News Summary July 7, 2017

Today's Main Story: Like Ecuador, India Seeing Huge Increase in Shrimp Production This Year

Our leading story today looks at how Indian shrimp exports to the US continue to surge, and at the end of May they were up 100% for the month compared to 2016, and 54.8% up year to date as Paul Brown reported yesterday. Behind the surge is a remarkable growth in Indian shrimp production, and the continuing favorability of the US market for Indian exporters. For the Indian fiscal year ending March 30th, 2017, Indian shrimp exports were up 16.2%, to 434,484 metric tons, which is nearly 1 billion pounds. The US only accounted for 29.8% of this volume, as exports were diversified. Southeast Asia including China and Vietnam, took 23.3%, the EU took 17.7% and Japan took 7.2%.

In other news, wholesale prices of ikura (salmon roe) are soaring in Japan reflecting the shrinking domestic inventory due to poor harvests of fall chum in Hokkaido. The wholesale price in Tokyo and Osaka has been on a rise since last fall, jumping 30 to 40 percent over the same period of the previous year. A major dealer at Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market notes it is the highest price since Japan's bubble economy period 30 years ago. The price of salted ikura at Tsukiji now stands at 7,500-8,000 yen per kilo ($65 to $70 U.S.), with that of soy-sauced roe being at around 6,500-7,000 yen ($57 to $61 U.S.).

Elsewhere, for one fish plant owner in eastern Newfoundland, the fight to bring sustainable practices to his industry has meant a painful setback that unraveled years of hard work, and the loss of a type of certification that appeals to environmentally conscious consumers. After years of research, and a year of what turned out to be a short-lived victory, this particular fish plant owner was forced to make a difficult decision: he withdrew the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainability certification for the cod fishery off the south coast of Newfoundland. The decision cost him time, money, and a few major customers who were drawn to the vaunted blue MSC label.

In Nova Scotia, fishing groups say the lobster fishery would be better off with an industry-led by-catch monitoring system if the reality is that it’s coming anyway. Three local fisheries organizations say fishermen and industry would be better off to handle it themselves as opposed to having it handed down by DFO. Such is the case with a proposal that could see by-catch monitoring happen in the lobster fishery by the fall of 2018. Three local organizations – Coldwater Lobster Association, the Maritime Fishermen’s Union and the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fisheries Ass