Frozen at Sea, FAS, is the fastest way to stop seafood from deteriorating.  Once the seafood is caught and on board the factory vessel, it gets processed and immediately frozen.  This can occur within minutes or hours of the fish or shellfish being caught.  Often times the product has never had a chance to go through rigor mortis.   When this product is thawed under refrigeration, it has all the characteristics of just caught seafood and is almost ‘fresher than fresh’.

There are many seafood species or products that are Frozen at Sea.  Some of the finest eating seafood is processed this way and its ‘freshness’ is truly captured.  Items such as South African Lobster Tails, Patagonian Toothfish (Chilean Seabass), Cape Capensis Fillets, & Sashimi Swordfish Loins are just a few of the many seafood items that have superb quality because they are FAS. These products have been handled quickly and properly from ocean to freezer and their ‘freshness’ exceeds the non-frozen, chilled versions of the same product.

When evaluating the best option for your seafood needs, remember that in many instances, FAS seafood offers the finest quality available.  Just because a product has never been frozen, doesn’t mean it is the best or ‘freshest’ product in the marketplace.

General State of Seafood

Seafood in the News

By Richard Stavis

Last month I stated that fishmongers should band together to promote seafood. Since then, seafood has been in the news consistently, but the news has been focused on crises rather than the positive benefits of eating seafood.  I’ve been called by local papers and radio stations to provide an expert opinion from the seafood industry on the impact of these various crises. First it was volcanic ash, then, the water main break in Boston, and finally, the attention settled on the Gulf oil spill. I am always happy to speak for the seafood industry in an effort to get the truth across.  This said I’m somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that these “crisis” stories are becoming bigger than they should be and that they might start to define seafood.  If all of the media attention is crisis related, will the public get the idea that seafood in general is in crisis?

I’m not naïve- I understand the appetite of the public for news about the disaster du jour.  I’ve been there scanning the internet trying to find out more about a situation, whether serious or trivial (I admit it- I followed the Jay/Conan debacle).  The media looks to meet the demand for content and it widens its net.  From some angles the situation can then seem larger than it is. Is that what I am doing?  Am I helping feed the flame?

I’ve done my best to provide the public with the relevant information they need. When talking about the volcanic ash, for example, I brought up the disruption in supply to the market of European Atlantic Salmon.  I also made it clear that while the price of Salmon was rising, the increase was not solely due to the ash, and buyers would still have ample supply to purchase from. When asked about the water quality problem, I shared the steps that Stavis took to ensure that all fish going out the door was safe.  When discussing the gulf oil spill, I highlighted the 2 seafood items that we source from the gulf, Oysters and Shrimp, but also confirmed that we would continue to have product to sell. I hope all of these comments were helpful to consumers and did not overemphasize the impact of these issues.

Maybe the best thing to do is to balance the scales.  More and more specie are being certified as sustainable.  Countries, processors, and individuals are making great strides every day improving the quality and the safety of the seafood that is getting to your table.  Seafood is saving lives every day by improving the health of its consumers.   Let’s focus on “good news” seafood stories.

General State of Seafood

Fishmongers: A Fractious Bunch
By Richard Stavis

Fishmongers are a secretive bunch, who primarily do not work well in groups.  Why is this the case?  It probably has to do with the sheer diversity of products, harvest methods, and regions of production, all of which limit consolidation in the industry and create small groups of marketers who are working at cross purposes. 

This isolated approach is the opposite of what we see with most major protein food groups, where the heavy hitter producers hang together.  For example, in the milk industry suppliers contributed hard earned money to pay for the famously successful “Got Milk?” campaign. While merchants might fight about whether Garelick Farms is better than Hood, they all work together and collectively reap the benefits.  Want a couple more examples?  Do any of you remember when James Garner said “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner”?  Maybe you’ve heard of “the incredible, edible egg” or been tempted to eat “the other white meat”?  These promotional campaigns are all great examples of companies putting aside their differences to promote their industry as a whole.

