Tuesday, November 22, 2022

In Memoriam National Fisheries Institute Statement on the Passing of John Connelly NFI Media - November 21, 2022 WASHINGTON, DC - Today, we mourn the loss of a fierce advocate, a loving father, a cherished husband, a beloved brother, an esteemed leader, and to so many a mentor and simply friend. John Connelly was the third President of the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and a man who drove fundamental change with wit, foresight, and honesty. His impact and loss is immeasurable. In early 2003 John stood before the NFI Presidential Search Committee, dug back to his history degree from his beloved College of the Holy Cross and made the analogy that the seafood industry was like the German states in the 1860s. https://aboutseafood.com/press_release/national-fisheries-institute-statement-on-the-passing-of-john-connelly/ National Government Accountability Office Says USDA Needs to Provide More Seafood in School Lunches Urner Barry by Ryan Doyle - November 22, 2022 A recent report from government watchdog the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must develop a plan to boost its assistance in providing more seafood in school lunches. The GAO found that the USDA purchased a “limited quantity of seafood compared to other animal proteins (beef, eggs, pork, and poultry) for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) for fiscal years 2014 through 2019.” Seafood purchases by the USDA represented just 1 and 2% of all animal proteins purchased annually for the program. The national average of USDA-purchased seafood per student through the NSLP over this period was roughly 3 ounces per year. However, the 2020-2025 5 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends children eat 4 and 10 ounces of seafood per week. The Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) applauded politicians for requesting the GAO review and said the report shed light on the “extreme and unfathomable disparity between the amount of seafood that students should be consuming per the USDA Dietary Guidelines and the actual amount of seafood provided in school meals.” Specifically, the GAO shed light on “(1) USDA’s purchases of seafood for the NSLP, (2) factors affecting selected states’ and SFAs’ efforts to provide seafood to students, and (3) USDA’s efforts to help address these factors.” “We as a nation should be shocked and alarmed by the huge disparity between our nation’s nutrition guidelines and policies and how it is actually implemented in our national school nutrition programs,” the SNP said in a statement. “What we eat matters for our health and the health of our students. All school foodservice decision makers and providers should read this report carefully and with urgency.” The SNP said it is “eager” to work with the USDA and NOAA to develop plans that were recommended by the GAO on the School Lunch Program. Specifically, the GAO recommended the Secretary of Agriculture create a plan to “enhance its assistance to states and school food authorities in providing seafood to students through the National School Lunch Program;” and have NOAA and the USDA develop a mechanism to share a list of domestic seafood vendors with each other. Find the full report here. USDA Looking to Purchase Catfish, Pollock for School Lunch Program Around the time the report was released, the USDA unveiled a pair of purchase requests for pollock and catfish products. On the pollock side, the USDA is looking to buy 543,200 pounds of frozen Alaska pollock fish sticks. The solicitation stated that the product will be used in the NSLP and other federal food assistance programs. Acceptances will be announced by midnight, December 8, 2022. Deliveries are to be made between February 1, 2023 through June 30, 2023. The solicitation also said 30% of the product is ‘Small Business Set-Aside.’ The catfish solicitation showed that it will be 100% Small Business Set Aside for Material for catfish fillets and strips. The solicitation calls for 154,000 pounds of product. The fish is to be used in domestic food distribution programs and acceptances will be announced by 5pm CT on December 1, 2022. Deliveries are to be made between January 1, 2023, and June 30, 2023. Find the pollock request here. Find the catfish request here. https://www.seafoodnews.com/Story/1240176/Government-Accountability-Office-Says-USDA-Needs-to-Provide-More-Seafood-in-School-Lunches Federal Register Fisheries Off West Coast States; West Coast Salmon Fisheries; Amendment 23 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan A Rule by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 11/22/2022 NMFS announces the approval of Amendment 23 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (Salmon FMP). Amendment 23 amends the Salmon FMP's current harvest control rule (HCR) for the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/11/22/2022-25328/fisheries-off-west-coast-states-west-coast-salmon-fisheries-amendment-23-to-the-pacific-coast-salmon 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.