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London’s Thames clean enough for salmon
Salmon have been introduced to the River Thames after experts declared the water clean enough for the fish to breed - after almost 200 years.
The young salmon were released into the Thames tributary, Lambourne river, at Welford, near Newbury, Berks. Thames salmon died out in the 1830s, with salmon from other sources, which do not breed there, present from 1974, the Environment Agency (EA) said. It is hoped a salmon population will be back in the River Thames in 5-10 years. An EA spokesperson said the new salmon should stay in the river for a year before heading downstream through London, and up to Greenland before coming back to breed. Darryl Cilfton-Dey, of the Environment Agency, told BBC news: "People do fish for salmon on the Thames but the population is so small at the moment that there's not a great deal of chance of catching one. "Hopefully if these come back, and if they breed and if the young from those come back, then in a few year's time there'll be quite a few salmon around." Salmon eggs, about 5,000, were incubated and 2cm (0.8in) long baby salmon introduced to the river. – BBC Crab boats caught in ice off St. Paul Island ANCHORAGE -- Three Bering Sea crab boats and two ships were stuck in sea ice late Wednesday, and nervous crews were hoping the wind and tide would soon shift the ice pack and free the vessels.'It's an uncomfortable feeling,' said Ian Pitzman, captain of the Jennifer A, one of the three crab boats hung in the ice near the village port of St. Paul, on St. Paul Island. Speaking from the boat via satellite telephone, Pitzman said the problem began when drifting ice began closing in on St. Paul. His boat and others headed for open water, hoping to escape. Some boats made it out but others bogged down and got stuck in the ice about a mile offshore, unable to move, he said. There was no real crisis Wednesday night, Pitzman said. But the vessels do face some measure of danger, depending on how the ice moves. 'The ice can grind you into the beach,' he said. One of the greatest dramas in the harrowing history of Bering Sea crab fishing happened just a mile or so from the Jennifer A's position, when the crab boat Alaskan Monarch got hung in the ice in March 1990. The ice damaged the boat's rudder and a storm drove the boat against the rocky beach. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter lifted the crewmen to safety, including two who were swept overboard by crashing waves. A famous video of that rescue has been widely viewed in the crab fleet, and Pitzman's wife, Stephanie Pitzman, of Homer, has seen it too. So she was a little concerned to receive word Wednesday that her husband was aboard an icebound boat at St. Paul, where the Jennifer A had delivered its last load of snow crab for the season and was just trying to head for Homer. Stephanie Pitzman said someone from the Discovery Channel, which is filming a new season of its highly rated crab-fishing cable series Deadliest Catch, called to see if she knew how to reach the Jennifer A. The caller wanted to make sure the crew was shooting footage of the ice using the camera the Discovery Channel had provided the crew for the season. 'I couldn't believe it,' she said. 'I was like, uh, excuse me? I hadn't heard anything about the ice. I got on the radio right quick to find out what was going on, and all was well -- but they're trapped.' The Pitzmans have five kids, ages 11, 9, 7, 5 and 2. Ian Pitzman said boats getting hung in the ice outside St. Paul harbor, which often ices up in winter, is hardly unprecedented. However, the veteran skipper said it had never happened to him before. Aside from the 103-foot Jennifer A, two other crab boats, the Tempo Sea and the Nordic Viking, also were hung in the ice. Another crabber, the Time Bandit, had left St. Paul only about half an hour earlier, and it managed to get through the ice and reach open water, Pitzman said. He said the ice was a foot to 18 inches thick, but floes were stacked up, making the ice much thicker in places. The Jennifer A has a four-man crew, plus a state observer who rides aboard the boat to document the catch, Pitzman said. Two ships, the 356-foot crab processor Independence and a freighter called the Eastern Wind, also are hung in the ice, Pitzman said. The crab boats deliver their catches to the Independence for processing. The ship is owned by Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp. and can carry a crew of 235, although it wasn't known Wednesday how many people were aboard. A spokesman with the Coast Guard in Juneau said Wednesday the Guard hadn't received any calls for help from St. Paul. That's because there's not really a crisis at the moment, said Pitzman, speaking from the Jennifer A. 