Global Shortage of Pandalus Shrimp Means Restart for Fishery in Petersburg, AK
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Alaska Dispatch News] By Sean Doogan - August 12, 2015
A shortage of salad shrimp caused by crashing Atlantic Ocean stocks has small fish processor Tonka Seafoods trying to restart a fishery that was once a mainstay in the Southeast Alaska town of Petersburg.
But warming North Atlantic waters have depleted European stocks and shut down several fisheries on the East Coasts of Canada and the United States. In Europe, prices have jumped from $5 per pound in 2005 to $15 per pound.
Alaska is home to one of the most prized species of salad shrimp, Pandalus borealis. In Petersburg, Tonka Seafoods has just three boats permitted for salad shrimp fishing, but is looking for more as demand for the Alaska species soars.
"We have a different species than you get in other parts of the Pacific Northwest." Tonka Seafoods President Wendell Gilbert said. "And these are what they are looking for in Iceland, because this is exactly the same shrimp they have on the East Coast and in their area."
The shrimp are quick-frozen...
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