Thursday, Oct. 1, 10.00 p.m. AST

Record 2014 harvest in Canada

The owner/operator system in Canada allows for 9500 licensed captains - one fisherman, one license, one boat.

Another reason for such a high number of licensed individuals is because "there's fleet separation. Big companies can't buy fishing licenses so it does keep the licenses in small communities," said Lobster Council of Canada Executive Director Geoff Irvine.

Last year lobster fishermen landed a record CAD$800 million from 100 million pounds.

There are two peak seasons: December in the Bay of Fundy (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) and SW Nova Scotia; May/June nearly everywhere.

There are more than 40 lobster fishing areas (LFAs) compared to Maine, which has only seven.

Boat length and style, number of crew, volume of landings, size of business differs in each area as well as type of lobster landed and targeted markets.

"When our landings are down, Maine landings are up and when our landings are up, their landings are down. It keeps processing plants going year-round" and allows steady supply

to the live market, said Irvine.

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Thursday, Oct. 1, 9.45 p.m. AST

The supply chain web

"The supply chain can be very complex or very simple," said Annie Tselikis of the Maine Lobster Dealers Association. "There are million different ways to structure this business."

To get an idea of how complicated the lobster industry is, John Norton of Cozy Harbor Seafood offered a flow chart from harvester to consumer.

Although there are harvesters who can offer lobsters directly to the consumer, harvesters typically bring lobsters to a buying station, co-op or wharf. From there they go to either a primary processor, live lobster dealers (LLD) or a lobster pound.

Lobster pounds are either tidal or land-based and hold surplus lobsters until the offseason to ensure a year-round supply is available.

Primary processors send lobsters to either a

  • value added processor
  • foodservice distributor
  • grocery distributor
  • cruise lines and airline caterers
  • chain supermarkets
  • chain restaurants.

LLDs fall into several categories: local; national and regional; and international and national. These LLDs send lobster to either a

  • supermarket chain
  • independent retailer
  • restaurant chain
  • independent restaurant.

LLDs may distribute lobster through in-market wholsales and importers.

Marketing and importing companies will order lobster from value added processors, foodservice distributors or grocery distributors to then distribute to: institutions, cruise lines and airline caterers, chain supermarkets or chain restaurants.

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Wednesday, Sept. 30, 10.15 a.m. AST

Safety doesn't come cheap

Along with certain prerequisite food safety requirements, seafood processors also need to be in line with HACCP regulations, which cover food safety plans that prevent issues such as parasites and listeria as well as metal detection, said Jason Bolton, food safety specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension School of Food and Agriculture. HACCP identifies all the hazards associated with seafood and seafood processing, from different species and types of processing and packaging.

If you're processing lobster, you look at what products are prepared at a facility. Lobster tails and cooked meat will have different hazards.

"One step further is the third-party certifications, such as BRC and SQF, which look at not just safety but quality of the product. They look at quality and consistency of quality," Bolton said.

"Food safety requirements range from cleanable surfaces and plastic that is food grade to sanitary verification testing."

The crevices and niches in jewelry are "a great place for listeria to hang out. It's very hard to clean jewelry."

However, implementing food safety measures vary company by company depending on in-house quality procedures (IHQP). For example, "some facilities say they don't want to use any buttons in uniforms and prefer snaps or velcro. Some prefer lab jackets to go just to the waist while others want them to go down to the knees."

Companies also need to examine equipment. "Do you have equipment that you can break down easily and clean?" Bolton asked. "IHQP varies because not all companies are going to have the same equipment, the same salmon slicer or fillet machine. It varies on the quality of the equipment too."

Bolton gave 2014 example costs at seafood processing plants similar to Paturel, East Coast Seafood, Maine Fair Trade Lobster and others ... Facilities like these may spend nearly $500,000 per year: 

  • $170,000 - Laboratory Services, such as bacteria microbe testing for shelf life and sanitation
  • $140,000 - Temperature recorders, includes cost to purchase, certifying the equipment, and more
  • $83,000 - Quality Control Samples 
  • $60,000 - Labels
  • $12,000 - Certification
  • $8,000 - HACCP expenses 

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Wednesday, Sept. 30, 12.30 p.m. AST

New net, less problems

The Lobster Academy participants stopped by Cooke Aquaculture's GMG Salmon Net Shop today. GMG's Scott Dougan led the facility tour.

A typical net pen could measure 150 feet in diameter and 100 meters in circumference, he told participants.

Last year, the company began to transition to a new net material with steel built into it. The new material allows for a stronger and improved structure. It's also easier to sanitize, and more resistant to algae growth and seals, which caused issues in the past.

"The old nylon nets we're moving away from, the seals would be able to chew through those after a while," said Dougan.

