Tag Archives: China
Coronavirus threatens California lobster industry
Roughly 95% of commercially caught lobster in California is shipped to China, where customers are willing to pay premium prices. “Traditionally, Chinese New Year is when we get the biggest price,” says lobster fisherman James Voss. “This year, that happened to coincide with the coronavirus and China stopping all wild animal imports into the country. So our price went from the highest it’s been all year to the lowest.” Photos, >click to read< 14:44
‘Lobsters overboard’ as China bans live seafood trade over coronavirus fears
Australia’s seafood industry has been thrown into crisis by the ban, with local fishermen considering a plan to return thousands of lobsters to the open waters. The export industry has ground to a halt in Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania as China usually imports about 90 to 95 per cent of locally-grown lobsters. >click to read< 16:47
The U.S.- China trade agreement will slow Canadian lobster sales to China
Even though a new U.S.-China trade agreement does not eliminate heavy Chinese tariffs, the deal will result in a loss of Canadian seafood sales to China,,, Canadian live lobster exports to China, mostly from Nova Scotia, soared after China slapped retaliatory tariffs of 35 per cent on U.S. lobsters. U.S. lobster exports tanked while Canadian sales jumped,,, The new trade deal does not lower those tariffs. But China has pledged to buy $32 billion worth of American agricultural products over the next two years, including lobster and other seafood products. >click to read< 17:38
International sea cucumber kingpin implicated in new smuggling case
When Wei Li walked across the southern US border into San Ysidro, California in September, he told US border officers—twice—that he had nothing to declare. He was lying. An x-ray of Li’s bag detected an “anomaly,” and the officers looked inside. According to a search warrant application filed in federal court, they found 46 sea cucumbers weighing about 2.5 pounds. It turns out the illegal sea cucumber trade is a serious problem. >click to read< 17:46
U.S., China Reach Substantial ‘Phase One’ Trade Deal
The U.S. and China agreed on the outlines of a partial trade accord Friday that President Donald Trump said he and China’s Xi Jinping could sign as soon as next month. As part of the deal, China would significantly step up purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities, agree to certain intellectual-property measures and concessions related to financial services and currency, The agreement marks the largest breakthrough in the 18-month trade war that has hurt the economies of both nations. Importantly, Trump said the deal was the first phase of a broader agreement. >click to read< 16:34
Nova Scotia premier should cancel China visits
Nova Scotia’s Opposition leader says the premier should stop visiting China – which he has done regularly throughout his mandate to promote local seafood and other industries – because of violent clashes between the state and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong and the continued detention of two Canadians whose freedom the federal government has been trying to secure. “He shouldn’t be visiting there, that’s for sure,” Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston,,, >click to read< 17:06
U.S. ratifies The Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean
The United States has become the fourth jurisdiction after Canada, the European Union and Russia to ratify a landmark international agreement that aims to prevent unregulated commercial fishery in the high seas of the Central Arctic Ocean, officials at the State Department announced Tuesday. The Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central Arctic Ocean, which was signed in Ilulissat, Greenland last October, includes the so-called Arctic Five – Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the U.S. – as well as the major fishing nations – Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China and the EU. >click to read< 17:56
Pompeo calls out Canada, China, Russia over Arctic policy. China entitled to ‘exactly nothing.’
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stunned onlookers Monday by taking swipes at Canada, China and Russia in a speech to delegates attending the Arctic Council ministerial. Pompeo, along with foreign ministers from the seven other Arctic nations — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia — is in Rovaniemi, Finland this week for the eleventh Arctic Council ministerial meeting. Pompeo used his speech to call out countries he accused of making illegitimate claims to Arctic territory, citing Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage as internal waters. The U.S. considers the Northwest Passage to be international waters. >click to read<09:57
US climate objections sink Arctic Council accord in Finland – click to read<10:39
With an acquisition in Nova Scotia, lobster dealers expanding into Canada to shore up their business
Ready Seafood in Portland is joining a handful of U.S. lobster companies that have opened Canadian operations, locking down year-round access to hard shell lobsters that can be exported to both China and Europe without the tariffs that have crippled other U.S. dealers. Ready is following in the footsteps of other American lobster dealers, ranging from Boston Lobster Co.,,, Dealers from both sides of the border who attended the Canadian-Maine Lobstermen’s Town Meeting in Portland last week said that having a footprint on both sides of the border is necessary >click to read<09:30
China bought lots of Florida lobster despite tariffs. Keys fishermen paid the price
Chinese importers bought Florida spiny lobsters in what could be near-record numbers this season, despite a 25 percent tariff their government placed on U.S. seafood last July, according to the leading Florida Keys commercial fishermen’s trade group. That’s great news considering the fear commercial anglers had about the potential impact of growing U.S.-China trade hostilities on one of South Florida’s largest industries. “Going into the season, the big questions were: Will the Chinese buy? How much and at what price,” >click to read<20:25
Seafood processors getting no negative vibes from China
Cape Breton seafood processors say they are not hearing about any potential negative impact on their industry as a diplomatic dispute between Canada and China continues to simmer. Earlier this week China suspended a second major Canadian canola exporter over alleged safety concerns, further deepening a diplomatic row set off by Canada’s decision to detain a top executive with telecom giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. at the behest of the United States. Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd. in Neils Harbour, was at a seafood expo in Shanghai in February where there was no mention of the Huawei dispute. >click to read<12:15
In China, rainbow trout is now salmon?