'It's quite likely to resolve itself tonight uneventfully,' he said. - Pacific Fishing columnist Wesley Loy, writing in the Anchorage Daily News Mexican wild shrimp season called ‘historic’ The current Mexican shrimp seaons has been historic. 27,934 metric tons of wild shrimp have been caught this current season.Acccording to the chief for the Fishing Unit of Sagarpa, Guillermo Zazueta Russell, these figures represent a net increase of 51.4% in comparison to last year's season. He added that this season's production has surpassed the highest production season recorded in 1997-1998. Out of the total metric tons registered, 19,169 tons correspond to off-shore landings mainly by large vessels; this represents a 61% increase in landings compared to last year. On the other hand, the remaining 8,765 tons correspond to landings in on bays and estuaries and mainly by smaller boats. The National Fishing Commision, has established March 31 as the closing date of the season. This includes the California Gulf, lagoons and estuaries, bays in the states of Southern Baja California, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Nayarit. - noroeste.com Shark, once thought extinct, found A rare and endangered shark, not reported for more than a century, is among marine creatures that have been discovered by University Malaysia Sabah researchers.UMS vice-chancellor Datuk Dr Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin said that apart from the Borneo shark, scientifically known Carcharhinus borneensis, the university’s researchers have also discovered a new species of crab and ray fish. The university’s Borneo Marine Research Institute director Saleem Mustafa said the discoveries reflected the diversity of marine life in the waters around the world’s third largest island. Dutch scientist Pieter Bleeker first recorded the Borneo shark in the Sabah east coast district of Sandakan in 1859. There had not been any further record of it until a recent survey of fishery resources along the coastal areas of Sabah and Sarawak, Saleem said. The Borneo shark, brown on the top half of the body and white on the belly half, is said to reach lengths of up to 2m. It is also said to be a rare viviparous species, which gives birth to living offspring. On the new crab species, Dr Saleem said UMS researchers found it at a swamp in Likas barely 2km from the city centre in 2005. Mackerel catch to be limited HATTERAS -- A meeting of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) did nothing to dispel concern that the door to another fishery could close on North Carolina commercial fishermen.The SAFMC has proposed a reduction in the coastwide total allowable catches for king and Spanish mackerel under Amendment 18 to the Coastal Migratory Pelagics Fishery Management Plan. Under the council's preferred action, the total allowable catch for king mackerel would drop from 10 million to 7.1 million pounds. The total allowable catch for Spanish mackerel would drop from 7.04 to 6.7 million pounds. The limits include both a commercial fishing quota and a recreational fishing allocation. Gregg Waugh, SAFMC executive director, said that although neither species is over-fished, the reductions are based on stock assessments warning that over-fishing might occur. He said the council is also concerned that new, lower quotas for snapper-grouper species and resulting closures of those fisheries could result in more fishing pressure on king mackerel stocks. – Outer Banks Sentinel Blue Crab Harvest may Decline this Year ANNAPOLIS - Chesapeake Bay's underwater grasses are in decline, and scientists are worried about the fate of the blue crab this year.Bill Goldsborough, director of the fisheries program at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said there may be a "significant decrease" in the overall catch this year as a result of a 25% drop in bay grasses, or submerged aquatic vegetation, over the past year. Juvenile and soft crabs use the grasses to hide from predators like rockfish and sandbar sharks. Without the vegetation, the juvenile crabs could be eaten before they are able to grow up, according to Goldsborough. The bay grasses decrease in 2006 was due to a dry spring followed by a heavy rainfall in June, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Chesapeake Bay Program. But the Department of Natural Resources says there are too many components that affect blue crab