Tag: seafood

OBI Shutters Alitak, Kodiak Island Plant
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OBI Shutters Alitak, Kodiak Island Plant

Salmon harvesters at Alitak, located in Lazy Bay on the southern tip of Alaska’s Kodiak Island, are reeling after an announcement from OBI Seafoods that its Alitak facilities would not be buying fish from setnetters or even providing normal services for setnetters during the 2024 season. The operational costs have become uneconomical due to lower harvests, high tender costs and the cost of providing ice and other services, OBI COO Brian O’Leary announced March 11. OBI would be open to purchasing Alitak setnet fish only if the fish are taken to Kodiak, O’Leary said. Maintenance and retail services at the former Lazy Bay cannery at are being halted, the company stated, adding that OBI’s Alitak facility will also not be open for services including ice, laundry, boat labor, garbag...
Trident Seafoods Nearing Sales of Alaska Shoreside Plants
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Trident Seafoods Nearing Sales of Alaska Shoreside Plants

Trident Seafoods officials said March 8 that they’re in the final stages of closing deals on the sales of Alaska shoreside plants in Petersburg, Ketchikan and False Pass, with multiple parties interested in a fourth plant. Trident announced in December that it was seeking buyers for all four plants as part of a strategic restructuring initiative. Trident CEO Joe Bundrant said that his company has been intentional about finding buyers “who will take great care of the fleet and employees and who will integrate themselves into the communities.” As of March 13, the potential buyers for the plants have not been publicly identified. Trident Senior Vice President of Alaska Operations Jeff Welbourn acknowledged that it has been an unsettling time, but said Trident is moving as quic...
OBI, Peter Pan Seafoods Score Winning Bids for USDA Salmon Solicitation
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OBI, Peter Pan Seafoods Score Winning Bids for USDA Salmon Solicitation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated OBI Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafood Co. as the awardees of contracts for thousands of cans of wild Alaska pink salmon to be delivered to needy recipients nationwide. A March 6 USDA announcement said that the contracts include 713 truckloads of 14.75 -ounce canned pink salmon valued at $53,882,923 from OBI Seafoods and 242 truckloads of 14.75-ounce canned pink salmon valued at $17,240,660 from Peter Pan Seafood. The food is set to be delivered from May 16, 2024 through Feb. 28, 2025. The purchases were made under Section 32 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935, which authorizes USDA to support prices of commodities in surplus by purchasing them in the marketplace, and also authorizes USDA to distribute commodities domes...
Trident Investigates Reports of Human Rights Abuses by Chinese Supplier
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Trident Investigates Reports of Human Rights Abuses by Chinese Supplier

Trident Seafoods CEO Joe Bundrant says his company has suspended trade with a supplier in China after reports of human rights abuses there and has initiated its own independent inquiry regarding issues reported by an independent investigator. While its investigation is ongoing, Trident is cooperating with the Outlaw Ocean Project (OOP), based in Washington D.C., which advocates for a transparent and healthy seafood supply chain, Bundrant wrote in a statement posted on Trident’s website. Trident Seafoods, Canada’s High Liner Foods and Houston-based Sysco are among several U.S. seafood firms that have suspended ties with Chinese processors identified in the latest OOP report documenting their use of North Korean labor, in violation of United Nations sanctions and U.S. law, the onli...
Seafood Nutrition Partnership Introduces New Program to Drive Sales, Consumption
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Seafood Nutrition Partnership Introduces New Program to Drive Sales, Consumption

The Seafood Nutrition Partnership (SNP) is partnering with Pacific Seafood, Sitka Seafood Market, FultonFishMarket.com and farmed salmon seafood provider Bakkafrost on a new program to encourage consumers to shop directly with participating companies’ online stores. The stated goal of the campaign, which was announced Feb. 14, is to help consumers eat seafood at least twice a week for improved health and to bring awareness to online seafood companies. According to SNP founder and president Linda Cornish, 90% of Americans are not meeting dietary guideline recommendations to eat seafood at least twice a week and missing out on important health benefits. “We recommend buying from their favorite retailers and restaurants and now we can share a list of companies that ship seafood dire...
Wild Alaska Pollock Options Added to Another Major Sports Arena’s Menu
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Wild Alaska Pollock Options Added to Another Major Sports Arena’s Menu

