News Summary April 27, 2007
Today’s Main Stories :
Wal-Mart announced that they have pulled Chinese catfish from their shelves nationwide, a day after Alabama’s Agricultural Commissioner announced that tests of Chinese catfish had traces of fluoroquinolones. Wal-Mart said that the antibiotic posed no immediate health concerns, but they wanted to err on the side of caution. This should be an important teaching moment for the seafood industry: companies like Wal-Mart have a much greater stake in maintaining their brand reputation and customer trust than in any single product or category, and they will sacrifice that product in an instant if they feel it harms customer trust. Knowingly selling such a company a short-weight, mislabled or adulterated product is a dangerous game since there is a tremendous liability at stake, far greater than the value of the original product.
In other news, we have an instance of the pot calling the kettle black, as the SSA screams foul because the Louisiana Seafood Association has intervened in the shrimp case by also seeking administrative reviews. The SSA is clearly blowing opportunities to bring money to the domestic industry, starting with their refusal to account for or share the $18 million they collected themselves from overseas companies last year. They have also refused any attempts at settlements that would have protected the domestic industry after Byrd Money runs out. Now they say the LSA is obstructing payments. In our view they never would have been in this situation if they had acted in a more transparent and representative manner. Crying foul about delaying someone’s minimal $4,000 payment while what you really care about is your own multi-million dollar extortion is cheeky, to say the least.
A pollock association in Russia, working with the WWF, has hired Tavel to undertake a preliminary assessment as to whether the Russian pollock fishery might meet MSC criteria for certification. The decision to look into certification came after a trip to the region and meeting in January with WWF-Russia Marine Programme Coordinator Konstantin Zgurovsky and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership CEO Jim Cannon, who had previously advised McDonald’s, and worked with Conservation International. It is obvious that major buyers such as McDonalds would very much like to see Russian pollock certified, especially as supplies of Alaska’s MSC certified pollock are expected to decline due to natural stock fluctuations over the next few years.
We cover more news of the earthquake and tsunamis in Aysen fjord in Chile. 15 salmon farms have been ordered moved or abandoned, and ten people were killed due to 10 foot waves that washed over piers and storage areas. SalmonChile and the government are working on plans to relocate the farms. The area is dangerous due to continuing seismic activity that causes new landslides into the narrow fjord. We have photos, as well as complete coverage. Also we address the continuing issue of Chilean salmon supplies. A Camanchaca director, Gustavo Ross, promised Japanese customers in Tokyo that the company could supply them with Atlantic salmon this year, despite the ongoing production and growth problems in Chile.
Oysters are also in the news today. Virginia is implementing new regs as part of an interstate shellfish agreement to cut vibrio deaths. Under the agreement, states with 2 or more deaths that do not reduce incidents by 40% in 2006 and 60% by 2008 are subject to having federal rules imposed on oyster harvesting. Meanwhile, one vibrio death was reported in Florida this week, of an elderly woman who likely got the disease from eating oysters.
Finally, meet the White Boot Brigade. This is a group of Louisiana shrimpers who are trying to promote fresh Gulf shrimp directly to high end retailers and restaurants. Whole Foods has contributed $15,000 to the effort though special sales of king cakes leading up to Mardi Gras. They presented the check this week, writes Ewell Smith of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board.
Shrimp groups vie for support John Desantis and Emilie Bahr
Staff Writers.
Daily Commet
Article published Apr 27, 2007
Parish councils in Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes have taken sides in a complex and contentious battle between two groups representing shrimpers.
The measures were passed even though some officials involved admitted they lacked sufficient knowledge about the issue.
The Lafourche Parish Council Tuesday voted 8-1 to request that the Louisiana Shrimp Association back off its request for a federal review of tariffs on foreign shrimp associated with a 2004 trade case.
On Monday, the Terrebonne Parish Council passed a similar resolution.
The decisions favor the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the eight-state coalition of fishermen, processors and other industry participants, whose members oppose the Louisiana group’s petition for review.
According to lawyers for the SSA, the Louisiana group’s request will delay 2007 payouts of tariffs collected on certain shrimp.