populations and does not plan to change any of the crabbing regulations for this season which opens April 1. There have been instances in the past where bay grasses have declined but crab populations have remained stable. Although the grasses provide the best hiding place for the crustacean, submerged logs and muddy spots on the bottom also provide sufficient cover. - Capital News Service Tuna Ranches Boom off Mexico RANCHO SANTA FE, CA -- Pacific bluefin tuna leave Japan's coast and swim east at breakneck speed to school in North American coastal waters. Many return on nonstop flights from Los Angeles as slabs of fresh toro, the “foie gras of the sea,” fattened, refrigerated and ready for the sashimi knives.The transformation happens in underwater pens that are 150 feet wide and 45 feet deep, where wild-caught bluefin are fattened on fresh sardines to develop the buttery texture prized in Japan. Bluefin “ranches” have popped up in waters from Spain to Australia. In the last decade, Mexico's Baja California and Southern California have emerged as a chief source to the Japanese market. Bluefin, or toro, is richer than the yellowfin, or ahi, tuna typically scarfed in American sushi bars. Top-grade cultivated bluefin regularly fetches more than $10 a pound for wholesale buyers at Tokyo's famed Tsukiji fish market. One wild specimen once fetched $395 a pound. Pacific bluefin spawn in Japan's warm coastal waters and journey east a few years later, arriving off Big Sur and running 1,500 miles south to the tip of Baja California. The fish are caught several hundred miles offshore and then towed to pens around the Coronado Islands in Mexican waters near San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. Wholesale buyers in Japan, who get the bluefin as little as 72 hours after it's pulled from the sea, call the Mexican shipments “laxfish” after the initials “LAX” stamped on the manifests from Los Angeles International Airport. The Mexican tuna ranches have an excellent reputation in Japan. – Associated Press McCormick & Schmick complete purchase PORTLAND, Ore. – McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants, Inc. has completed its acquisition of The Boathouse restaurants from the Spectra Group of Great Restaurants Inc.The acquisition includes five operating restaurants and one restaurant under construction, all of which are on prime waterfront locations in the greater Vancouver, B.C., area. – Press release Alaska Science Improves Chinook Catch AUKE BAY, Alaska – Fisheries scientists at Little Port Walter Marine Station in Southeast Alaska are discovering ways to enhance salmon populations without harming wild stocks, adding salmon to local catches.Commercial and sport fishery catches in 2006 in Southeast Alaska included 3,600 Chinook salmon that originated from NOAA Fisheries research at Little Port Walter, according to tags returned to scientists by both sport and commercial fishermen. "Research projects at Little Port Walter are having significant positive impacts on Chinook salmon fisheries in Southeast Alaska," said Bill Heard, who leads the Marine Salmon Interactions studies at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Auke Bay Laboratory in Juneau. Each year tagged juvenile Chinook salmon from various studies are released at Little Port Walter. They spend from two to five years in the ocean before maturing and returning to the station. "While some of these fish are caught in fisheries every year, 2006 was an exceptional year with much larger than normal contributions to regional fisheries," said Heard. NOAA scientists are now analyzing tags from released groups to determine overall marine survival rates. – NOAA Fisheries in Alaska Jumbo Squid Invade West Coast Flotillas of jumbo squid are invading the length of the eastern Pacific Ocean, and scientists warn the voracious predators may be upsetting ocean ecosystems and threatening fisheries.At their largest, jumbo, or Humboldt, squid (Dosidicus gigas) can extend to six feet (two meters) in length and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) each. The squid have earned the nickname "red devils" for their powerful arms and tentacles, razor-sharp beaks, and insatiable appetites. The animals were already known to exist in large concentrations in Mexico's Sea of Cortez, or Gulf of California. Scientists estimate that more than 10 million squid may be living in a 25-square-mile area near the town of Santa Rosalia. But now the squid also seem to have entrenched themselves in the waters along California's coast. And, perhaps most significantly, the squid's range has expanded