A Chinese fishery recently entangled in a “salmon scandal” — when it tried to pass off rainbow trout as salmon — has just helped the government draft a policy to reclassify rainbow trout as salmon. Two months after the revelation that one-third of the salmon sold in China was, in fact, domestic rainbow trout mislabeled to deceive consumers, the China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), along with 13 Chinese fishery companies, recently announced new industry standards to broaden the definition of salmon, and now officially recognizes rainbow trout as legitimate salmon in the Chinese market. >click to read<12:28
La. shrimp industry representatives welcome Trump tariffs, Other U.S. seafood interests oppose
Louisiana shrimp industry representatives welcomed the Trump administration’s announcement today that it will impose tariffs on Chinese seafood imports. Members of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, meeting in Houma, said they are considering a push for similar 10 percent tariffs on other top countries that send shrimp to the U.S., including India, Indonesia and Vietnam. Shrimpers in Terrebonne, Lafourche and across the U.S. coast have long complained that a wave of cheaper, mostly farm-raised imports has made it difficult for domestic shrimp fishermen to compete. About 90 percent of shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported. >click to read<09:01
How China’s squid fishing programme is squeezing its neighbours and creating global sea change
Critics have said China keeps high-quality squid for domestic consumption, exports lower-quality products at higher prices, overwhelms vessels from other countries in major squid breeding grounds, and is in a position to influence international negotiations about conservation and distribution of global squid resources for its own interest. Fishing ships from China have accounted for 50 to 70 per cent of the squid caught in international waters in recent years, effectively controlling the supply of the popular seafood, according to an estimate by the Chinese government. A price hike for squid bought by the United States from China has been accompanied by a decline in quality, Video, >click to read<12:54
Stormy horizons – Salmon farms
Good news for Alaska commercial fishermen: Salmon last year ranked as the favorite fish at Japanese conveyor-belt sushi restaurants for the sixth year in a row, according to a survey by seafood processor Maruha Nichiro. Bad news for Alaska fishermen: “Ninety percent of that salmon is imported from Chile and Norway, but its popularity is now spurring domestic fish farming,” Nikkei Asian Review reported earlier this month. The report of Japanese domestic fishing farming might be the worst news of all. >click to read<09:02
China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan and S Korea account for 85% global fishing efforts
The research, led by scientists at Global Fishing Watch, a research organization that uses satellite data to track fishing activity, examined some 22 billion ship-location data points for more than 70,000 industrial fishing vessels between 2012 and 2016. It found commercial fishing hotspots in the northeast Atlantic and northwest Pacific, as well as in nutrient-rich areas off the coasts of South America and West Africa. The study also found that fleets from just five countries — China, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea — account for more than 85% of fishing efforts in the high seas. >click to read< 09:51
Clearwater Seafoods Sees ‘Long-Term Opportunity’ in China
Over the past 40-plus years, Clearwater Seafoods has established itself as North America’s largest vertically integrated harvester, processor and distributor of premium shellfish. The company now sells 80 million pounds annually to more than 40 countries. But something happened in 2015 that prompted a major shift in its selling strategy. Nova Scotia-based Clearwater, which brands its product as wild-caught, premium seafood that is managed from ocean to plate, launched the Belle Carnell, a new fishing vessel that almost doubled the intake of one of its top products, the Arctic surf clam. click here to read the story 13:32
Tokyo’s proposal to cap saury catch tanks after neighbors slam it as unfair
The North Pacific Fisheries Commission held its annual meeting earlier this month to discuss an international framework to prevent overfishing. But its eight members were ultimately unable to agree on individual quotas for Pacific saury, a popular seasonal fish, amid strong opposition from China and other players. Tokyo had proposed annual caps of 242,000 tons on Japan’s catch, 191,000 tons for Taiwan and 47,000 tons for China. State-run China Central Television reported that Japan blamed China for the shrinking stock of saury, and said Tokyo’s proposal was “irrational” and unfairly tough on its neighbor. Chinese microblogging site Weibo erupted with disapproving posts. Users questioned why Japan should be allowed five times the catch when its population was just one-thirteenth of China’s, while others said Japan’s own problems with overfishing tuna gave it “no right to criticize other countries.” click here to read the story 18:18
