifty-years-of-alaska-sea-grant/
West Coast
For first time in years, chinook salmon spawn in upper Columbia River system
The Associated Press - December 18, 2020
SPOKANE, Wash. — For the first time in more than a generation, chinook salmon have spawned in the upper Columbia River system.
https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2020/12/for-first-time-in-years-chinook-salmon-spawn-in-upper-columbia-river-system.html
Politics
U.S. Small Food Processors Get Boost With New Bipartisan Bill
SeafoodNews.com by Peggy Parker - December 21, 2020
Last Friday Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced “Strengthening Local Processing Act” a bipartisan bill that would provide critical support to small meat and poultry processors across the nation.
As the pandemic continues to disrupt supply chains, small operations have been hit harder than large corporations. The legislation would give small food processors more access to information that is critical to food safety planning, allow more inspector-approved meat products to be sold across state lines, and funnel federal dollars toward training, education, and technical assistance grants.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Angus King (I-Maine) are original co-sponsors of this legislation.
“This bipartisan bill would help provide these plants with valuable support, while also strengthening our food safety inspections and cutting red tape,” said Merkley.
“The pandemic has created significant challenges to our nation’s food supply chain, especially when it comes to meat processing capacity,” said Thune. “South Dakota’s producers work hard to raise high-quality livestock, and we need to invest in expanding processing capacity to help meet consumer demand for their products. I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to support small meatpackers and to create additional marketing options for livestock producers.”
The Strengthening Local Processing Act would require the Food Safety Inspection Service to establish a searchable database of peer-reviewed, publicly available studies to establish and maintain Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans. This step would help small food processors develop their own HACCP plans and help expedite the HACCP approval process.
“The supply chain disruptions and restaurant closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have placed increasing financial pressure on Maine’s rural farming communities, including our small farms that raise livestock,” said Collins. “This bipartisan bill would provide some relief by clearing unnecessary, bureaucratic hurdles, which would ensure that the livestock raised in Maine can also be processed right here in our state by local, family-owned food processors and butchers.”
To incentivize more states to establish meat and poultry inspection programs—which small food processors need to approve their products—the legislation would increase the federal government’s cost-share for the programs from 50 percent to 65 percent. The bill would also allow state-inspected meat facilities to operate as federal inspection facilities, allowing more small and local processors to ship their products to other states and countries.
“Maine’s small family farms and meat and poultry processors are key building blocks of communities across our state, providing healthy, locally raised meat for their neighbors and making important contributions to the local economy,” said King. “I’m proud to work with Senators Thune and Merkley to empower small processors to do their jobs and grow their businesses. It’s our hope that this legislation will act as a helping hand in these difficult times by directing resources and investments to where they can do much good and bolster local economies around the country.”
The bill would also create a grant program to support small plants by providing reimbursement grants to help cover costs associated with meeting state or federal inspection guidelines, expanding infrastructure to establish or increase harvest and processing capacity, and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic and future market needs.
To meet education and training needs in the processing industry, the bill would also establish training grants to support and train small plant operators, small plant employees, and the next generation of meat processors and butchers. And $10 million would be authorized in discretionary funding for higher education training and processor career training.
The bill is supported by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
“As we have seen in the past year, relying on large consolidated meat processing facilities to dominate our domestic markets leave consumers at dangerous risk of losing access to safe, clean meat from the local ranchers who produce it. It is important to support and expand small and mid-scale harvest and processing, in order to maintain the safe pipeline for ranchers to access local markets, and for consumers to access local meat," said Ben Meyer, co-owner at Revel Meat Company, based in Canby, Ore.
"We are in danger of losing many of the small plants in our country, as they have been dwarfed by a few giants, who have worked to control the markets, building monopolies and controlling prices. When those giant plants could not adequately protect employees from the Covid-19 virus, consumers were left with empty shelves and empty pantries, with far-too-limited options for accessing local producers. Supporting the reinvigoration of local meat processing provides more food security for both the community of consumers as well as the ranchers and their communities. This bill would help to rebuild and increase that capacity,” Meyer said.
https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1187951/US-Small-Food-Processors-Get-Boost-With-New-Bipartisan-Bill
Federal Register
Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Inseason Adjustment to the 2021 Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Pollock, Atka Mackerel, and Pacific Cod Total Allowable Catch Amounts
A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 12/22/2020
NMFS is adjusting the 2021 total allowable catch (TAC) amounts for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) pollock, Atka mackerel, and Pacific cod fisheries. This action is necessary because NMFS has determined these TACs are incorrectly specified, and will ensure the BSAI pollock, Atka mackerel, and Pacific cod TACs are the appropriate amounts based on the best available scientific information. This action is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/22/2020-28190/fisheries-of-the-exclusive-economic-zone-off-alaska-inseason-adjustment-to-the-2021-bering-sea-and
FYI’s
Oceana offers free online educational classes for kids
Cordova Times - December 19, 2020
With many schools turning to online classes as a safety measure during the global pandemic the conservation entity Oceana is offering free online ocean-related lesson plans and activities for kids that can be downloaded and enjoyed.
https://www.thecordovatimes.com/2020/12/19/oceana-offers-free-online-educational-classes-for-kids/
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.