northward and southward to places they haven't ever been seen before—Alaska and southern Chile. The reason for their expansion is unknown. The squid play significant role in the ocean's ecosystems, moving in schools of more than a thousand and consuming vast quantities of fish. At the same time, the squid serve as prey for sperm whales, mako sharks, and other top predators. In Chile the squid invasion has led to a decrease in the population of commercially valuable hake fish. That worries California fishers, who fear the squid invasion may soon cut into the area's fish stocks. The squid invasion has been a boon to some recreational-fishing businesses, which take clients out for squid fishing in the winter, when there's not much else to reel in. – National Geographic News Kazakhstan to Monopolize Caviar Trade ALMATY -- The fishing, processing and sales of sturgeons should be monopolized by the state in order to rehabilitate the fishing industry, Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Masimov said at the government's meeting on Tuesday.He said that President Nursultan Nazarbaev, when on visit in Atyrau region last year, gave an instruction to introduce state monopoly over these types of activities. Masimov instructed the Ministry of Agriculture to develop recommendations for a new sturgeon reproduction plant with a capacity of up to 20 million younger fishes a year. According to Premier, the two existing sturgeon plants located in the Atyrau region cannot reach the design capacity of 3 million young sturgeons a year due to lack of finances. There is only one company in Kazakhstan - JSC AtyrauBalyk - which holds the right to produce sturgeon caviar. - Interfax News Agency What’s Wild? In 2005, the New York Times sent a reporter to buy salmon advertised as "wild" at eight stores in the city.The Times then had the salmon tested and learned that six of the eight pieces of fish, some of which sold for as much as $29 per pound, were farmed, not wild. For Consumer Reports' August 2006 issue, the magazine's representatives did the same thing the Times reporter did, but in this case bought fish from markets in several states, at different times of year. Of the 27 pieces of salmon bought in the summer - the height of salmon season - all were correctly labeled. But of the 17 pieces of fish bought in November and December (after the season ends), seven turned out to be farmed. Once you've eaten wild salmon, you may be able to recognize the taste - it's stronger than farmed salmon; the flesh is firmer, too. I recommend eating wild Alaskan salmon because it is delicious and a good source of health-protective omega-3 fatty acids. I also have concerns about potential contaminants in farm-raised salmon, although I recognize that this is a complex issue. If wild salmon isn't readily available where you live, you can order it online from one of my favorite sources, Vital Choice Seafood. If wild Alaskan salmon is too pricey for your food budget, you can buy canned sockeye (red) salmon in the supermarket; it's all wild (sockeye can not be farmed) and will give you the same omega-3 fatty acids found in fresh or frozen Alaskan wild salmon. You can also get the same fatty acids from other cold-water fish, including, mackerel, sardines, herring, and black cod. Weil is a pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. He is a professor of medicine and heads the program in integrative medicine at the University of Arizona. Weil also is a monthly columnist for Prevention magazine and editor of Self Healing Newsletter. – Arizona Republic Editorial: Don’t Dig at Pebble Mine In Alaska, the world's most valuable wild salmon run is threatened by a plan to dig North America's largest open-pit gold and copper mine.Northern Dynasty Minerals' Pebble project has supporters in Alaska, while opponents have introduced bills in the state Legislature to block the plan and protect the headwaters of Bristol Bay. More than any local action, however, conscientious enforcement of the US Clean Water Act by federal officials should deal the Pebble project the crippling blow it deserves. Under President Bush, enforcement of the nation's environmental laws cannot be taken for granted. It took the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to conclude recently in a preliminary ruling that the Army Corps of Engineers had been wrong to grant permission for a much smaller Alaska gold mine to dump its tailings waste into a lake. A spokesman for Northern Dynasty said the company was not certain how the court action would affect its plan for a dam-enclosed holding area that fishermen