Shrimpers Lost
Today we’re going shrimping in Venice, Louisiana. Acy Cooper is our guide. Sharyl: How important is the shrimping business to your personally? Acy Cooper: It’s everything to me. You know, my family does it. My dad’s 80 years old, he still fishes. And my two boys has entered the business, and my daughter she married a fisherman. Louisiana’s shrimp industry has been a family affair for more than a century.,, Now my sons and all they starting to struggle now, because of what’s going on. He’s talking about foreign shrimp flooding the market from places China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. The U.S. has become a massive importer of a resource we have right here at home. About 94% of the shrimp we eat comes from abroad, selling for a fraction of the price of the ones caught at home. There’s no getting around it: The US shrimping industry is dying. click here to read the story 13:01
China has finally developed a taste for lobster—and it’s keeping Maine fishermen flush with cash
Seafood is a classic luxury item in China. But until recently, people there weren’t big on lobster. The iconic, bright-red crustaceans were known as the “Boston lobster,” and were a rarity compared to other fancy oceanic eats like sea cucumbers or geoduck clams. But the economic boom in China has given the country’s swelling ranks of rich people a chance to expand their culinary horizons. For Maine’s lobster industry, the crustacean craze couldn’t have come at a better time. In 2016, Maine’s lobstermen landed more lobsters than ever in recorded history: 130 million pounds (59,000 tonnes), a haul that weighs as much as three Statues of Liberty. continue reading the article here 19:40
The online market in China is huge! The Province wants Nova Scotia’s lobster industry to get its share
Lobsters from Nova Scotia are already selling on China’s Alibaba massive e-commerce website but now the province is stepping in with a pilot project to ensure only the best of the best are sold on Alibaba’s retail sister site Tmall. It’s all part of plan to boost Nova Scotia’s lobster exports to China , valued at $113 million in 2015. Tmall.com says it is the biggest business-to-consumer retail platform in Asia. It already sells Cuban lobsters and parent Alibaba.com has more than 2,000 listings for lobster, including 76 offers to sell live Nova Scotia lobsters. Peng Song’s Hiyou Trading Company lists lobster for US$6 to US$10 — with a minimum order on Alibaba. And Charlie Jin’s World Link Food Distributors is asking between US$6 and US$16 with a minimum order of 20 cases. The province wants Nova Scotia’s lobster industry to get its share of what’s becoming a massive, online live lobster market. Continue reading the article here 09:24
Study: How China maintains large catches and what it means for fishery management elsewhere
China, the world’s largest seafood producer, has done something extraordinary. For the past 20 years, despite minimal management and some of the most intense industrial fishing in the world, it has maintained large catches of key species in its most productive waters. A new study from UC Santa Barbara, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests another explanation: By reducing the population of predatory fish, China has increased populations of preyed-upon species. “If you fish down the large predatory fish, then you can catch more small prey fish, because they are no longer being eaten before you get to them,” explained lead author Cody Szuwalski, a fisheries scientist in UCSB’s Sustainable Fisheries Group. Key to the success of this approach is that predators typically need to eat 10 pounds of prey to add one pound to their own weight, so fishing out predators tends to increase prey catches by much more than it reduces predator catches. Read the story here 12:09
Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry gets a boost as China lowers tariffs
Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry is starting 2017 with a boost for the bottom line thanks to lower tariffs on seafood entering the booming China market. The Jan. 1, 2017, tariff cuts announced just before New Year’s Day by China’s ministry of commerce will benefit about a quarter of Canada’s seafood exports to China. The exports to China were valued at $634 million as of October 2016. Global Affairs Canada told CBC News crab, frozen halibut and albacore are among the export products most benefiting from the tariff reductions. Tariffs on these products will be reduced on average from 11 to five per cent, leaving more money in the pockets of seafood companies in 2017. The tariff on northern shrimp — Pandalus borealis — is also being reduced from five per cent to two per cent. Nova Scotia exports more seafood than any other province. As of October 2016, it had already exported $218 million worth to China, putting it on track for another record year. Read the story here 09:27
Caught In Alaska, Processed In China: Does Trump Make A Good Point?
