Lobster Dealer Charged With Defrauding Four Nova Scotia Seafood Companies Out of $2.5 Million Federal authorities in Canada charged a lobster dealer from Nova Scotia Terry Banks with four counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of theft over $5,000 involving allegations that he was part of a scheme that stole about $2.5 million from four different seafood companies. Banks older brother also faces six fraud and theft charges. A third man is charged with one count of theft and one count of fraud. All three men return to court Aug. 24. "These individuals were running a complex and sophisticated operation that required extensive police resources and expertise to investigate," RCMP Supt. Martin Marin said in a statement. "The outcome of this investigation is significant, as those charged had substantial reach and influence on the local, national and international seafood market." The commercial halibut season in Bristol Bay is underway. The quota for longliners is 58,800 pounds, a small increase from last season. If that quota is met, the fishermen could get an additional 20,000 pounds to go after, said BBEDC regional fisheries director Gary Cline. “If we come to the point as we did last year, where our local fleet caught our 4-E quota, we have the ability to roll over the quota we have in area 4-D, which is further off-shore in the Bering Sea—which is what we did last year, and we ended up catching roughly 77 thousand pounds,” said Cline. Earlier this month representatives of the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) and the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) testified before a Congressional Trade Committee regarding the formation of the “Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits.” We publish some of the testimony that was offered to the Committee. The ASPA focused on the large trade deficits the U.S. carries with its seafood trading partners. Meanwhile, the NFI explained the immense economic benefits the commercial imported and domestic seafood industry produces for the U.S.Norway moved closer to resuming its exports of farmed salmon to China on Tuesday after the two countries signed an agreement on the topic, Norway's Fisheries Ministry said on Tuesday. "I have hopes that this agreement will allow the resumption of salmon exports to China," Norwegian Fisheries Minister Per Sandberg said. Finally, the Bering Sea king and snow crab fisheries are up for reassessment against the FAO-based standards under the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification Program. Stakeholders who want to review the draft re-assessment reports should register their interest with name, organization and e-mail contact details to Global Trust Certification. he assessments will be using the latest version of the standard. The new version was adopted by the ASMI board of directors in November 2015 for use in all new fisheries that wish to be certified and for fisheries seeking re-certification to the Alaska RFM program from January 1, 2016.