say would destroy fish spawning waters. One of the earthen dams that could be used to hold back the tailings would be 4.3 miles long and more than 700 feet high, just slightly shorter than Boston's Hancock Tower. The dam would be larger than the Three Gorges Dam in China. Fishermen fear the effect the project would have on the region's carefully managed salmon and trout fisheries. Copper released into the environment, the fishermen know, interferes with the ability of the salmon to return to the stream in which it was born. Bristol Bay produces 30% of all Alaskan wild salmon, with a value of $216 million in 2006. Pebble's reserves of gold, copper, and molybdenum, a metal used in strengthening steel, have an estimated value of $300 billion. Federal officials should take their cue from the Court of Appeals and make the Clean Water Act a bulwark against the Pebble project. – Boston Globe Gulf of Maine Foresees Aquaculture Fight DURHAM, N.H. - With the feds pushing the development of offshore fish farms, the Gulf of Maine is debating whether farming in deep ocean waters is environmentally safe and economically viable.Fishermen worry that large-scale aquaculture of groundfish species could depress the prices of wild fish. Conservation groups, who view near-shore aquaculture as an environmental threat, see many of the same problems with offshore sites, such as concentration of fish waste in one area. Environmentalists argue that large amounts of wild forage fish that must be fed to the penned fish removes food that supports wild species such as tuna and whales. At a time when many wild fisheries are in trouble and demand for fish is increasing, the aquaculture industry can meet that demand in a way that doesn't hurt the environment or wild fish stocks, proponents argue. The open ocean is a more stable environment for fish, because its temperatures and salinity are more constant. In federal waters, three to 200 nautical miles offshore, farms are not allowed because there is no established regulatory framework. On March 12, the Bush Admin submitted a bill to Congress that would let the Commerce Department issue 20-year permits to companies that raise fish in deep ocean waters. In Maine, fish farmers harvested 11.6 million pounds of salmon valued at $23.2 million in 2005, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Marine Resources. The explosive growth of farmed-rasied shrimp and salmon has meant lower prices for consumers, but it has driven down prices of wild Maine shrimp and most species of wild salmon caught by Alaskan fishermen. Many Maine fishermen worry the same thing would happen with farmed-raised groundfish. - Portland Press Herald Shark Decline Changes Everything WASHINGTON - A sharp decline in the number of big sharks along the Eastern seaboard has prompted a boom in other marine species that is devastating valuable commercial fisheries, according to researchers in the journal Science.The study by Canadian and American scientists found that intense fishing of sharks in the northwest Atlantic in the past 35 years has produced unexpected effects. With fewer large predators in the sea, the number of rays, skates and small shark species has exploded, and these species are decimating shellfish populations such as North Carolina bay scallops and Chesapeake Bay's American oysters. Up to 73 million sharks are killed each year to supply fins for shark-fin soup, a Chinese delicacy. Charles Peterson, a professor of marine sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said that from 1970 - 2005, scalloped hammerhead and tiger sharks may have declined by more than 97% along the East Coast, and bull, dusky and smooth hammerhead sharks have dropped by more than 99%. The population of cownose rays has risen to as much as 40 million, and Peterson said scientists are worrying that the rays will now target other species in addition to bay scallops, oysters and soft-shell and hard clams. Three marine biologists at Canada's Dalhousie University—Ransom Myers, Julia Baum and Travis Shepherd—used data from commercial fisheries and surveys to document sharp drops in 11 species of sharks in the northwest Atlantic since the mid-80s. “ If the world doesn't get serious about shark conservation right now, we really risk losing a lot of these species." – Washington Post Mighty Pricy Seafood BEIJING – A Chinese restaurant has paid $75,000 for a giant golden-colored tiger fish, a symbol of wealth and good fortune, state media said. The fish was caught on Sunday off the coast of Zhanjiang, the China News Service said.