We had the opportunity to do the same to promote seafood, but we blew it.

The National Seafood Marketing Council was established on December 7, 1989 under the Fish and Seafood Promotion Act of 1986 (16 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) to help the seafood industry promote the consumption of domestically harvested seafood. The Council was meant to act as an independently managed group representative of the seafood industry and funded by an industry wide assessment made at point of harvest or point of import.  The Federal Government even primed the program with money; some of it paid for national televisions ads.  The ads featured the national “Spokesfish”, a “Sturgeon General” who extolled the benefits of the wide variety of flavorful and healthy seafood.  So what happened?  The industry took the government money but voted against a mandatory assessment at the first receiver level when the money ran out.  The council was eventually disbanded.

What are the chances of getting a council together now?  Virtually nil.  We’re unlikely to see federal seed money to start this off again.  Additionally, the industry is so diverse that it’s doubtful that we could get enough of the major players together to make anything happen.  This is a real shame.  Our products are often under attack by well funded special interest groups that put out a stream of negative information about seafood, frequently focused on health and sustainability.  Is the information true?  Some of it is factually true, but it’s often given out of context or without a counterbalance.  For example, mercury is an issue in some seafood, but not all.  Consumers don’t understand how mercury affects their health.  As a result many adopt a “zero tolerance” approach and avoid species that contain mercury or even worse, all fish.  The benefits of eating seafood regularly outweigh the potential negative effects of the occasional consumption of seafood with mercury.  Similarly, the plethora of organizations promoting sustainability in seafood to the general public give a confusing mass of information that is often contradictory.  Some over generalize (looking at species instead of fisheries) and steer customers to a narrow band of a few species of seafood, suggesting that those are the only fish that may be eaten. Why do they do this?  In some instances product doesn’t meet their narrow definition of the word “sustainable” because of environmental effects rather than endangered fisheries.  In other instances the fishery just simply isn’t big enough to get on a top ten list.  The end result is still that customers are not comfortable eating sustainably harvested fish because of a lack of information.

What can we do?  Get the facts and communicate them as much as we can.  Offer our customers true, useful information.  Make responsible decisions about seafood by knowing enough about what we’re buying and selling to justify our actions.  Band together where possible, either along location, species sold, or with wider industry based organizations.  We are stronger together than apart!

General State of Seafood

International Boston Seafood Show Time

by Ruth Levy

The International Seafood Show starts next week and for those of us who work in Boston this is one of the most hectic weeks of the year.  Vendors, customers, booth & day to day business all compete for our time. You wish you had extra hours in the day to fit everything in and you hope to find the time to walk the show in order to satisfy your curiosity regarding what might be new and innovative.  There is always something new to see whether it be fish, packaging or marketing ideas.

This is not a stagnant industry.  Each year there are new things to see and learn and new connections to make.  Our industry is very relationship based and as you walk the aisles of the show you see friends & foes from many years.  The first show was held at the Park Plaza Castle and was smaller than the foyer of the current convention center.  I was just in the beginning of my seafood career then and met people that I still see and do business with today.  My learning curve might have changed over the years, but there are always new insights gleaned from meeting the people you do business with face to face.

It is not just the product that makes this business interesting, but also it is the people you do business with that make this industry an adventure.  I look forward to the yearly opportunity to reconnect and I wish all that are attending a good show and a grand adventure!

General State of Seafood

Who gets the fish?

by Ruth Levy

The New Year approaches and especially with the change of a decade it is a time for reflection, resolutions and of course predictions.  We have all experienced the changes that have occurred this past decade so I prefer to look forward to what might be ahead.  My crystal ball is subject to operational error, so I give myself the disclaimer of ‘Subject to Change’.

