Tag: seafood

Trident Declines to Open St. Paul, Alaska Snow Crab Processing Facility
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Trident Declines to Open St. Paul, Alaska Snow Crab Processing Facility

A decision by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to reopen the snow crab fishery this year could have offered some economic relief to the Pribilof Island city of St. Paul, with a population of some 300 people, but now Trident Seafoods says its plant there won't reopen for economic reasons. Trident in mid-October confirmed plans to work with stakeholders and the community of St. Paul, after telling the North Pacific Fishery Management Council during its October meeting in Anchorage that there were many reasons for its decision to keep the plant closed. Unalaska public radio station KUCB noted that Shannon Carroll, Trident's director of public affairs and fisheries development, told the council that the low total allowable catch (TAC) set by ADF&G would mean a significant l...
NOAA Fisheries’ 5-Year Plan Focuses on Boosting Seafood Economy
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NOAA Fisheries’ 5-Year Plan Focuses on Boosting Seafood Economy

NOAA Fisheries’ National Seafood Strategy Implementation Plan, announced in early September, outlines the agency’s focus on boosting the domestic seafood economy and enhance the resilience of the seafood sector in the face of climate change over the next five years. NOAA Fisheries officials acknowledged that while the domestic seafood industry enhances public health and nutrition, creates jobs, and helps build a climate resilient food strategy that’s facing many challenges, including putting the domestic supply of sustainable seafood at risk. “The Implementation Plan is where the rubber meets the road,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said. “It outlines the specific actions to achieve the goals we laid out in the strategy to support our nation’s seafood sector a...
ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy
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ADF&G Commissioner Says Fisheries Overall Remain Healthy

Challenges of climate change, market conditions and politics aside, Alaska's fisheries resources remain overall healthy, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told a legislative task force seeking to evaluate the state's seafood industry. “Yes, we have some poorly performing stocks, for example king salmon and Bering Sea crab, but overall, our fishery resources remain healthy,”  Vincent-Lang told the joint legislative task force meeting in Juneau on Sept. 19. The commissioner recounted the status of the state's commercial fisheries, from groundfish and halibut to salmon, including the impact of changing climate, the markets and political issues for each, as well as related litigation, particularly in the case of a lawsuit aimed at shutting down the Sou...
Former Microsoft Executive Named COO of Trident Seafoods
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Former Microsoft Executive Named COO of Trident Seafoods

Former Microsoft executive Mike Quinn, a member of Trident Seafoods’ board of directors, has been appointed as the company’s new chief operating officer, effective Oct. 1, the company announced Sept. 5. Trident also announced the appointments of Jeff Welbourn as president of Trident USA, and Kenji Nasu as president of Trident Alaska. The addition of Quinn as COO and the appointment of Welbourn and Nasu to new leadership roles within the company are the next steps in Trident’s long-term vision to modernize operations and refocus its global commercial strategy, according to Trident CEO Joe Bundrant. “These are the right leaders and the right changes that will position Trident for future growth, enabling us to continue our mission of responsibly sharing wild Alaska Seafood with t...
ASMI Report Indicates Increasing Interest in Seafood Consumption
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ASMI Report Indicates Increasing Interest in Seafood Consumption

A new domestic marketing report featuring food industry research by industry insights provider Technomic indicates increasing interest in seafood consumption by consumers dining out. The report, released Aug. 30 by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, states that according to Technomic, Alaska is the most appealing source for seafood at foodservice and is widely preferred over any other seafood. Technomic, with offices globally, has for the past five decades provided foodservice clients around the world with research and strategic consulting support used to enhance their business strategies and decisions. The online 2024 study drew from 1,000 nationally representative consumers, all of whom were required to eat at foodservice facilities at least once a week and eat fish or ...
Port Moller Harvesters Sign on to Deliver Sockeyes to Silver Bay Seafoods
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Port Moller Harvesters Sign on to Deliver Sockeyes to Silver Bay Seafoods

Commercial fishermen on the North Alaska Peninsula have signed on to deliver to Silver Bay Seafoods, and spokesperson Bob Murphy says they’re optimistic about the future. In an exclusive interview with Fishermen’s News on Aug. 12, Murphy said that they’re looking at Silver Bay as the future owner of the Port Moller seafood processing facility, but are still very concerned about an upcoming Peter Pan Seafood receivership hearing later this week, should another firm submit the winning bid on the plant. Murphy said that Silver Bay stepped up quickly after Peter Pan Seafoods and Trident Seafoods announced closure plans, bringing in more tenders, travel lifts, mechanics and welders, plus a store with an abundance of groceries and boat supplies. “It was a big help,” he said. Beyond ...
$22M in USDA Seafood Purchases Win Kudos From Seafood Processors
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$22M in USDA Seafood Purchases Win Kudos From Seafood Processors

Officials with the West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA) say recent U.S. Department of Agriculture purchases of $22 million in Pacific rockfish fillets and Pacific hake fillets are helping mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Continuing this partnership in 2024 will maintain this trend,” WCSPA Executive Director Lori Steele said in a July 16 statement. The purchase benefits the USDA, the domestic seafood industry and the public, she said. What with the current global and domestic seafood markets in disarray, the USDA's commitment to purchasing rockfish and whiting from the West Coast will help keep fishermen on the water, allow processors to retain employees and communities to thrive, Midwater Trawlers Cooperative Executive Director Heather Mann sai...
Blocking Seafood Imports Produced By Forced Labor Gets Prioritized
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Blocking Seafood Imports Produced By Forced Labor Gets Prioritized

Homeland Security officials have declared efforts to block seafood produced by forced labor overseas from entering the United States a top priority, in part by requiring better documentation from seafood supply chains. The July 9 announcement from the Department of Homeland Security added seafood to its list of high-priority sectors in the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). That legislation directs the agency's Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force to block import into the United States from Chinese forced labor in the Republic of China, especially from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, or Xinjiang. The statement came amid extensive reports of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labor by Chinese-flagged vessels and in Chinese-based seafood pro...
Salmon Harvest Opens from Bristol Bay to Kodiak and Beyond
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Salmon Harvest Opens from Bristol Bay to Kodiak and Beyond

Harvesters in the Copper River, Bristol Bay, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak and the Alaska Peninsula are all competing now, as the Alaska commercial salmon fisheries open in full for the 2024 season with 3.7 million fish already delivered to processors. As of June 24, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimated the catch at 2.6 million sockeyes, 1.2 million chums, 240,000 pink and 36,000 Chinook salmon. In the central region of Alaska alone, Fish & Game estimated the total catch at 1.8 million fish, including 1.2 million sockeyes, 549,000 chums, 6,000 Chinook and 1,000 pink salmon, most of it from Prince William Sound. In Bristol Bay, where a huge surge of the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery normally returns during the week of July 1, over 181,000 red salmon were already ...
2 Seafood Companies Fined By Oregon Environmental Quality Agency
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2 Seafood Companies Fined By Oregon Environmental Quality Agency

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said July 1 that it has issued wastewater penalties of $150,000 to Da Yang Seafoods and $22,800 to Astoria Pacific Seafoods, both headquartered in Astoria, and both for wastewater issues. According to DEQ, the penalties were issued to a total of 12 companies, including municipal facilities, for everything from failure to submit complete greenhouse gas emissions data reports to discharging of wastewater to the Columbia River without a permit. Each company must either pay the fines to the state treasury or file an appeal within 20 days of receiving notice of the penalty. State officials said they may be able to offset a portion of the penalty by funding a supplemental environmental project that improves Oregon's environment. P...