“The restaurant agreed to display the fish... It is about 1.75m long and its scales shine like gold,” it said. The restaurant paid 580,000 yuan ($75,050), bargaining down the market price of $103,500, still three times the amount paid for a tiger fish the same weight three years ago. The fish, named “golden cash tiger fish” in Chinese, would be sold to diners at about 2,000 yuan per kg—a huge loss, considering it cost 12,000 yuan per kg. – Reuters Lobster Shortage Pinches Sellers SALEM, MA –The lobster industry is in the midst of a supply crisis that is driving prices to record highs.Boats are selling their catches for around $10 a pound - up from about $7.50 in just a couple of weeks - and retail prices are upward of $14 a pound. Retailers have been caught off guard. "We have never seen prices this high before in our 26-year existence," said Mike Tourkistas, president of Lynn-based East Coast Seafoods, the country's largest lobster wholesaler. Fortunately, the experts say prices should drop soon. Once waters warm up a bit and some key Canadian lobster fishing grounds reopen later this month, the increased supply will drive prices down again. It was surprise midwinter demand, lobster "pound" owners' skittishness and late winter cold and storminess contributed to the shortage. "The lobster market is all in Mother Nature's hands right now," said Vince Mortillaro, owner of Mortillaro Lobster in Gloucester. "The water has to warm up. Several Canadian lobster fishing areas will also open in mid-April and add to the supply. Once there's a little sign of lobsters, the boat price will plummet $3 to $4 a pound overnight." – Salem News Gulf Fishermen Learn Restraint GALVESTON – Fishing quotas, which have outraged anglers and charter boat operators, restore fishing stocks and offer economic benefits, according to a study released Wednesday by environmental advocacy group Environmental Defense.New rules can help rebuild depleted fish stocks in overfished areas, the study stated. Only 3% of red snapper stock remains in the Gulf, Environmental Defense says. Under new regulations, commercial fishermen are allowed to bag snapper 13 inches or larger. This spring, all commercial boats must be outfitted with satellite monitoring devices to track areas fished and to check catches. Bag limits for recreational fishermen have been reduced from four snapper to two of at least 16 inches. Catch share programs eliminate “derby fishing” and bycatch, the study states. Local recreational fisherman questioned ED’s study and new snapper rules. “Yeah, the snapper fishery is hurting, but not because of shrimp or bycatch. It’s because of rules by the national fisheries. They’ve been a total failure,” said Charles Everts, mayor of Tiki Island and a red snapper fisherman for nearly 50 years. He said law enforcement is lacking at the docks, and commercial fishermen often go unchecked, he said. Sam Rauch, deputy director of National Marine Fisheries Service, said commercial vessels go through a strict monitoring process and have to report their catch each time. One fisherman suggested that, instead of implementing quotas, the national fisheries service should increase water enforcement and build up artificial reefs. Environmental Defense regional director Pamela Baker argued that there is no scientific evidence that artificial reefs bolster fish stocks and quotas are key to preventing overfishing. - Galveston County Daily News Big Layoff at Tampa Seafood Company TAMPA – Singleton Seafood plans to lay off 350 employees in May and permanently close its plant.The company filed a notice April 2 with the state regarding the layoffs. Dennis Reaves, Singleton's president, could not be reached. His letter to the state Agency for Workforce Innovation stated the Singleton plant is being shut down "for business reasons." The agency has initiated plans through Tampa Bay WorkForce Alliance to assist displaced workers. The Singleton plant in Tampa processes shrimp, specialty seafood and other fish products. ConAgra (NYSE: CAG) sold the Singleton Seafood and Meridian Seafood operations to privately held Singleton Fisheries Inc. last April. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. State records show Singleton Fisheries corporate office is based in Los Angeles. – Tampa Bay Business Journal Mexico Seizes Illegal Seafood Mexican authorities have seized more than 69 tons of illegal seafood in two operations recently, Mexico's Agriculture, Livestock and Fishing Ministry said Tuesday.The Ministry said this was one of the strongest actions against illegal fishing, which refers to seafood whose origin cannot be proven. The first operation was carried out Thursday and Friday in Mexico City's La Nueva Viga market, seizing more than 30 tons of illegal seafood. It included 2.264 tons of octopus, 7.723 tons of shrimp, 3 tons of shark meat, 3.345 tons of squid, 1.50 tons of oysters, 1.8 tons of clams and 10.629 tons of unidentified fish. The second police operation occurred on Sunday and Monday in a market in Zapopan, a town in the western state of Jalisco. Nearly 39 tons of illegal seafood was seized. - Xinhua Encore: A Look at the Best of Wild Catch A glimpse back to milestones for your wild catch supply: This story appeared earlier this year in Wild Catch. Sign up for your FREE subscription.Congress Gave Commercial Fisheries a New Future America’s wild fisheries are sailing into a new era with passage of a revamped Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The act, which Congress passed in one of its final votes of 2006, sets new standards for responsible fishing and sets the table for a possible expansion of tradable fishing rights that could steady supplies to the nation’s fish counters and improve quality. The bill won plaudits from nearly all quarters, including the seafood industry, commercial and recreational fishermen, and national environmental groups. President Bush signed the bill into law. It’s the first overhaul of Magnuson-Stevens since 1996. The act dates to 1976 and is the nation’s foremost law for governing ocean fisheries from three to 200 miles offshore. It’s named for Washington’s late senator, Warren Magnuson, and Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican who led the effort to renew the act along with his Democratic colleague, Daniel Inouye of Hawaii. The uneven health of some ocean fish stocks has been a hot topic in recent years, and Congress had input from two national panels, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Pew Oceans Commission. Some environmentalists called for nothing short of a revolution in fisheries management. The new Magnuson-Stevens Act stops well short of that. Indeed, it is most remarkable perhaps for what it doesn’t do — dismantle the nation’s 30-year-old system of eight regional fishery management councils, as some activists wanted. Fishery managers, however, will be obliged under the law to stop setting catch limits that exceed those recommended by their scientific advisers and that court a crash in fish stocks. That’s been a problem in some parts of the country, though not in Alaska, source of more than half the nation’s annual commercial catch of nearly 10 billion pounds of fish and shellfish. The bill also addresses a wide range of other topics, including some long-simmering regional issues. Here’s a sampler: FISHING RIGHTS: The bill establishes national guidelines for converting open fisheries to individual quotas (IFQs), now dubbed “limited access privileges.” The privileges are only for catching fish, not processing. This provision could usher in a new wave of so-called rationalized fisheries, even on the East Coast, where many fishermen distrust quotas and have relied instead on days at sea or other methods to control catch. Although the initial distribution of catch rights always sparks controversy, the benefits can be substantial. In Alaska’s IFQ halibut fishery, for example, fishermen have earned much higher dock prices and consumers are getting a steady stream of fresh halibut through most of the season, in contrast to the dangerous derby fisheries of the past when massive volumes of frozen fish were dumped onto the market in a period of days. EAST COAST FLUKE: In an exception to its mandate to rebuild weak stocks and halt overfishing within specific timeframes, the bill relaxes by three years, until 2013, the rebuilding schedule for summer flounder, or fluke. That’s a relief to commercial and recreational fishermen from Maine to North Carolina, who otherwise faced deeper quota cuts to help the popular fluke, which is already recovering. WEST COAST WHITING: The bill directs the Pacific Fishery Management Council to craft a plan for assigning catch privileges in the much-debated whiting fishery off Washington and Oregon and report to Congress in two years. INTERNATIONAL OUTLAWS: The bill gets tough on nations with vessels known to engage in “illegal, unreported, or unregulated” fishing, even authorizing denial of port privileges. Convenience Packaging Set to Grow Consumption US demand for packaging used for meat, poultry and seafood will exceed $8.1bn by 2011, partly driven by the trend towards convenience food, according to a report by the Freedonia Group.By 2011 packaging will be used to ship $165bn of