Tag Archives: Pacific Seafoods
Pacific Seafoods Charleston branch unaffected by coronavirus
While the Newport branch of Pacific Seafood has recorded 124 positive cases of COVID-19, the Charleston branch of the same company has been unaffected. “The cluster of COVID-19 cases in Newport has not impacted our operations or team members in Charleston. No workers from Newport have relocated to Charleston, or to any other facilities,” said Lacy Ogan,,, Pacific Seafood in Charleston has reported that safety precautions are in place. These steps have included increased cleaning protocols, face coverings, daily temperature checks, staggered shifts to allow for less people together and restricted access provided to the facility. >click to read< 16:43
Rep. Young fights fish farms
In his 46 years as Alaska’s lone representative in Congress, Don Young helped toss out foreign fishing fleets from Alaska waters with the onset of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in 1976, and today he is intent on doing the same with offshore fish farms. The MSA established an ‘exclusive economic zone’ for US fleets fishing from three to 200 miles from shore. Young’s effort follows a push that began a year ago by over 120 aquaculture and food-related industries to have lawmakers introduce an Advancing the Quality and Understanding of American Aquaculture (AQUAA) Act, which failed to get any traction. The campaign is organized under a new trade group called Stronger America Through Seafood and includes Cargill, Red Lobster, Pacific Seafoods and Seattle Fish Company. >click to read<15:50
Dangerous swells will complicate harvest this week as Crabbers go to sea
An informal Dungeness crab price strike ended this week on the Washington and Oregon coast after Newport-based crabbers decided to accept $2.75 a pound from Trident Seafoods. Columbia River-based crabbers began soaking pots at 9 a.m. Monday. Crabbers didn’t reach a formal agreement with industry giant Pacific Seafoods after days of stalemated talks in which fishermen sought a starting price of $3 a pound for wholesale deliveries to processors. Last year’s price was $2.89 a pound. >click here to read< 11:53
Strike Update – Crab fishermen stand strong, hold out for Pacific Seafoods pre-negotiated price
Commercial crab fishermen continue to strike along the West Coast, hoping processors will pay the $3 opening price that was negotiated prior to the season opening. Instead, wholesale buyers and processors have not budged on the $2.75 per pound they are now offering. The $3 per pound price was negotiated prior to the Brookings and Port Orford crab opening on Dec. 18. The price was lowered on Dec. 26, just eight days after that partial opening of the fishery. In response, crab fishermen from Morro Bay, Calif., to the Canadian border have tied up their boats. One local processor is Bandon Pacific in Charleston, a division of Pacific Seafood, which owns and operates more than 38 processing and distribution facilities from Alaska to Texas, with many of them on the West coast in coastal communities throughout the Pacific region. John Corbin, president of the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission, and a fisherman who lives in Seaside and fishes the Columbia River, said there has been “really no change” since fishermen decided to strike. Corbin said fishermen all along the coast in different ports have been meeting daily via phone conference, but processors have not met with them. Read the story here 10:51
Crescent City Harbor – Plump crab off the F/V Dynamik
The frenzy may have died down at the Crescent City Harbor, but Derrick Horn and other dock workers for Caito Fisheries were still pulling Dungeness crab from their boats on Tuesday. Horn and his crew unloaded 72,000 pounds of claw clacking crustaceans off the F/V Dynamik of Brookings, the largest boat in Caito’s Crescent City fleet. The vessels the seafood buyer uses are still staying full and the crab are excellent, Horn said. “They’re better than average from the last four years,” he said of the catch so far. “I just measured one I thought was small and it was (still) good size.” Two weeks after the season opened on Dec. 1, activity on Citizen’s Dock appears to have dropped off. Smaller boats are coming in with lighter loads, according to Horn. And Crescent City Harbormaster CEO Charlie Helms notes there are fewer refrigerated trucks waiting to be loaded. But crabbers are still plying their trade in Del Norte waters and getting $3 per pound, Helms said. “They’re still catching,”,,, Read the story here 12:43
Pacific Seafoods faces new lawsuit alleging anti-competitive behavior
Oregon-based Seawater Seafoods has sued its larger rival Pacific Seafoods in federal court bringing allegations of anticompetitive behavior and claims that Pacific is blocking Seawater’s waterfront access. Seawater is a Dungeness crab processor that recently expanded into squid and albacore and intends to add coldwater shrimp and trawl-caught groundfish to its business. The Newport, Oregon-based firm is bordered on both sides by Pacific and accuses the company of several behaviors it describes as anti-competitive. “Throughout the 2014-15 crab season defendants relentlessly harassed plaintiffs, intimidated Seawater’s suppliers, obstructed its access to public waterways, allowed its property to be damaged by wild animals and noxious chemicals, and generally acted in a manner calculated to snuff out plaintiffs’ competing business,” the complaint states. Read the rest here 14:36