‘Subject to Change’ has certainly been the mantra of seafood prices and availability.  Looking ahead, I see this continuing and intensifying.  Seafood prices hit some historic lows this past year and have been correcting themselves since.  With a relatively weak dollar (although the current strengthening is very welcome!) and a hungry world population, there is major competition for the last wild hunted food group.  Farm raised seafood does help to ease some of this demand.  However, when a major farmed seafood category like Atlantic Salmon is at historic production lows for 2010, or Basa production is predicted to be lower, the question becomes:  Who is going to get the fish?  Is it just those that can pay? How does ’sustainability’, ‘green movement’ or ‘carbon footprint’ impact this?

We all have heard how India and China are the upcoming world powers.  Will they get the fish and if so, at whose expense?  Currently both countries are global sources of seafood. When will they start to consume most of what they produce?   Already, certain species remain for local consumption and are not entering the global marketplace.

For me, one of the big issues in the year or years ahead is ‘Who gets the fish’.  Overall seafood supply is not going to increase that dramatically.  No longer is it just ‘Who can afford the fish’ as there are more and more populations that are able to pay.  Is the trend to ‘local consumption’ a preview of what is ahead for seafood?  Our business is a global business.  But as with everything, a correction is due here as well.  My crystal ball isn’t clear enough to know when this ‘global correction’ will happen.  The dynamics for ‘getting the fish’ are not just going to be based solely upon price.  Other factors will enter in as we start to define in the next decade ‘Sustainability’, ‘Buy Local’, ‘Carbon Footprint’ etc.  So be ready, ‘Subject to Change’ remains a basic fundamental to sourcing and supplying seafood.

I wish everyone a Very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

General State of Seafood

Sustainability

Bringing the sustainable issue home to the everyday consumer is something that we have yet to do.  I wonder what the result would be if we each went home and asked our spouse, children and friends what MSC meant; how many would come back with the correct answer?  If your results are anywhere near the results that I have seen over the past few days, it’s pretty dismal.  Out of 8 people I asked - only one had the correct answer.  This is from a group of individuals that you would think by sheer proximity to the issue would have known the answer through osmosis.  If this small group from the seafood industry does not know what MSC represents and tries to create in terms of sustainability -  how can we expect the consumer at large to know the answer? 

 The seafood industry needs to address the issue of sustainability with the consumer quickly and directly.  It needs to speak to the myriad of news articles that lead the American consumer to believe that, as an industry, we have disregarded our responsibilities as stewards of the environment.  MSC needs to make itself relevant to the end consumer.  Once the MSC reaches the end consumer, it will make itself more relevant to the industry as a whole and not just the supplier community. This means that more time and energy needs to be spent developing a dialogue with the end consumer.  This can be done through well place print ads highlighting the fisheries that are certified sustainable by MSC along with a targeted Public Relations campaign.  The MSC and seafood industry can raise consumer awareness and in the process, increase consumption of seafood.

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Global Aquaculture Alliance Conference

It has been a very informative and interesting week out here in Seattle at the 9^thannual Global Aquaculture Alliance Conference. The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) is a group of members of the seafood industry from all different aspects of the business. There are Processors, Retailers, Foodservice Fortune 500 companies, Distributors and many scientists and industry professionals; all dedicated to the continuation of sound aquaculture practices for farm raised species all over the globe.

The largest topic at this meeting has been about trying to understand the “true” meaning of the word “sustainability.” The global marketplace today has many concerns with respect to aquaculture. The environmental aspects, the social aspects - workplace conditions, underage labor, the food safety issues of producing  healthy and wholesome foods and the traceability from the individual farms through to the processors and then to the distribution chains.  We learned that there are 4 major components of aquaculture which need to have standards and monitoring in order to be deemed a  sustainable system:  The Hatchery, the Individual Farms or Groupings of Farms, the Feed Mills and the Processors. Each group along the way must be committed to creating a sustainable way to bring the end product to the table while following the Best Practices set out by the GAA and others.