meat, poultry and seafood, compared to $112bn a decade ago. Consumer trends towards healthier eating are expected to push packaging for poultry by 4.5% each year to $2.9bn by 2011, while during the same period seafood applications will also growth in demand by 4.5% a year, reaching $715m, the report claims. The lower cost of poultry compared with beef, combined with a predicted stream of higher-margin products designed for growing consumer demand for food packaged in smaller portions are expected to fuel growth. The increasing use of films for modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is also a factor. The perceived health benefits of fresh and frozen fish, along with revised nutritional recommendations issued by the government in 2005, will drive packaging demand in this area too, claims Freedonia. Packaging for meat is expected to grow at 3.9 per cent each year, reaching $4.9bn in 2011, claims the report. Concerns over fat and cholesterol will push consumers towards healthier options. The ongoing popularity of red meat in steakhouses and burger restaurants, along with the continued importance of chicken and processed meats in foodservice establishments, will also aid meat packaging demand, claims the analyst. – Food Navigator What’s in Store: Selling Wild Seafood Supermakets Lure Customers to SeafoodWhere you grew up and what you ate as a child may dictate what finfish or shellfish you’ll put on your table — and in your mouth — tonight. Grocery retailers keep all these factors in mind when devising strategies for marketing and merchandising seafood. “Seafood consumption is really dictated by an individual’s family history, where they were born, where they live now, and their economic status,” said Joseph Sabbagh, a consultant with Sax Maritime Associates, who has been working with Boulder, Colo.-based Wild Oats Natural Marketplace. For example, consumers east of the Mississippi are more willing to choose farmed Atlantic salmon because they’re familiar with product and price, he said. “However, in the Pacific Northwest, they’re going to want wild salmon all the time.” Wild Oats stocks its stores according to local tastes. New Englanders tend to choose traditional regional favorites such as cod, haddock, and flounder. To tempt shoppers beyond the tried and true, many retailers work hard to educate consumers about seafood. They distribute recipes and information about different species, both wild and farmed. They hold cooking classes and grilling demonstrations and give out samples. - Galveston County Daily News Bringing fish to the classes Central Market, a seven-store Texas chain that stresses fresh foods, believes in starting education early. Employees from the seafood department visit local schools, with whole fish in tow, to teach younger students about marine life and older ones about the seafood cutting trade, said Frank Alvarez, a seafood leader at Central Market’s North Lamar store in Austin.At in-store classes, chefs show customers how to filet, butterfly, and stuff fish and, in summer, how to grill them. Presentation is another key to spurring sales. “We make a big deal about season openings when it comes to wild seafood,” said Mark Okeon, national seafood category manager at Wild Oats. “Now we have more of a structured, pan-set look,” said Doug Pruette, seafood category manager for A&P in Montvale, N.J. “Each item has its own individual pan, and it goes in the case on a rack.” This more structured approach makes it easier to develop planograms, the display arrangements merchandisers use to try to optimize purchases. That’s especially important in large seafood departments like A&P’s. “We carry anywhere from 60 to 80 varieties of fresh fish in some of our cases,” Pruette said. Better-organized displays mean more purchases and less waste. Gaudiness undermines sustainability Efficient displays are a matter of environmental concern as well as marketing, said Sabbagh of Sax Maritime. “Oversized seafood departments with ornate and a little-bit-gaudy selections of fresh fish will have a tendency to generate quite a bit of shrink” — as much as 12 -15 %.Customer interest in wild seafood used to run high, but “it seems not to be such an issue anymore,” said Pruette at A&P. “Now I think it’s shifted more towards organic and all-natural.” At Central Markets, seafood specialists work to interest customers in trading up to higher quality products, but that doesn’t always mean a shift from farm-raised to wild. “It can go from wild to farm-raised, depending on the product,” Alvarez said. “Different fish are better for different things.” – Wild Catch |