Neil Ramsden, deputy of Undercurrent News, brings you a roundup of the main stories from the previous week.
Last week's top story was one by Dan Gibson, on the fact that US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG) believes a shift to more intensive, closed shrimp farms is inevitable if farmers want to turn a sustainable profit.
"The companies that we spoke to agreed, perhaps the business case is not fully there yet, but from the risk mitigation perspective, from a certification and traceability perspective, that will become the most viable business case five years from now," Alexander Meyer zum Felde, associate director at BCG Hamburg told Undercurrent.
BCG's report notes how some high-end shrimp farmers -- such as Thailand's Charoen Pokphand Foods and Vietnam's Viet Uc Seafood -- have already committed to building state-of-the-art indoor shrimp farms over the past year.
Understandably, these commitments have only been made possible thanks to the significant capital available; however, a wide portfolio of cheaper alternatives also exist for smaller-scale farmers.
"For black tiger farmers that don't have the income on the side, they’re not moving to any type of closed system, so for them, we’ve identified a few levers that they can pull, such as biofloc and feed combinations," he added.
Read the full story here.
Meanwhile, Matilde Mereghetti reported that Ricardo Fuentes e Hijos, the Spanish bluefin tuna rancher based in Cartagena, Spain, has begun to rebuild its farm in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, which was damaged by bad weather in September 2019.
In September, the Spanish Mediterranean coastline experienced unseasonal stormy weather resulting in severe regional flooding, affecting several aquaculture sites in the region and causing the escape of thousands of fish.
Ricardo Fuentes lost nearly 9,000 bluefin tuna, of different sizes, amid bad weather on Sept. 13, the firm told Undercurrent.
During a storm, eight fattening cages belonging to the company in San Pedro del Pinatar, located 4.5 kilometers from the coast, were violently damaged, leading to the escape of over 8,000 bluefin tuna, according to the firm. During the event, just 800 of the 9,500 fish held in eight cages remained, the firm said, while the rest might have died or escaped.
Read more on this here.
In the US, Jason Huffman reported that US presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren made commercial fishing a higher-profile issue in the 2020 race for the White House, introducing a “Blue New Deal” that includes several proposed changes that commercial fish harvesters and wholesalers will love and a few others they'll hate.
The Massachusetts senator, who polls have shown running first, second or third in a thus-far tight Democratic primary contest, is known for having a plan for everything. The plan she introduced Tuesday aims to “rebuild our blue economy, protect and restore ocean habitat”.
In particular, if elected, Warren said she would direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service to -- using its authority under the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act -- “issue new guidance and regulations to better prepare fishing industries and communities for the impacts of climate change”.
“Threats like warming oceans and overfishing have caused the ocean’s fish population to fall by 50% over the last 50 years, leading to cascading ecological consequences, hurting regional and local economies, and risking hunger and even conflict,” she said. “Fully rebuilding America’s fish stocks would support an additional 500,000 jobs and generate an addition $31 billion in sales impacts, providing a much-needed economic boost to coastal communities who have been hit hard by climate change.”
You can read this story in full here.
Staying in the US, Jason Smith reported that while plant-based seafood alternative products from US distributor Atlantic Natural Foods can be found on the shelves of stores like Walmart and UK grocer Aldi, one place you won't find the company's TUNO product, a soy-based protein with a texture similar to tuna, is at Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts.
That's because plant-based seafood substitute makers won't be able to display their wares at the 2020 edition of what most in the industry simply refer to as the Boston seafood show, owing to a new policy from organizer Diversified Communications.
"One of the unique aspects of Seafood Expo North America for our attending buyers is that we are specifically seafood-focused compared to other general food events," Liz Plizga, group vice president for Diversified told Undercurrent. "As we are monitoring this alternative protein option, for 2020, it has been determined that protein products be limited to seafood proteins, where a majority of the product’s ingredients need to be seafood or aquatic in nature. Similarly, buyers would not find chicken, pork, or beef products exhibited at the event."
That policy, however, strikes Doug Hines, a long-time veteran of the tuna industry and Atlantic Naturals' founder, as misguided. His company's products are meant as an alternative to, not necessarily a replacement for, animal proteins. Read what he had to say here.
Coldwater shrimp pricing has been steady through most of 2019, though analysts have attributed a drop in prices to lower demand, said Canadian wholesaler Tradex Foods.
Average prices throughout the year on US imported pandalus borealis were $7.12 per pound on 125/175 count; $6.80/lb on 150/250 count; $6.49/lb on 175/250 count; and $6.34/lb on 250/350 count, it said.
It recommended securing current and future supply now "while prices are lower (or find a substitute)", as "if history repeats itself, prices will climb back up in the spring".
Looking back at 2019 supply, Tradex noted the Barents Sea catches -- landed by Norway, Russia, the EU, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and East Greenland -- were 78,000 metric tons, up from 55,900t in 2018.
