Third Opener on Copper River Yesterday, Summer Grilling Season Starts

While Cordova’s gillnet fleet left for the fishing grounds off the Copper River Wednesday night, David Levy of Town and Country Markets in Poulsbo, Washington prepared for more fresh sockeye from Alaska’s first salmon season. Levy is the seafood category manager for the six-store chain based in Poulsbo.

”We always look forward to the opening of Copper River sockeye season as it's the beginning of the fresh salmon season and it signifies the start of summer grilling. When I cook it on the grill, I like to keep things...

VIDEO: Snow Crab Seasonal Grid Closures; Canada Imposes New Sanctions on Russia; and More

Join SeafoodNews Weekly Video hosts Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione as they break down a few of the biggest stories of the week, including snow crab grid closures, Canada imposing new sanctions on Russia and the acquisition of Captain D's. Plus, learn more about what's been going on in the lobster market.

This video is brought to you by Urner Barry’s Excel Add-In. Save time and improve your report building by streamlining supply and pricing data directly into your spreadsheets...

 SeafoodNews Closed on Monday, May 30

SeafoodNews will not be publishing on Monday, May 30. We will return to our normal publishing schedule on Tuesday, May 31.

In the meantime, catch up on our recent major news stories by checking our Featured Stories page. 

You can also watch all the latest SeafoodNews Weekly Videos here or listen to the latest SeafoodNews Podcast episodes here.

Norway Royal Salmon ASA CFO Ola Loe Steps Down After 13 Years With Company

Norway Royal Salmon ASA confirmed this week that Ola Loe is stepping down from his position as Chief Financial Officer after 13 years with the company.

“NRS has had a fantastic development from 2009,” said Loe. “From an annual harvest volume of 6,000 tonnes when I started to now have an annual production capacity of about 85,000 tonnes. It has been a pleasure to work with the team in NRS and I will miss the employees and the challenging work tasks.”

Loe will remain available...

Prepare For Grilling Season With Seafood Burgers And Dogs

While the first day of summer isn’t technically until June 21, the real kick-off is this Memorial Day Weekend. And that means grilling season is officially on! But don’t reach for that hamburger just yet. There are plenty of seafood options out there, like Del Pacifico’s Shrimp Burgers.

Central Market shoppers will be happy to learn that Del Pacifico has brought their Fair Trade Certified Shrimp Burgers to the frozen section. Del Pacifico’s Wild Blue Mexican Shrimp Burgers are made with sustainable wild-caught whole shrimp...

Maine Senator Blocks NOAA Nominee Confirmation in Protest of Right Whale Rule Changes

Maine Senator Susan Collins rejected a unanimous consent request to confirm a top NOAA official, blocking Jainey Kumar Bavishi to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.

The move is in response to the agency’s refusal to modify its Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan (ALWTRP) and regulations that have been put in place on the state’s lobster industry, which aim to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale species, per a release from Collins’ office...

Barramundi Group Reports Loss in Q1, Set to Begin Australia Expansion Funding in Q3

Singapore-based Barramundi Group reported a net profit loss of $5.9 million and a $1 million dip in revenue when compared to the same quarter in 2021.

The company adopted the full capitalization method for biological assets to come in line with other companies reporting methods in the seafood industry.

“The full capitalization method results in a higher cost of biological assets and will result in a higher cost ex-farm at the time of harvest. As in Q1 2022 production costs have been...

Seafood Nutrition Partnership Launches Summer of Science Series

Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) is getting ready to educate and inspire this summer with the launch of their new Summer of Science series. The organization is introducing events, webinars and social engagement in an effort to spread the word about the health benefits of delicious and nutritious seafood.  

“I invite you to discover the science behind the power of seafood – why it is so vital to our health and the health of the planet,” said Dr. Tom Brenna, Chair of SNP’s Scientific Nutrition Advisory Council...

