US Salmon Supplies Get Pinched as Artisanal 
Protests Cut Off Producers From Processing Plants
Protests among Chilean artisanal fishermen have cut off commercial farmed salmon processors from their plants, severely limiting the availability of fresh fillets for US buyers this week.The lack of supplies forced Urner Barry to delist its quotations for fresh Chilean salmon fillets on Thursday. The artisanal sector blames the commercial farmed salmon industry for exacerbating a severe red tide outbreak that's lingered in southern waters over the last four weeks. Salmon processing could be impacted into late next week if operators cannot reach their plants by this Sunday.
Alaska's Upper Cook Inlet salmon harvest in 2015 was less than the fishery's average harvest in nearly 50 years. The ADF&G's annual fisheries management report found the Cook Inlet commercial harvest fell short in every category except escapements. Meanwhile, the ex-vessel value of $24.1 million was 19 percent below the most recent 10-year average and 8 percent less than the 1966-2014 average.
In other news, Maine's scallop landings totaled about 200,000 pounds in December 2015. The month is generally an indicator of the strength of the entire season, which ran until this past April. The figure was in line with harvest levels from the previous two seasons.
Finally, the FDA officially recognized the Canadian and US food safety systems as comparable to each other. This is the second time that the FDA recognized a foreign food safety system as comparable, the first being New Zealand in 2012. "By recognizing each other’s systems, FDA, CFIA, and Health Canada, have confidence that they can leverage each other’s science-based regulatory systems," the FDA said in a Constituent Update.
Have a great weekend.
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