The conference focused on many different seafood products that are being farmed today. Salmon, Tilapia, Pangasius, Cod, Cobia, Trout, Catfish and Shrimp to name just a few.  As a whole, the group could vote on different questions put forward and automatically see the results with the new technology that the conference utilized (a smart board questionnaire). The group as a whole stated that we need a single certifying agency that all aquaculture can adhere to (presently there are many certifying agencies), and that the farmed products be wholesome and chemical-free. The group all agreed that the consumers are demanding that the seafood they eat be harvested in a way that does not hurt the surrounding environment and that the businesses involved have a strong sense of social responsibility. Interestingly enough, the group also agreed that while the consumers want these aspects in their farmed food the consumers were not willing to pay more for it!!!

As a buyer of many farmed species, I must say that it was a real pleasure to come together with my customers, vendors and notable scientific officials, to discuss the real time happenings of seafood aquaculture. There is an enormous amount of work still to be done; however there have been many successes as well. In two weeks I’ll be off to the real farms to take what I learned in “Aquaculture Class” this week.  I will be actually speaking  with the shrimp farmers in Thailand to see what is really happening at the farm level - stay tuned……..

General State of Seafood

Eat Seafood Twice a Week!

I just returned from attending the Groundfish Forum held in Iceland.  The leaders of the world’s groundfish industry were all present discussing the status of groundfishstocks and markets.  As this is an invitation only event I always feel privileged to be included in such esteemed company.  Two presentations stand out in my mind given by speakers reporting on the retail and foodservice sectors of the US.  Independently, both presenters had come to a similar conclusion:  Seafood has an unprecedented, historic opportunity ahead!

As a protein, seafood is always fighting the price issues compared to beef, pork and chicken.  Seafood historically has been higher priced than these alternatives.  This price difference has been a detriment to expanding seafood consumption in the US.  However the trends ahead might just level this playing field. 

Due to a variety of reasons, there are less cows and pigs being raised than in the past.  If the economic data is to be believed prices on these proteins should rise as supply decreases.  The price difference between seafood and warm blooded protein should be much less than in the past.  Also, warm blooded protein does not offer the health benefits that seafood does.  We have an aging, fatter population in the US that truly needs fish in their diet.  The health benefits are well documented. We, the seafood industry, need to get the message out there!  Eat seafood twice a week!

In the macro picture of protein this could be unprecedented times. There will be the less of a price difference for seafood when compared to warm blooded protein alternatives. We, the seafood industry need to take advantage of this minimized pricing differential.  But in order to take full advantage, we need to present seafood as one industry to the marketplace, not fragmented into specie groups.

Having battle scars from earlier efforts to form a cohesive seafood marketing plan, (does anyone remember “Generic Marketing”?), it really is time to put our specie differences aside and approach the marketplace with the healthy, cold blooded protein known as Seafood.  Whether it is squid, tilapia, shrimp, octopus or bluefish….seafood consumption in the US has a chance to grow.  The pricing barrier vs. other proteins will be at its lowest level and the need for a healthy, fun protein alternative is at its highest level. Let’s take advantage of this historic opportunity, join forces, and with one voice send a clear message to the consumer:  Eat seafood twice a week!

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 What’s my fish worth?

I remember a conversation I had with my Uncle Eddie back in the late 80’s when I was a relative greenhorn in the business.  I’d had 3 or 4 years of buying experience under my belt and thought that I had a pretty good idea what this business was about.  Ecuador was king when it came to Shrimp, and shell-on was the only way to go.  The import cost of 50/60 count shrimp had just plummeted from 3.20/lb down to the unheard of price of 2.80/lb!  I tried to make the argument with Ed to take whatever capital we had and buy as many 50/60’s as we could lay our hands on because the item had gotten so cheap that it was selling below the base intrinsic value for the Shrimp.  Ed was very quick to point out to me that there is NO intrinsic value in Seafood.  Your fish is only worth what your customer is willing to pay you for it.

