Fish Notes Calendar 2008 - August 18

Aug 16-21. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Ottawa, ON

Aug 22. Agenda Change Request (ACR) deadline for BOF 2008/2009 Cycle

Continued Calendar in Full Story - Below

Table of Contents - Fish Notes - August 18, 2008

FEDERAL
1.      Alaska summers could be cold and wet for decades (APRN Audio) (8/15)
2.      American Seafoods Announces Acquisition of Factory Trawler HIGHLAND LIGHT (8/15)
3.      NMFS.  Temporary rule; correction to revise Table 4 that reallocated Atka mackerel from the 2008 incidental catch allowance to the B season allowance for the Amendment 80 cooperative in the Eastern Aleutian District and the Bering Sea subarea of the BSAI
4.      NMFS.  Submission for OMB Review; Fishery Capacity Reduction Program Request. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication (8/15)
STATE
5.      Growing Oysters in Alaska.  After A Century of Effort, The Industry May Now Be Poised To Take Off (8/17)
6.      Ocean Beauty Seafoods cannery celebrates 100 years (8/15)
7.      ADFG.  Overview of the 2007 Southeast Alaska and Yakutat commercial, personal use, and subsistence salmon fisheries.
8.      ADFG.  Copper River hydroacoustic salmon enumeration studies, Miles Lake sonar project, 2005–2006
9.      ADFG.  The 2007 triennial St. Matthew Island blue king crab survey and comparisons to historic surveys
10.  ADFG.  2006 Prince William Sound Area finfish management report
11.  ADFG.  2008/09 Bristol Bay Red King Crab and Bering Sea Tanner and Snow Crab Preseason Vessel Registration Information

MARKETING
12.  Demand for whitefish adds up for Ore. Fishermen (7/28)
13.  Sustainability a shared responsibility (8/11)

The International Culinary Tourism Association regularly offers a webinar called “Inside the Mind of a Traveling Foodie” .  It’s intended as kind of a “Culinary Tourism 101” for culinary businesses (the suppliers) – lodging facilities, restaurants, culinary retail, manufacturers, etc.  To register, please contact the International Culinary Tourism Association here or call  503 750 7200.   (The International Culinary Tourism Association is our newest affiliate sponsor of Global Food Alaska  - 2009 - WELCOME TO ALASKA.)

A short video produced by the National Farmers Union on the "farmers share" of the food profits. August 2008 Video

A FOCUS ON FISHERIES REPORT (2007)

This report is the first comprehensive look at market competition between wild and farmed salmon and identifies two important trends that have remade the salmon industry in the last 25 years: farmed salmon has grown from just two percent of the world supply in 1980 to 65 percent in 2004 and about three-fourths of the fresh and frozen salmon consumed in the United States is now farmed. In response, the value of the wild fishery has plummeted from more than $800 million in the late 1980’s to less than $300 million. “Wild salmon could never supply the market demand being met by farmed salmon. A fundamental point of the report is that the debate should not be about wild versus farmed, but whether each method of production is being done right,” says Dr. Gunnar Knapp, professor of economics at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, and one of the study’s authors.

We asked Jim Harmon of SeaShare about the recent generous donation to Anchorage's Beans Cafe.

Trident Seafoods recently donated 22,000 pounds of frozen sockeye fillets to help feed hungry Alaskans.  The donation was coordinated through SeaShare, a nonprofit organization that links the seafood industry with food bank programs across the country.  Trident Seafoods has worked with SeaShare for years, both locally and nationally.  This donation, from the wild Alaska Salmon fisheries in Alaska, is a great example of a seafood company willing to donate valuable products, from fish purchased from fishermen in the targeted Alaska salmon fisheries  (An earlier story incorrectly labeled these fish as “bycatch”).  The donation will provide over 100,000 servings of high-protein wild salmon to the clients served by Bean’s Café in Anchorage.    Kudo's to SeaShare and the people of Trident Seafoods.

A pre-publication version of a new NOAA report, Offshore Aquaculture in the United States: Economic Considerations, Implications & Opportunities, has been posted online. The direct link is http://aquaculture.noaa.gov/news/econ.html, but it can be easily accessed from their main homepage, http://aquaculture.noaa.gov. This 264-page report considers the broad, long-term implications of an established domestic offshore aquaculture industry in the United States and the role such an industry might play in helping to meet global demand for seafood and other sustainable uses of the ocean.  It is important to note that much of the analysis in this study, although limited to offshore aquaculture, applies to all U.S. aquaculture.

Specifically, the report considers:
The effect on U.S. offshore aquaculture of global and national trends in seafood supply and demand and other factors that affect market prices, such as cost of feed and technology, social factors, government regulations, and access to sites.
Useful models from other food segments of the U.S. economy, such as the catfish and poultry industries.
Economic viability of offshore finfish and shellfish operations.
The economic effects of increased domestic aquaculture production on U.S. job creation and the seafood supply chain, including feed production, equipment suppliers, boat owners, processing, and food service.
Interactions between aquaculture and wild harvest fisheries.
Advantages and disadvantages of offshore aquaculture relative to domestic inshore and foreign aquaculture.