Camanchaca Opens $30 Million Horse Mackerel Plant in Central Chile

Chilean seafood company Camanchaca opened a new $30 million plant focused on producing frozen horse mackerel, per Intrafish.

The new plant will be in Coronel, in central Chile and it was led by the Pesquera Camanchaca arm of the company.

The latest plant aims to enhance Camanchaca’s other canned horse mackerel, fishmeal and fish oil

production plants in the same area, in addition to a shrimp plant in a neighboring region.

The plant will be capable of processing 650 metric tons of fish each day, featuring 10 automatic...

$250K Heading to Improve Queensland Fishing Industry to Promote Sustainability

Queensland’s Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries and Minister for Rural Communities The Honourable Mark Furner announced a new round of grants set to provide nearly $250,000 to support sustainability in Queensland’s commercial fishing industry.

“Funding through the fishing project grants supports the government’s Sustainable Fisheries Strategy of building a legacy of sustainable fisheries for our children and grandchildren,” Mr Furner said. “$248 237 has been allocated from the Commercial and Charter Fishing Grant Program to four groups involved in commercial...

Cermaq Canada and Ahousaht Nation Renew Protocol Agreement

Cermaq Canada announced this week that they have renewed a 5-year protocol between the Ahousaht First Nation to “bring focus to the priorities of the Nation and to provide a road map of how Cermaq will farm in their territory, into the future.”

Cermaq Canada operates in Ahousaht Territory under the Ahousaht Protocol Agreement and through the governance process of the Ahousaht Ha’wiih (Hereditary Chiefs) as represented by Maaqtusiss Hahoulthee Stewardship Society (MHSS). The renewed protocol agreement builds upon a strong foundation of previous protocol agreements in place between...

EPA Issues Proposal to Veto Pebble Mine Using Clean Water Act Section 404 (c)

As promised yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this morning issued a 339-page Proposed Determination  “to prohibit and restrict the use of certain waters in the Bristol Bay watershed as a disposal site for the discharge of dredged or fill material associated with mining at the Pebble deposit, a large ore body in southwest Alaska.”

Reactions from residents, Alaska’s fishing industry, sports fishing, hunting, tourism groups, and conservationists  were both celebratory and adamant that even greater support for the veto was needed now. 

“Today’s announcement...

Norwegian Salmon Farmers to Pay $85 Million Settlement in Price-Fixing Lawsuit

A settlement has been preliminarily approved by the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit claiming that major Norwegian salmon farmers fixed prices. The companies will pay a total of $85 million, per a May 25 filing in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida.

“This sum not only provides the Settlement Class with ample relief but also comes at a relatively early stage in the litigation, which is particularly significant in an antitrust case because such cases often last for years. This resolution...

Federal Managers Formalize Gear Change to Reduce Bycatch, Give Sharks a Chance in Hawaii Longline Fishery

Thanks to fishermen and Hawaii fishery managers, oceanic whitetip shark conservation is improving.

An industry-led conservation measure to reduce impacts to sharks is the latest example in a long history of bottom-up federal fishery management through the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the Council said in press release.

Starting May 31, 2022, the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery that targets bigeye tuna will be prohibited from using wire leaders. Wire leaders reduce a shark’s ability to free itself from ...

Thai Union Subsidiary to Shutter Plant, Transfer Operations

Thai Union subsidiary Rügen Fisch AG announced that it will close its Lübeck plant and transfer the production of Hawesta Feinkost Hans Westphal GmbH & Co. KG (Hawesta) to Sassnitz, joining the rest of the Rügen Fisch Group in the existing manufacturing site on the island of Rügen.

Hawesta is a Rügen Fisch subsidiary, and its works council and the 200 employees were informed on May 25 of the impending closure. Discussions with employee representatives are underway. A press release on the Thai Union website said company management aims...

Nick Furman, October 30,1953 - January 6, 2022

Oregon and the fishing industry lost a great leader after a courageous battle with cancer. Nick Furman was a beloved husband, father, friend and crab fishing industry trailblazer.

