Alaska seafood industry braces for China tariff pain
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
SEWARD, Alaska (Reuters) - Alaska fishermen are used to coping with fickle weather and wild ocean waves. Now they face a new challenge: the United States’ trade war with China, which buys $1 billion in Alaskan fish annually, making it the state’s top seafood export market.
Beijing, in response to the Trump administration’s move to implement extra levies on Chinese goods, last month imposed a 25 percent tariff on Pacific Northwest seafood, including Alaskan fish, in a tit-for-tat that has engulfed the world’s two largest countries in a trade war.
The results could be “devastating” to Alaska’s seafood industry, the state’s biggest private-sector employer, said Frances Leach, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska, the state’s largest commercial fishing trade group.
“This isn’t an easily replaced market,” she said. If the tariff war continues, she said, “What’s going to happen is China is just going to stop buying Alaska fish.”
For Alaska’s seafood industry, the timing could not be worse. The state has worked for years to attract the Chinese market, and just two months ago, Governor Bill Walker led a week-long trade mission to China in which the seafood industry was heavily represented.
Fisherman Alan Noreide is pictured on his boat, the Lorelei II, in Seward, Alaska, U.S., August 4, 2018. REUTERS/Yereth Rosen
Walker’s trade mission was a follow-up to an Alaska visit a year earlier by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his cabinet.
Fishermen are worried, said Alan Noreide, a fisherman in the Alaska port town of Seward, where he delivers some of his catch to the local Icicle Seafoods plant, an Alaska-based seafood processing company whose representatives accompanied Walker to China.
“We’d rather be left to our own challenges that we have. We don’t need any more,” said Noreide, who focuses on Gulf of Alaska black cod and halibut.
Marketers have found that middle-class Chinese customers view Alaska fish, particularly wild Alaskan salmon as a superior product from unspoiled waters.
Chinese buyers are interested in “clean, natural, organic” products, said Zoi Maroudas, founder of an Anchorage-based baby food company that sells products like pureed salmon bisque. Maroudas was part of the Alaska trade mission, and said the pitch about Alaskan food “resonated with the people.”
But higher prices due to tariffs could nudge Chinese consumers to products from competing countries such as Russia and Norway, closing Alaska’s emerging opportunity, said Jeremy Woodrow of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, a state agency.
Boats docked at the marina are pictured in Kodiak, Alaska, U.S., February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Yereth Rosen
Farmers in the U.S. Midwest are expected to receive a $12 billion agricultural-aid package as a result of tariffs that are hitting soybean and other farmers. Walker and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski have argued that Alaska’s seafood industry also deserves aid.
The precise effects in Alaska have yet to be quantified and are likely to be uneven. A bit over half of the fish sent to China is processed there and re-exported, Woodrow said. While the Chinese government has exempted those products from tariffs, the Trump administration has proposed levies of up to 25 percent on the Alaska products shipped back from China to the United States.
Exports of fish that go straight into the Chinese consumer market, such as king crab, are most vulnerable, said Garrett Evridge, an Alaska seafood analyst.
Reporting By Yereth Rosen in Seward, Alaska, and Kodiak, Alaska; editing by David Gaffen and Susan Thomas
Industries that we generally don't think about are being effected big time.
Maine and Florida lobster fishermen are taking a real hit as are dairy farmers.
These industries can't move their production to another country nor do they have the financial backing to survive a tariff war for very long.
Will the administration be supporting these industries like it's done for the farmers?
We shall see.
Good points all.
From what I've seen, lobsters in China are really expensive, and I don't think most Chinese people know how to eat them. I once watched someone beside me pick away at the tail, when the proper thing is to pull the whole meat out of the tail in one piece. As well, the first time I saw lobster eaten here, they undercooked it, and shredded the tail meat, and served it while the legs were still twitching, which could have meant it was still alive. This is a photo of it:
All the white stuff under and around the tail is the shredded meat. I love lobster but I couldn't eat that.
It seems this is traditionally the way lobster is eaten in the Orient,
Yeah I've seen it eaten that way in Japan and Korea, Galen.
Interesting way to eat lobster...
Wild caught salmon seems to be the biggest export to China.
The industry is really going to suffer if this trade war keeps up. They don't have the luxury of moving their production and they do not have the finances to take a beating for long.
Chinook salmon is their main fish food and they are on the endangered species list already.
Alaska could just stop exporting fish. We have a lot going to Japan and the EU but that isn't going to settle the problem for the Alaskan fishing industry.
I did follow that Orca that carried her calf for 17 days. One of the main concerns was that she would develop a skull bumb. It seems that if that happens they are starving and with her that wasn't the case. She was feeding fine.
Production of food and fresh water, IMO, are going to be on the top of the list for survival.
Actually I'm in complete agreement with your statement.
True, too bad that the oceans temps are rising, which will disrupt the food chain. Oh well, at least big business will make big profits in the short term.
The day could come when America invades Canada for the fresh water. Canada has about 20% of the world's supply.
What choices do people have, when whichever way we turn is wrong? Eat the seafood so we can survive but the fish cannot, or don't eat the seafood so the fish survive and we don't? How about Soylent Green?
Russia has the biggest inland fresh water lake in the world.
Overpopulation is the real problem
If they're still alive, then they get to bite back. Only seems fair.
Kav, have you talked to Don lately? He might have a first hand perspective on the problem faced by the fishermen.
Only too true. Barring an expansion to another planet, worldwide population must be cut....drastically. The problem is that humans are not likely to cut it through birth control measures. If we don't expand living space or cut population through birth control then Dr. Malthus will do it for us. That means that the four horsemen will ride and that will not be pleasant (what an understatement).