Kate Naughten
Outreach Coordinator, NOAA Aquaculture Program
1315 East-West Hwy.
SSMC 3  - Mail Code: F
Silver Spring MD 20910
Ph - (301) 713-9079, ext. 218 

In case you didn't catch this blog post by the US Secretary of Health and Social Services.  (Click on visit site below for blog posting.)

We concur - "Transparency requires standards, and standards require collaboration."

Eric Downey of Alaska Manufacturers Extension Partnership sat down with me recently to discuss some of the findings of the Alaska Manufacturers Extension Partnership.   With the pressures on manufacturers to be more efficient , no matter the size, and keep costs down - the magnifying glass comes back to ways to remove waste in the system.      His words mirrored those we're hearing from commercial buyers specifying manufacturing standards.   

The energy costs of 2008 have made it more compelling for suppliers throughout Alaska to find ways that cut or maintain their costs.   They are re-evaluating every way they can do their business and stay competitive.   For this reason Global Food Alaska 2009 will have a greater emphasis on ways to create efficiencies for the food, beverage and bio products manufacturing sectors.

Eric discusses below to make the point.

Monty Berg, Supervisory Inspector - National Seafood Inspection Program - US Department of Commerce
(Links, powerpoint and bio of March 2008 webinar facilitated by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.)
March 28th Powerpoint Presentation

Monty graduated from the University of South Florida in 1976 with a degree in Microbiology and started work with USDC/NOAA in May 1976 in Tampa.  He worked in frozen fish, whole cooked Spiny lobster and breaded shrimp, oyster and scallop plants. In 1977 Monty transferred to Miami, Fl. and worked in lobster, stone crab plants and inspected for military procurement and supermarket distribution.  The bulk of the work in Miami centered around import/export. Area plants exported to Europe and Africa while importing from most of the world. In the late 70's and early 80's Monty saw increases in imported shrimp and scallops from Central/South America, shrimp from the middle east and by the mid 80's all types of products from Asia.   Monty moved to St. Petersburg, Fl. in 1985 as supervisory inspector or the South East region.  He became low acid canned certified in 1986 due to work in the tuna canneries in Puerto Rico.  Monty has continued to work as a supervisory inspector with added duties that include meeting with industry groups, retailers, importers/ exporters and food-service distributors to discuss USDC inspection programs and services.

Who should exhibit at next year's business and conference show?  Those that are the best of the best, adding value to the supply chain. Take a look at the categories here.
Now Open - Renewable Energy Solutions (5 exhibit spaces only) with applications to the food, beverage and bio products supply chain.
Solar - Geothermal - Biomass - Tidal - Wind - Low Impact Hydro


Exhibitor Booth: Early Registration Rate, $500
After 10.01.08 - $750
After 03.01.09 - $1000 Late Registration

Sign up here.

Who's the audience for the show?  1) Commercial buyers such as chefs, restaurateurs, retailers, distributors, institutional buyers and secondary processors of food, beverage and bio-products of all sizes and locations - local, national and international.  2) Others along the supply chain who are potential partners and collaborators on new products, partnerships and supply chain solutions.    (One of the most talked about and promising outcomes of last years participants.)

MSC LAUNCHES NEW FISHERY ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY
 
July 21, 2008 (Seattle, WA) — After two years of scientific collaboration and consultation, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) [1] today launches its new Fishery Assessment Methodology designed to improve the quality and consistency of fisheries assessments, without either raising or lowering the “bar” against which the performance of a fishery is assessed.

Phil Reeder of Microdaq, Ltd. came to Alaska last season to spend time with Alaska producers to talk perishable products and temperature monitoring. His business storefront, TheDataLoggerStore, demonstrates his companies sole focus and expertise in data collection. We wanted to provide a quick review, in case you did not meet Phil during his visit to Alaska and encourage you contact them with your temperature monitoring challenges.

Check out the Spring 2008 Presentation by Rich Woofin of Microdaq - during the Maximizing Yield Through Temperature Webinar facilitated by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.    Presentation Here.

The Alaska School Nutrition Association - Annual Conference is set for January 28th – 30th, 2009 at the Egan Center.   The vendor show will be on the 29th.   Interested in attending?  Participating in the vendor show?   Contact.
Diane Buchanan
(907) 714-8831 

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s Food Safety & Sanitation Program has developed an access point on the internet to provide food inspection reports and information about what the reports mean, as well as food and seafood processor permit information. Only inspections done after the new database was implemented on December 7, 2007 are available in this format. If a person is interested in a copy of an inspection conducted before that date, they must contact the department directly.
More information?

Brenda L. Duty, Health Educator
Food Safety & Sanitation Program
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
610 University Drive - Fairbanks, Alaska  99709
Phone: (907) 451-2178
Toll Free: 1-87-Safe Food (1-877-233-3663)