Tag Archives: Covid
Brixham fish fleet smashes records with amazing £60.8m bonanza
The best ever year of trading in Brixham’s long history of fishing also means a windfall of around £1.5m to Torbay Council. Industry leaders are celebrating their success today, but also warning that the port must expand if that success is going to continue. And the new record comes as a “silver lining” after the UK fishing industry struggled to find ways to cope with the effects of a disappointing Brexit. Brixham Trawler Agents managing director Barry Young said there had been no doubt that Covid, Brexit, record fuel prices and the cost of living crisis meant 2022 would be tough to predict. But, he said, it soon became clear that the value of fish sold on Brixham Fish Market would break existing records. >click to read< 07:59
The west Cumbria fishing family saved by social media
When fisherman John McAvoy goes to work, he is gone for days. After two nights at sea and precious little sleep he returns to sell his catch. These days the first in line are the local customers who, following the siren call of social media, saved him and his boat when Covid threatened to sink his livelihood. But Covid put paid to that odd market symmetry, halting the transport of seafood to buyers in France and Spain and shutting restaurants. Were it not for John’s daughters, and their youthful affinity with social media, that might have been the end of the line for him. Photos, >click to read< 08:50
Delcambre shrimp processor overcoming old and new problems to survive
Gulf Crown Seafood’s Jeff Floyd and his son Jon agree that every year in the seafood business is unique. Each year new problems arise and are added to the same old ones continuously sticking around. Last year new problems arising from Covid and Hurricane Ida were added to the old ones; H2B visiting worker visa, labor shortages, import prices and product availability. “We weren’t affected directly by Hurricane Ida,” said the senior of the Floyds. “But without production this plant doesn’t survive. They only way we get production is with the boats. I don’t know exactly how many we lost out of the fleet from the storm, but talking to those at the docks their were a lot a fisherman whose boats won’t be able to be salvaged.” Gulf Crown Seafood in Delcambre is one of approximately seven shrimp processors left Louisiana. >click to read< 12:58
Fishers struggle as lobster ‘nearly as cheap as chocolate’
A dramatic collapse in export markets has flooded Australia with large quantities of cheap lobsters selling for as little as $35 a kilogram. At that price, fishers struggle to break even and processors are not getting enough orders to chew through the oversupply of fish, with one describing the price as “nearly as cheap as chocolate”. “I’m hearing fishermen struggling to maintain deckhands because they’re not earning enough money, fishermen talking about having to get a second job,” Mr Blake said. “It’s been very challenging.” Fishers used to sell lobsters into China for around $100 per kilogram but the industry has been locked out of that market since the outbreak of covid. >click to read< 08:04
Trade war, Covid and now Ukraine invasion eat into Alaska seafood sales
First a trade war, then a battle against an infectious virus and now a real war are all affecting Alaska seafood exports. Shipments to China fell from as high as 30% of Alaska’s total seafood export value in the 2010s to 20% in 2020. “The U.S.-China trade war has displaced $500 million of Alaska seafood,” And though people bought more seafood to prepare at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, sales to restaurants and food services fell by 70%, Woodrow said. The food service market “still hasn’t fully recovered.” The Alaska product at risk in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is pink salmon roe. Eastern Europe is a major buyer of the product, he said. “It’s a regional preference.” Alaska in 2021 shipped to Ukraine about $20 million of pink salmon roe,,, >click to read< 11:37
How Valuable Is FishNet-USA?
The question should actually be “how much is FishNet USA worth to you?” I’ve been writing stuff for the commercial fishing industry for over three decades. That’s a lot of words, and I suspect that no one who is on the present distribution list, who has read my columns in National Fishermen or on Saving Seafood, or has FishNet issues forwarded to them from someone on the list has not benefitted from some of them. Thanks to the Covid mess, and also thanks to what seemed to me to be some philosophical differences between me and some prior sponsors who were part of a commercial fishing consortium that was trying to get into the windmill business, my industry support has dwindled down to the point where the funds coming in just about cover my internet/telecommunications costs. Unlike just about all of our domestic fisheries, this is not sustainable. >click to read< By Nils Stolpe 16:26
England’s biggest fish market at sunrise – Brixham Fish Market is truly the city that never sleeps
At the meek hour of 2am, boxes upon boxes of fish are being sliced, sorted, and shipped, generating thousands in revenue before the sun has begun to rise. The hours are gruelling with 4pm starts that don’t end until the next morning and some boats that land at Brixham spend seven days out at sea.,, “Brixham is a fish town. Tourists love to come here, they love to see the boats, they love to see the market. Despite being one of the worst-hit industries by Brexit and Covid, the market is currently experiencing a boom and earning figures of up to £800,000 in some weeks. 22 photos, >click to read< 09:00