Last year, shrimpers and others on the Gulf and Atlantic coasts garnered $102 million in tariffs, split between them on the basis of how much damage they had suffered as a result of plunging domestic shrimp prices because of inexpensive imports.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance challenged the tariff findings for some companies last year, in a process called a request for administrative review, but then dropped most of those requests when payouts from the exporters were made directly to the organization.
The practice - although branded extortion by free-trade advocates - is permitted under U.S. trade laws.
The payouts are separate from money split among fishermen and processors as a result of the tariffs.
The Louisiana Shrimp Association could be eligible for similar payouts if its request for administrative review is granted. But the Southern Shrimp Alliance is steadfast in its opposition to the move, stating that there is no longer a reason for the review.
At Tuesday’s Lafourche council meeting Chauvin shrimper and retailer Kimberly Chauvin, an SSA advocate, argued in favor of the resolution.
“LSA has been a thorn in our side,” she said, echoing charges from shrimpers in both parishes that the LSA is a small group not representative of the shrimp industry as a whole.
According to commerce laws, however, the group represents a segment of the industry and has a voice.
The Louisiana group has been critical of the eight-state SSA because it says money received from the review payouts was spent for the good of the organization rather than the industry.
SSA lawyers have said they spent the money on a new office, legal fees for the trade action and to lower its membership fees to allow more fishermen to join.
The LSA has contended Louisiana, the largest shrimp-producing state, had no say in how the money was spent.
But the SSA has countered that its board has five Louisiana representatives.
One of them, Cathy Blanchard of Cut Off, a boat owner, argued for the council to pass the resolution, to “stand up for truth and righteousness.”
Grand Isle shrimp dock owner and processor Dean Blanchard offered a lone voice against the resolution.
The LSA, he said, would withdraw its request “when hell freezes over.”
“We’re not going to back off. Our job is to protect the shrimpers,” said Blanchard, the Louisiana group’s treasurer.
The council, he later said, was not capable of grasping the complexities of the situation.
“They are far from being qualified,” Blanchard said. “You had 20 people from Lafourche Parish that said they wanted it passed and one from Grand Isle that was against it and brought written information. It’s like they passed a resolution that it’s alright to rob banks in Lafourche Parish and if you get caught you have to give half the money back and you don’t have to go to jail. If the same 20 people were advocating child molestation, 20 voters, they would have passed child molestation.”
Lafourche council members acknowledged they were hard pressed to make a decision and uncomfortable having to choose between the two groups.
Councilman Mark Atzenhoffer initially suggested postponing the decision on the resolution to allow for more time to talk to local shrimpers.
“I almost feel like a divorce attorney,” he said before voting to adopt the resolution.
Parish President Charlotte Randolph expressed support for the resolution, helping convince some reluctant council members.
“It’s a hard decision to make, but I’m going to go ahead and support this resolution,” said councilman Lindel Toups.
When the Terrebonne council adopted its resolution, only one member, Councilman Alvin Tillman, raised questions about nobody being there to make the LSA’s case.
April 3, 2007-
The US department of commerce (DoC) has decided to initiate administrative review of 313 shrimp exporters for anti-dumping duty. Incidentally only 74 companies have been exporting shrimp to the US, following the imposition of anti-dumping duty and the matching customs bond.
The DoC has officially notified the decision in its federal registry, leaving out 28 firms included in the list last time. The decision to drop review of these firms, most of which are non-existent, comes in the wake of return of notices sent out during the first review last year.
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) which had originally petitioned the case for anti-dumping duty had sought review of 265 firms and tactfully withdrew the request against 17 firms, hoping that their duty would be at 82.3% since they had not submitted details during the previous review.
However, in another strategic move to keep out the SSA from going for out-of-court-settlements with some firms like it was done the last time and withdrawing their review, Louisiana Shrimp Association sought review against 337 Indian exporters, several of them out of business and some delisted
Only 44 of the 74 firms that have exported to the US during the review period from February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2007 had voluntarily filed requests for the review. And these firms account for around 80% of the exports worth $251.6 million.
After examining the requests, the DoC had finally decided to review 313 Indian exporters and by April 23, these firms would have to reply to queries from the department.
The preliminary determination under the first review had raised the duty from 10.17% to 10.54% and the final findings were expected by September by when the second review process would have been nearly over.