Wild Alaska pollock dishes are now menu options of a second major sports venue, New York’s UBS Arena, home of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, in a partnership negotiated by the Association of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP). The deal was announced on Feb. 14 by GAPP CEO Craig Morris, who said there’s a massive opportunity for seafood at sports and events venues, something GAPP has been invested in capitalizing on. “The Wild Alaska Pollock menu items at Climate Pledge Arena’s Fork & Fin marketplace (in Seattle) have been incredibly successful, and we have no doubt that wild Alaska pollock will perform just as well in New York at UBS Arena,” Morris said. The partnership, funded by GAPP and Trident Seafoods, is expected to continue for the next severa...
Alaska Seafood Processors Still Cutting Back, Despite Government Buys of Canned Salmon
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Alaska Seafood Processors Still Cutting Back, Despite Government Buys of Canned Salmon

Federal government solicitations for canned salmon bids are boosting spirits a bit in Alaska’s commercial fisheries industry, but the overall gloom that has driven the selloff of some processing facilities and announce cutbacks on 2024 fishing season processing prevails. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture purchased over $200 million in Alaska seafood and the current solicitation for canned pink and sockeye salmon helps clean up inventory of the sockeyes, Bruce Schactler, food aid program and development director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, said Feb. 19. “It will pretty much put a big dent in inventory,” he remarked. Meanwhile three major processors – Trident Seafoods, OBI Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods – had announced plans for selling off some faci...
OBI Halts 2024 Salmon Processing at Larsen Bay Plant
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OBI Halts 2024 Salmon Processing at Larsen Bay Plant

OBI Seafoods has canceled plans to operate its plant at Larsen Bay on Kodiak Island for the 2024 salmon season, citing a poor pink salmon forecast from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, plus tough global market conditions for salmon products in general. That decision, announced Jan. 31 by OBI CEO John Hanrahan, marked yet another decision by major processors of wild Alaska seafood to deal with challenging economic conditions in global seafood markets. Salmon caught on Kodiak Island by the OBI Seafoods fleet will be processed at its facility in the town of Kodiak. Hanrahan said that capacity should not be an issue, with OBI’s Seward and Cordova facilities able to support Kodiak during the peak of the season in August. “The Kodiak town plant operates year-round and has the...
Chefs Urge Greater Transparency, Traceability in Seafood Industry
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Chefs Urge Greater Transparency, Traceability in Seafood Industry

Pressure from the marine environmental community for greater transparency and traceability in the seafood industry is increasing, with a letter to President Joe Biden urging the federal government to expand the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). The current program, requiring catch documentation and traceability for some seafood species at risk of illegal fishing, applies to 13 species and species groups, covering less than half of all U.S. seafood imports. The letter, signed by more than 100 chefs nationwide, urges Biden to expand SIMP to include all species of seafood, requiring importers to report additional catch data, and to include labor conditions in reporting requirements. This program would prevent a “bait and switch” in seafood supply chains, they said, as wel...
Massive Fire Hits Ilwaco, Wash. Seafood Processing Facility
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Massive Fire Hits Ilwaco, Wash. Seafood Processing Facility

A massive fire that began on Jan 22. at the Ilwaco Landing seafood processing facility, a hub for Dungeness crab harvests, is under investigation, meanwhile leaving Safe Coast Seafoods as the lone fish-receiving facility in Ilwaco, a small Washington town near the Oregon border. The devastation from the fire leaves a lot on the line for the Dungeness crab fishery, which according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was worth some $64.6 million in 2022. Still, the Seattle Times reported, even as smoke rose from remnants of the fire, the community was coming together to help. Fire officials said in a news release that due to the remote location of the fire, a limited water supply hampered effort to fight the blaze. “The situation was further complicated by the pres...