In Western Greenland, preliminary catch totals for 2019 are for 105,000t -- up from 101,000t in 2018, and 92,500t in 2017.
Meanwhile, in Canada, borealis are now primarily harvested in and around Newfoundland and Labrador. Preliminary catch totals for 2019 are about 28,000t, down from 42,200t in 2018.
Read this in full here.
With US demand a little slow and no great influx of raw materials expected in December, sources told me they anticipate stability in Indian shrimp prices at the turn of the year.
One source, a seafood trader, told Undercurrent demand from the US was "not so vibrant" at the moment, with overall import figures down in September for the first time in 2019. NOAA data shows US imports (from all destinations) were 63,737t that month, down from 64,476t.
Where there has been good demand is China, several sources confirmed.
"At present most Indian packers are more interested in China, since the Chinese buyers are offering more attractive prices, apparently for Chinese New Year," said this first source. Said holiday will be celebrated on Jan. 25. Updating in December, he confirmed demand -- especially from China -- remained good, and that prices were fairly stable in several producing nations, India included.
While demand looks set to remain steady, supplies are not expected to increase a great deal, sources said.
"The second crop in Orissa is expected to be over in December," said the trader. "That means we have to get our supply from Andhra Pradesh after New Year’s. Basically, most of the farms in Andhra Pradesh take 90-110 days for harvest, and we were told that the harvesting at full scale will start by the end of November. Only then will we really see how productivity will be."
Read this story in full here.
More big news last week came in the form of Brunei signing a memorandum of understanding with Pure Salmon owner 8F Asset Management for a new salmon recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility to be based there.
The agreement for the 10,000t RAS facility was signed by Brunei's strategic development capital fund under the Ministry of Finance and Economy and 8F on Dec. 10, according to local media reports.
The project is expected to generate 145 jobs once operational. Additionally, the facility will supply salmon products, such as fillets and smoked salmon, domestically and regionally.
Read the full story here.
In the UK, editor Tom Seaman reported that the UK smoked salmon division of France’s Labeyrie Fine Foods has retained its business with Tesco, as a bid from Seachill UK was seemingly undone by a buyer moving from the retailer to the Hilton Food Group-owned processor in the middle of the process.
Seachill got planning permission to expand one of its plants in Grimsby last August, which Undercurrent understands was partly driven by a push to take on the Tesco smoked salmon, which Labeyrie’s Farne Salmon & Trout has been the long-time supplier on, European sources close to the French firm told Undercurrent.
This expansion plan -- first reported by Undercurrent in July 2018 -- is now on hold, as a result of Farne retaining the Tesco smoked salmon contract, sources said.
According to the sources, the tender of the Tesco smoked salmon, worth around £38 million, was ultimately overseen by Brian Byrne, then the top meat and fish buying executive at the UK’s largest retailer. In September, Undercurrent revealed Byrne had left Tesco and joined Hilton, overseeing buying at the meat and fish processor.
You can read more on this here.
Atlantic Sapphire has finally crossed a big symbolic threshold, becoming a company worth $1 billion, reported Matt Craze.
Trading on Norway's stock exchange, Oslo Bors, started at NOK 125 on Dec. 3, giving a company valuation of about $975m. The company reached an intraday high of NOK 128.50 on Dec. 4, lifting market capitalization to NOK 9.16bn. That’s a fraction over $1bn, given the exchange rate of NOK 9.14 to a dollar on that day. The share traded at NOK 130 on Dec. 9, giving a total of NOK 9.27bn ($1.01bn).
“We don’t want to comment on the stock price, but we remain focused on delivering the business plan,” CEO Johan Andreassen told Undercurrent.
The share value reflects the enormous investor expectation about the company’s game-changing Florida indoor salmon farm, which is underway and housing a first generation of Atlantic salmon. The company led by Andreassen has successfully raised the first generation to smolt size, and completed the delicate task of transferring them to saltwater in October.
Read more about Atlantic Sapphire here.
Finally, for the first time ever, the Pacific cod fishery in the Gulf of Alaska will be closed next year while fisheries managers continue monitoring a stock crash that is directly tied to global warming.
Fishermen in Kodiak, in the US state of Alaska, who relied on cod as the most stable fishery in the winter, processors who kept plants open for deliveries that would have started in January, and managers around the state have known since 2017 that the stock was in trouble when cod stocks dropped by 70% in the gulf. Kodiak is the home port for the gulf’s largest cod fleet.
At last week’s North Pacific Fisheries Management Council meeting, Steve Barbeaux, a research biologist with NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, reported that there were “next to no” new eggs according to this year’s stock assessment.
The numbers of fish were so low that it didn’t reach the federal threshold that protects cod as a food source for endangered Steller sea lions. That means fishing is shut down.
You can read this in full here.
2019-12-16 08:53:00Z
https://www.undercurrentnews.com/2019/12/16/editors-recap-25/
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