Nick began his career in the seafood industry working as a deck hand, salmon fishing on the F/V Sea Fox for Lenny Montalbano. He also fished on the F/V Cape Foulweather for Dennis Cutting, and crabbed for Dungeness on the F/V Apache for Tom Nowlin. He finished up his fishing career running a salmon...

EPA Proposal Moves to Block Pebble Mine, Citing Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon Fishery

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a proposal to protect the Bristol Bay watershed, and its vital sockeye salmon fishery, a move that would ban the controversial Pebble Mine.

“If finalized, EPA’s Section 404(c) determination would help protect the Bristol Bay watershed’s rivers, streams, and wetlands that support the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery and a subsistence-based way of life that has sustained Alaska Native communities for millennia,” the EPA wrote in a news release.

The EPA cited the Clean Water Act to...

St. Mary’s Bay Fish Processing License Application Approved

Derrick Bragg, the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture for Newfoundland and Labrador, confirmed on Tuesday that the fish processing licensing application for St. Mary’s Bay Fisheries has been approved.

The proposed St. Mary’s crab plant has been the point of contention between FFAW and the Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) for the past few weeks. ASP made it clear that they opposed the potential plant, which they said would result in “less hours of work for those in existing facilities.” FFAW pushed back on the opposition, releasing fact sheets stating that...

BOEM Publishes First-ever Proposed Sale Notice for California Offshore Wind Sites

The environmental assessment for the Morro Bay Wind Energy Area isn't even finalized, but the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is moving ahead with leasing the area.

The Department of Interior said Thursday its release of a Proposed Sale Notice for two areas in California is yet another step forward in the Biden-Harris administration’s pursuit of a clean energy economy. This is the first-ever offshore wind lease sale proposed on the West Coast.

In May 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, White House National ...

Plant-Based Protein Firm Above Food Opens New Ingredient Development and Processing Centre

Above Food, the makers of the Loma Linda plant-based tuna brand, opened its state-of-the-art, gluten free ingredient development, processing and packaging facility: the Above Food Ingredient Centre.

The facility is located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and will “serve as the heart of the company's future product innovations and gluten free ingredient processing.”

“It immediately elevates Above Food’s Specialty Ingredients division within the CPG industry, while further differentiating the company’s CPG brands, such as Farmer Direct Organic, Eat Up!, NorQuin...

Aqua Cultured Foods Welcomes New Advisory Board Members

Startup Aqua Cultured Foods announced it has added new advisors to guide the company on “strategic growth, go-to-market partners and product innovation.”

Aqua Cultured Foods is attempting to bring the world’s first whole-muscle cut seafood alternatives created through microbial fermentation to the public.

New advisory board members include Ingeborg Gasser-Kriss, Chuck Muth and Gonzalo Ramírez Martiarena.

Gasser-Kriss brings over two-and-a-half decades of experience in food marketing, innovation, and growth opportunities across geographies and cultures, for both emerging and...

Friendly’s Restaurants Introduces New Lobster Festival Menu To Kick Off Summer

Lobster rolls, lobster and shrimp quesadillas and fiery lobster … oh my! Friendly’s Restaurants is kicking off summer with their new Lobster Festival Menu. 

“Friendly’s is a staple for many communities on the East Coast, with decades of experience serving crave-worthy food and delicious ice cream,” said Craig Erlich, CEO of Friendly’s Restaurants. “Our Lobster Festival menu accomplishes what we have always done best: bringing people together around a great meal and making summer memories that last a lifetime...

Fishing Captain Medevaced by Coast Guard from Matagorda Bay, Texas

The Coast Guard announced medevaced an injured fishing vessel captain from Matagorda Bay, Texas, on Thursday.

The Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center watchstanders received notification at 4:17 p.m. from the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office that the 67-year-old captain of the commercial fishing vessel Master Ricky had reportedly been struck in the head by rigging block while working gear and was intermittently unconscious.

Following the report, watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medevac. A Coast Guard Station Port O’Connor...

Cousins Maine Lobster Founders on the ‘Lobster Effect’, How Business Will Evolve

Since its inception, Cousins Maine Lobster has had customers waiting for lobster rolls, sometimes for over an hour

Even the company's co-founder Jim Tselikis joked that he wouldn't wait that long for a lobster roll.

The company has been a seafood success story from its early days. From the expansion of its fleet of food trucks, to its debut on ABC's Shark Tank television show and its foray into the brick-and-mortar space, Cousins Maine Lobsters has made an impact in its...

Alaska Judge Rules on American Seafoods Pollock Transportation Case

Last August, after the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBR) began issuing Notices of Penalty to Kloosterboer International Forwarding (KIF) and other companies for using a 100-foot railway to comply with a Jones Act waiver on shipments from Alaska to the East Coast, KIF filed a complaint against the CBR, insisting they were compliant. At the time the lawsuit was filed, KIF had received Notices of Penalty totaling approximately $25 million, and other companies in Plaintiffs’ supply chain had received Notices of Penalty totaling approximately $325 million ...

NOAA Announces Closure of Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area

The Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area is closed to all federally permitted limited access general category scallop vessels beginning Thursday, May 26. 

NOAA confirmed the closure earlier this week, explaining that scallop regulations require that the agency close this area once they project that 100% of the 2022 default total allowable catch for the area has been taken. This means that no scallop vessels fishing under scallop regulations may fish for, possess, or land scallops in or from the...

California Wetfish Producers Association Welcomes a New Executive Director

Times, they are a-changin'.

After 40 years in fisheries, Diane Pleschner-Steele is hanging up her Xtratufs (sort of) and a new leader is at the helm of the California Wetfish Producers Association.

On May 18, 2022, the CWPA welcomed Mark Fina, of Mark Fina Consulting Services, as the Association’s new executive director. Mark brings long years of experience in North Pacific fisheries to his new position. He started his analytical career working for the Anchorage-based consulting firm Northern ...

Japan: April Imports Turned to Increase After Three Months, From Russia Kept Rising

According to the April preliminary trade report released by the Ministry of Finance on May 19, imports of fish and shellfish (excluding non-edible marine products) increased for the first time in three months. The value increased significantly due to the rise in procurement costs. Imports from Russia continue to be high, more than double last year, reported Suisan Keizai.

The April import results were 178,282 tons and 180,901 million yen ($1,423.05 million), an increase of 2.8% in quantity and 35.8%...

Over 23 Seasonal Grid Closures In Place With 73% of Gulf Snow Crab Landed

A little more than a month remains until the end of the snow crab season in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. According to preliminary data released by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), 73.04% of the quota in the Gulf has been landed. But with North Atlantic right whales in the area, the DFO has started closing grids from the season.

The DFO posted the latest closure on Tuesday, announcing 10 full grid seasonal closures and seasonal closures for a portion of two grids...

Latest AgriBriefing Webinar: Many Markets Nervous as No End in Sight for Rising Raw Materials Prices

Russia’s war against Ukraine and subsequent blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports by sea have sparked an unprecedented global food crisis. The disruption has been further exacerbated by hot weather and droughts that have hurt crops in other parts of the world, sending prices of some grains to record highs and threatening food security in parts of the developing world too.  

And if we factor in challenging growing seasons for crops, lockdowns in major Chinese cities, bird flu in the US, and other pressure points for import, export, and production, the concerns over agricultural markets and global demand are unlikely to relent.   

Experts from AgriBriefing's brands –  Stratégie Grains, Feedinfo, and Urner Barry – came together in a live webinar entitled ‘Rising Raw Materials Prices: Why? How? What’s Next?’ on 24 May to provide their latest overviews of...