When Donald J. Trump announced his candidacy in 2015 he created quite a stir with many of his statements. He spoke a great deal about securing borders, fixing the economy and especially the effects of China on the United States. Regardless of whether you agree with his plans and ideas of how to tackle these issues, you have to agree that these issues really do exist, especially the influence of China. The financial power of China overpowers not only American consumer good production, but also greatly affects the competitive of US fisheries. One of the major secrets to China’s fiscal strength is its over-abundance of very cheap labor. There is such a difference in labor between the US and China that it has greatly changed the way the US seafood industry works. Previously it was ideal to catch the fish in Alaska, fully process it in Alaska (i.e. filleting), and then ship it down to the mainland US where it would be consumed. Today it is just as common to catch the fish in Alaska, freeze it, ship it to China, process the seafood there, and then ship it to the mainland US for sale. This difference makes seafood producers millions of extra profits every year. This is common for all sorts of Alaskan seafood, including Alaskan Pollock, Pacific Cod, and especially Salmon. Read the article here 18:13
China Trains ‘Fishing Militia’ To Sail Into Disputed Waters
The fishing fleet based in this tiny port town on Hainan island is getting everything from military training and subsidies to even fuel and ice as China creates an increasingly sophisticated fishing militia to sail into the disputed South China Sea. The training and support includes exercises at sea and requests to fishermen to gather information on foreign vessels, provincial government officials, regional diplomats and fishing company executives said in recent interviews. “The maritime militia is expanding because of the country’s need for it, and because of the desire of the fishermen to engage in national service, protecting our country’s interests,” said an advisor to the Hainan government who did not want to be named. Read the story here 13:28
Video – Maine Lobster Sales Surge in Winter for Chinese New Year
In New England, the appetite for Maine lobster peaks in the summer, but halfway across the world, that hunger hits in the dead of winter. Lobster has become a big part of Chinese New Year, which is the week of Feb. 8-12. It;s the nation’s largest celebration, and as Cindy Han, a board member of the and American Friendship Association explains, it is centered around food. “Almost every Chinese New Year meal is going to have fish,” said Han. It’s one dish in particular that’s surging in popularity: Maine lobster. Video, Read the rest here 10:26
Using Intimidation, China tries to create new fishing areas on the East Sea
VietNamNet Bridge – Colonel Le Thanh Van said China was trying to create new fishing areas in the East Sea (South China Sea). Specifically, China strengthened military activities such as training, reconnaissance patrols and maneuvers at sea to show of force, intimidate and deter the countries involved in maritime disputes with China. China increased surveillance patrols to support its marine exploitation activities, including pursuing, using water cannons, demolishing, seizing fishing equipment, and even beating Vietnamese fishermen in an attempt to prevent them from going out to sea for fishing. Read the article here 17:38
Why China just may be the seal hunt’s last hope
If you’re looking for the new Always in Vogue location, it’s just around the corner from Sephora in the mall. Except that the mall is not in St. John’s, where Always in Vogue is best known for its boutique on Water Street. Rather, this mall is in Shenyang, in northern China, the country that is the new hope for an industry that’s seen better days. If St. John’s-based company PhocaLux International’s gamble pays off, next year’s harvest will be significantly greater. Read the article here 10:08
US, China to cooperate on ocean preservation
The U.S. and China said Wednesday they are stepping up cooperation on preserving the ocean and combating illegal fishing despite their differences on maritime security. This week’s talks are a prelude to Xi’s visit, his first to the U.S. since 2013. Despite growing tensions over cybertheft and China’s island-building in the disputed South China Sea, the U.S. and China are stressing how they can work together on less contentious issues, such as climate change. (gagging now) Read the rest here 17:43
The Future of Fishing in the Central Arctic
Increasingly, it’s the future of fisheries that is taking center stage in the geopolitical discussions that come with planning for the future Arctic. This was made evident on January 15 and 16, 2015, when 40 Arctic experts from the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Iceland, Denmark, and Greenland travelled to Tongji University in Shanghai to attend the first “Roundtable on Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Issues.” Read the rest here 18:21
