I really really really don't like shrimp. I guess those of you who enjoy them on your salad are sane, moral, kind people, but I think shrimp are creepy as all get out. Crunchy. Slimy. Spidery. The only thing grosser(est) that I can think of right now are the fleas I picked off my cat's forehead with a comb and drowned in soapy water this morning.
But, all that aside, sounds like I should probably get a license and go fishing for them...
Image source: Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Seafood processor opens doors in South Bend for shrimp seasonBy KATIE WILSON
June 23, 2014
The Chinook Observer
SOUTH BEND — Jessie’s South Bend, an expansion of Jessie’s Ilwaco Fish Company, is up and running and taking advantage of the collapse of an East Coast pink shrimp fishery.
With Washington in the middle of one of the most abundant shrimp seasons it has likely ever seen, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, fishers and processors are feeling confident and pursuing certification that could allow them to break into overseas markets.
Jessie’s, along with processors Pacific Seafood and Ocean Gold, are pursing MSC certification, the non-profit Marine Stewardship Council’s set of standards to indicate sustainable fishing. They began last year, said Don Alber, president of Alber Seafoods which acquired Jessie’s this year.
This month, Jessie’s began processing ocean pink shrimp at the former East Point Seafood facility in South Bend. Production had been on hold until the Department of Ecology could reissue a required water quality permit that had been held by former tenant, Joel Van Ornum, owner of Dungeness Development, who was evicted from the building earlier this year.
Ocean pink shrimp, Pandalus jordani — the small shrimp Jessie’s is cooking and peeling, popular in salad and other seafood dishes — is similar to the East Coast’s dwindling northern shrimp, Pandalus borealis. Think of them as cousins, though jordani tends to be smaller, sweeter and more moist. (Northern shrimp live in the Pacific Ocean, too, but are not commercially harvested.)
For the last four years, the East Coast’s borealis seasons have been cut short or restricted. In 2011, the season closed early after fishers landed 14.1 million pounds instead of the recommended limit of 5.3 million.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) declared a moratorium on the northern shrimp fishery this year after it showed signs of collapse in 2013. A “Status of the Stocks” document released by ASMFC last month stated the fishery was “overfished and overfishing is occurring.”
But bad news for northern shrimp could mean good news for shrimp trawlers and processors in Oregon and Washington.
“Less shrimp always helps,” said Brad Pettinger, director of the Oregon Trawl Commission. He estimates that the global supply of shrimp, while not quite half of what it used to be, is approaching that number fast, which makes the Pacific Northwest’s current abundance a valuable commodity.
“This is the ‘good old days,’” Pettinger said. “This fishery has never been better.”
‘Unknown but assumed stable’
As of July 12, Washington shrimp fishers had landed 17.8 million pounds of shrimp. Total landings vary from year to year, and fishers normally see a final number that’s closer to 9 million pounds though last year fishers landed approximately 13.2 pounds. The average ex-vessel price per pound has also been climbing, from $0.27 a pound in 2002 to $0.47 in 2012.
There is no limit, no quota, on the amount of shrimp fishers can haul in. And though there is abundance now, the shrimp fishery is like any other: Weather and other factors can mean the difference between a great season or a bad one.
Of concern this season is the prediction of an El Nino year. The shrimp need cold water to thrive, said Lorna Wargo, coastal marine fisheries manager for WDFW. She has been involved with the shrimp fishery for about 15 years.
“An El Nino could turn this season on a dime,” she said.
And, she added, “there’s really no way to assess the shrimp population directly.” They’re either there or they aren’t.
WDFW’s informational webpage about the fishery simply states, “Pink shrimp abundance off the coast of Washington is unknown but assumed stable.”
Marketing shrimpWhile the collapse of the East Coast fishery may have opened the door for West Coast shrimp to find a wider market, Christa Svensson, who handles sales and marketing at Bornstein Seafoods in Astoria, is cautious.
“I think there are a lot of positive signs, but there are some inherent challenges,” she said.
The two most basic hurdles, as she sees them, are the customers’ familiarity (or lack of) with the West Coast product and the story the industry can tell about the product. Also, to get into almost any European market, MSC certification is a must, Svensson said.
“It’s like any market,” she said. “You can go into most markets, it’s just how successful will you be there? I think there is room to grow but it will be industry driven. I don’t think it will be only fishermen or only processors. It will be all of us together.”
The shrimp fishery in Oregon is MSC certified and, historically, larger than Washington’s, bringing in an average of 26 million pounds of shrimp every year for the last 31 years. It is regulated and organized, and has been for years.
In Washington, the fishery has been managed more through gear regulations. A mandatory logbook program, discontinued in 1993, has since been reinstated and beginning in 2010, federal observers came aboard. But their priority is the groundfish fishery; they aren’t on every shrimp boat and they don’t go on every trip.
Jobs for South Bend
Jessie’s South Bend facility has brought a much-needed spark of development to the city. South Bend has struggled since the economic downturn and the decline of the timber industry. Now, Mayor Julie Struck is encouraged by the number of jobs the seafood company has brought to the community: 60, currently, with the possibility of more in the future.
“That’s almost twice what was employed there before,” said Dee Roberts, city clerk and treasurer.
Many of the new hires had worked for Dungeness Development and lost their jobs when Van Ornum was evicted. Van Ornum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. According to South Bend city officials, East Point property owner Odin Bendiksen and Alber, he still allegedly owes thousands of dollars in unpaid bills.
Jessie’s South Bend will be a seasonal operation for now, focused on shrimp processing, but Alber hopes to add other products to the mix eventually. He plans to add salmon products at the Ilwaco location this year. Jessie’s hasn’t been involved in making salmon products before, he said, but Alber Seafoods has bought fish from tribal fisheries and on the Columbia River for a number of years.
He thinks it’s a good year to jump into the salmon processing business, too. With a 2 million fish run predicted for fall Chinook and coho, “the other processors are going to be overwhelmed,” he said.
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