Top Story: Slowdown in landings in Maine hitting wholesale lobster prices hard 

News Summary:  Live lobster and tail prices in August were the highest for that month in five years, and the trend carried over into September. The slowdown in landings in Maine is leading to a ‘normal’ lobster season, without the gluts that drove down prices the last two years. At the same time the growth of Maine processing may be cutting into the amount of lobster exported to Canada. Mike Ramsingh covers the landings shortfall, and we also look at Maine and Canadian lobster development in our story on the Maine Lobster bond issue. 

Mexico’s wild shrimp fishery has been slammed with bad weather in the form of two hurricanes since the season opened in Baja California Sept. 5th. The result has been light landings and little volume for larger shrimp (U-15). Because this is a weather disruption, it is not yet clear how the whole season will be affected, but the early signs point to lower volumes and smaller shrimp. Total US purchases will definitely be down, as many farmers have sold smaller sizes into the domestic market, leaving less shrimp to grow out this fall. 

A rumor swept through Chinese media last week that the Chinese government banned Norwegian salmon due to the Ebola virus. There is no relationship between the two things at all, and we detail how one reporter’s sensationalizing of the ISA virus led to turmoil in the Chinese salmon market for several days last week. Importers also say they have not yet been barred from buying whole Norwegian salmon, again as of last week. 

The Norwegian government has given the go ahead for Mitsubishi to make a purchase offer for Cermaq, worth about 1.4 billion. The government is the majority shareholder, and supports the deal, although they are open to higher bids if any materialize. If it is completed, the deal would make Mitsubishi, who already owns companies in Chile, the worlds second largest salmon producer, heavily concentrated in Chile. 

Ocean Trust is holding its 4th Science and Sustainability summit in New Orleans next month, with a host of speakers from the FAO and many well known fisheries scientists. “Sustainability is the result of a well-designed and implemented management system and sustainability assessments should focus on the system, not on a snapshot of individual stock status or fishing level at any given point in time,” said Thor Lassen, president of Ocean Trust and co-host of the forum. Discussions of how management systems could be certified as opposed to individual fisheries will be discussed. For details on the Oct. 27th event, click here. 

John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts 

Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441 

Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com

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