20 years later Ed’s words hold up better than ever.  Those 50/60’s that I would have felt safe selling at 2.95/lb are now worth 2.60/lb or less, and that size is one of the least affected by the deflation in the value of Shrimp.  Most sizes of Black Tiger Shrimp are at prices in the low end of the 10 year trading range.  Domestic Shrimp has taken a bigger hit, as it is now considered to be less valuable in the market than tigers, a total reversal in attitude!  Domestic Shrimp are selling at prices lower than they were in 1985, and that’s not taking into account the erosion in the value of a dollar.  In real terms the shrimp is selling for less than half what it did back then!

Let’s not limit our discussion to the value of Shrimp.  You can find similar examples with other species including Snow Crab, Warm and Cold water Lobster tails and meat, fresh Swordfish, and dozens of other products, all of which are trading at or below the prices that they’ve sold at any time during the last 20 years.  At the same point we have other items where prices are zooming.  Farmed Salmon fillets were worth 4.10/lb on average in September 2007.  They’re selling for 5.50-5.75/lb now.  Scallops are selling at or slightly ahead of the prices that they were at last year.  Frozen Swordfish prices have jumped about 20% in the last 2-3 months.  The general trend at the moment is deflationary, but there are items that are bucking the trend.

What’s the answer to the question up top?  Your fish is worth what your customer will pay for it AT THE MOMENT WHEN IT IS NEEDED.  If you’re a speculator in stocks or precious metals you may want to speculate in seafood as well.  This is perfectly fine as long as you follow basic rules.  Don’t invest before you research the market.  Be careful buying commodities that are not openly traded, where it is more difficult to establish a current market price.  Be realistic about whether you can sell your purchase when it comes time to liquidate- don’t buy more than you can move in a reasonable timeframe.  Don’t gamble what you can’t afford to lose. Finally, don’t forget- fish is not gold or even wine- it doesn’t get better with age!

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The Luxury Backlash

This economic disaster has created widespread commodity deflation. With the exception of Farmed Salmon, which is suffering from a major crop failure in Chile, we have seen prices drop. Sometimes these price drops can be good for a product. Lower prices, historically, have lead to increased consumption, and we’ve seen this on a number of items this year. There are a category of items however that have experienced a disproportionate drop in value and seen consumption drop to boot. I’m talking about luxury seafood items. 

What is a luxury seafood item? You’d think that it would be defined by price, but that is only part of the story. Perception is the other part of the equation. How many people are buying Hummers right now? Not a lot. It’s not solely based on the cost.  According to Carprice.com the base price of a Hummer is $32,345. The base price of a Toyota Avalon is $32,145, virtually identical. The Hummer is actually cheaper on the lot. People aren’t buying Hummers because of the message of “in your face” luxury and crass commercialism. Three years ago it was a status symbol. Now, it’s an embarrassment. This same thing is happening in Seafood.

What have been the biggest losers this past year in seafood? Jumbo Lump Pasteurized Crabmeat, Jumbo Shrimp and Lobster tails. These items dropped in value precipitously when the economy softened. The worst part was that consumption dropped more quickly than the prices, and no amount of discounting could bring that customer base back into the fold. We’re almost a year into the new economic reality and what do we see with these items? The pricing is still at or near historic lows and demand is still relatively low. What’s to be done?

We have to reposition these seafood items and make them accessible to a wider range of customers. We have to take the smaller sizes of lobster tails and sell them at retail as an affordable luxury. We need to get large shrimp on the menus of midrange restaurants in preparations that are not too “snotty” and at prices that are reasonable. We need to change customers’ perceptions of the position of these items in the marketplace.

It wasn’t just our 401k values that changed when the economy went south. We also have experienced a major shift in culture, away from flash and pretention and towards modesty and value. No one is sure how long the economy will be bad. Similarly we don’t know when or whether we will see a shift in cultural values. We need to live in the present and build our business based on current realities. If we do this, we’ll create a stronger and more stable base of demand for all products.

General State of Seafood Add new tag, convenience, fresh, frozen, market, massachusetts seafood, miami seafood, quality, retail, seafood companies, seafood company, seafood distributors, seafood expert, seafood experts, seafood products, stavis, value