I haven't spoken to him in a while TTGA. I believe he's up in Alaska right now on one of the fishing boats.
Agree 100%.
There is something about fresh seafood straight out of the water that can't be beat. But I don't want to eat it while it is still moving around.
I love sushi....
If you know Sushi, like I know Sushi. Oh Oh Oh what a fish.
Actually it's Siouxshee and I know Siouxshee.
Indeed you do.
Enoch (Levi).
LOL. Add a little wasabi, you will think it is cooked.
In all seriousness, even cooked yet straight out of the water is fantastic.
When young and freshwater fished with my Dad after tree jobs, the first couple fish we caught were pan cooked right there on a log fire.
I can tell you, it took me a decade to get store bought fish past my nose let alone eat.
Round of applause for Enoch and Kavika.
Tip your jokers.
Be here all week.
E.
Siouxshee and the bland cheese?
Well of course.
You got 2 tens for a five?
When I was a kid, my dad took me out on a lake in Ontario's lake country, with a guide. We caught fish in the morning, and stopped at a small unoccupied island in the lake where the guide lit a fire and after he filleted the fish, pan fried them, and it was absolutely delicious. Many years later I did the same when I would catch bass and perch just 100 feet in front of my lakeside home in the morning, and then pan fry them for lunch.
By the way, everyone, it is shashimi, not sushi, where a slice of uncooked fish is spread over a ball of sticky rice. There is very little fish in sushi.
Indeed, nothing better then holy cheese.
Absolutely.
Fresh fish like that is sweet and delicious.
I have found a good breakfast to be taking any leftovers of fish and mashed potatoes to mix together as fish/potato pancakes in the morning.
Spice to taste.
A couple eggs, easy over, on top is good too.
I stopped eating seafood after the oil spill in the gulf.
They found contamination for a long time.
Nice. Went out on the boat yesterday.
Several weeks ago they found a dead alligator along the bank of the river.
The contamination is no where near what it was. I am still just leery about it.
Believe it or not the best fishing around here is out around the oil rigs.
Years ago, group from work would charter a boat from there 2 times a summer. We stayed with one guy's sister and had a fish fry and BBQ at their house, great times and we always caught fish
When I was younger, Uncle lived in Newport News and when we visited he would get a boat and fishing we would go
Hey Dave, I'm going to try that, with my own ideas mixed in - sounds like a great meal. I'll mix up some mashed potatoes with mashed canned tuna, mix some flour with a touch of baking powder and milk and a scrambled egg, and a touch of vegetable oil - mix it all together and fry it up like pancakes in a buttered pan. In fact I'll try that for dinner tonight.
Have you seen my recipe for banana-blueberry pancakes in the "6 Ingredients" group?
Thank sounds good Buzz. Hope it turns out well.
Catfish is my favorite for this. Selection in catfish is important. I do not know if you can get Old Bay seasoning, that goes well.
I haven't seen that recipe. I will have to check that out.
Okay I tried it for supper. Mixed mashed potatoes, tunafish, flour, milk, a touch of baking powder and vegie oil, an egg, and mixed it all together and pan fried dollops of the mix in butter - and it was really great - I did eat the pancakes with a little ketchup and drank orange/cranberry juice - a really good meal. Got 3 leftover pancakes for snacks.
Although I used to enjoy catfish - there's none to be found here.
At least they are not shellfish about it.
Shirley they are.
I just want to wish you all good luck.
And please, stop calling me Shirley!
Shirley I will, soon.
Oh, "groan".
Ah, a movie reference, from the movie "Airplane". LOL
Good question.
If the answer to this question is yes, then there is an upside to the situation.
I am not familiar with the situation in the north Pacific, but for quite a while now, there have been periodic articles voicing concern of north Atlantic seafood populations.
At least a year has passed since the last time I read one of these articles. Maybe the situation has improved, but a rest bit might be a good idea.
I don't think we fully realize all the inter dependencies of things that hold the the oceans and seas ecosystems in balance.
For example, last years Chesapeake blue crab population was supposed to be one of the better years based on what the watermen were seeing in the environment the time leading up to the crabbing season. Yet the crab population was not good.
I haven't bothered to look this year.
Anyhow, little less pressure on the seafood populations in our waters my be a good thing.
I wonder how many respect our waters?
The fishing industry in Alaska is their largest home industry...From what I've seen and experienced through local fisherman there, they catches are carefully monitored.
That is good news Kavika. The seas contain a bounty for us, as long as we keep our greed in check.
I knew quite a few commercial fishermen when I lived in AK. A few of them would meet up with their Russian counter parts and horse trade. The Russians would get a nice load of fish and my friends ended up with premium vodka, caviar, and occasionally those really cool fur hats.
I have a friend, actually a nt member as well, that is a commercial fisherman in Alaska. He has told me the same stories..LOL...
I can see Alaska from my boat deck...LOL
Righteous trade.
The best fish I ever had was in Alaska. I caught an 11 pound cod and it was right tasty.
We used to eat fresh halibut all the time and fresh salmon
I sure do miss Alaska
People get along, it's governments that can't.
One of my neighbors in AK was a commercial smoker. He used to sell me smoked salmon for about 25 cents a pound. When I moved back to the lower 48, I went into sticker shock the first time I went looking for smoked salmon.
LOL, .25 cents per pound......For goodness sake Paula was that in the 1920's??
25 cents/pound???? Holy smoked salmon, Batman!
Mr Giggles smokes his own because of the cost of it here in the Lower 48
My neighbor always had plenty of smoked scraps and would gather them up to sell to me. This was around 1975.