China Shuts Down Dungeness Crab Exports from
US for Second Time
The Chinese Embassy confirmed to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency that they are not accepting any live Dungeness crab from the US portion of fishing waters in area 67, which covers the west coast from Northern California to Alaska. This is the second time China has shut down exports of live Dungeness crab from California this year, but this is the first time the ban includes the entire US West Coast. Some industry observers think the ban was precipitated by Canadian shippers who mixed in some California crab with shipments from other open areas. Whatever the cause, Canadian officials have informed US shippers that it will no longer issue certificates for live crab from the US to be exported to China. Much of this crab is shipped by air through Vancouver, BC.
Indian shrimp producers are reporting some production problems in November and December from a rash of weather induced disease. However, exporters said the disease issues are a seasonal problem and that the production setback is only temporary.
In other news, historically poor weather conditions in Nova Scotia's LFAs 33 and 34 have cut the number of lobster fishing days almost in half since the season started in late November. “Multiple windstorms, rough on the water, a couple of serious snowstorms, a couple of semi-hurricanes. I mean, the weather has just been hellish," said Stewart Lamont, managing director at Tangier Lobster. “The fishing conditions have been the least favorable in the last 35 years." The poor weather has also prevented lobster shipments from getting out of Canada to markets in Asia and Europe.
Meanwhile, Chile's environmental regulator known as the SMA commenced a sanctioning process against salmon producers Australis Seafoods and AquaChile, for their handling of the deadly algal bloom that killed millions of salmon this past February . "In the three cultivating areas, dead fish were kept in a water column for more than 20 consecutive days, which can produce negative effects such as damages to the cultivating framework, dissemination of decomposing organic material and the generation of sulfuric acid," the SMA said.
Finally, several Chinese shrimp broodstock operators plan to expand their production operations to fill a gap in broodstock supplies left in the wake of CP Group's exit from the industry in China. Today's article discusses how operators will focus on building reputable domestic shrimp broodstock brands since demand is strong for high quality larvae among Chinese shrimp farmers.
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