The nylon nets cost about $4 per pound. Net types varied in durability depending on whether a site was a low, medium or high energy site. High energy sites were exposed to more volatile weather, wind, waves and currents; however these sites used high durability nets, which could become costly. However, these new nets with built-in steel only cost GMG about $5 per pound.

The new nets also take about 30 hours to repair while a nylon smolt net took 100 hours to fix one net. The new nets are made in India, so GMG carries out its own net repair. Dougan said there are too many nets to service and there isn't the capacity anymore to repair and build nets at their location. Divers frequently check nets for holes or other issues.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 1.45 p.m. AST

Meager beginnings

Brett Cooke, True North Salmon supply chain manager, gave a quick history and overview of the company, pulling some facts from the book Salmon Connection by John Anderson -- the namesake of the Lobster Academy's dormitory, the Anderson House.

The first hatchery opened in 1857 in Quebec, followed by another in 1873 in New Brunswick and in 1960, the Norwegian Vik brothers accidentally discovered salmon could be raised in salt water.

"In the early beginnings -- in the 1980s -- we only started with two sites. 1985 was when the next batch of leases were handed out," said Cooke. "This is when my grandfather Gifford, my dad Michael and my uncle Glenn started Cooke Aquaculture in Kelly Cove. Back then we had three small wooden cages and 5,000 fish. We get 5,000 fish every two hours nowadays."

Today, the annual average of Cooke Aquaculture's production in eastern North America is a little more than 500,000 metric tons for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Maine. This number includes steelhead, which is a small percentage of the total.

"Twice a year we move the fish from the hatchery to the salmon farms, in spring and fall," said Cooke, adding that they stagger its batch transfers to allow for year-round supply of salmon.

He said that Cooke Aquaculture has a "four-day advantage" because of its position in Canada but also it's near New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and D.C. and it's able to use its own freight trucks to transport product straight from the plant to these major cities in the matter of hours.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 4.15 p.m. AST

'Big' changes in food safety

Jason Bolton -- food safety specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Exention School of Food and Agriculture -- broke down industry regulations on food safety, including some possibly major changes in upcoming years.

Prerequisite programs for food safety in the United States include Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs) and Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).

"The FSMA (FDA Food Safety Modernization Act) is just coming and about have some big influences in how we do things in the seafood industry," said Bolton.

There are new US regulations dealing with worker hygiene, which involve training workers so they are knowledgeable about product contamination.

"There needs to be sanitation training and facility sanitation training for workers as well as mandatory personnel training records. There is a lot of paperwork involved in meeting food safety guidelines," Bolton said.

"However, a big change is that it's also going to hit hard on cross-contamination training for allergens."

There are nine identified allergens in the United States, such as peanuts and wheat. If you process that in your facility, you have to prove how you're going to prevent those allergen cross-contaminations through sanitation or separation of processing areas.

"Those are some of the things that are going to change over the course of a couple of years as they implement this in the United States," Bolton said.

He explained that regulations will be "less flexible" with labels that say that a product "could" or "may" contain a certain allergen. "It's going to be more definitive. You'll see that change over the next three to five years. Europe has been well ahead of us in the understanding of allergen prevention so we're trying to catch up," Bolton said.

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Tuesday, Sept. 29, 10.00 p.m. AST

Learn it, Eat it

It's only fitting that we feasted on lobster and salmon after learning and dissecting them in classes and lectures.

Dale Nichols, the executive chef of the Algonquin Resort, offered a lobster and salmon dominant menu for Monday night's dinner for the Lobster Academy. He had two experimental items: a lobster lime foam with tomato Sambucca Streaker as well as a white chocolate ice cream with lobster essence and raspberry pearls.

After being dropped off at Paturel International's site on Tuesday afternoon, we briefly hiked through a lightly wooded area to emerge at The Shack.

It was about 1:30 p.m. so the tide had risen about 30 feet from that morning. Our lunch included lobster salad, lobster rolls and clam chowder by the water side.

Later Tuesday night, we bussed over to the Rossmount Inn by the Passamaquoddy Bay for a meal that started with butter poached lobster in its broth with vanilla-parsnip puree and nasturtium oil. This was followed by slow cooked salmon fillet with zucchini-corn-bacon has and oven dried tomatoes, capers and chives.

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Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2.30 p.m. AST

Jeremy Jaden, the Transformer

Tuesday morning launched into in-depth classes with lobster and salmon dissections at the Huntsman Marine Science Center and Aquarium.

Lobster Biology was led by Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, Salmon 101 was led by Caroline Graham, New Brunswick Community College and former Cooke Aquaculture and Heritage employee.

After, Lobster Academy participants boarded the Jeremy Jaden, which is manned by fifth generation lobsterman Jamie Spear and his father Edward.

Jamie Spear's wife, Alison, launched the on-board lecture. Spears' Fishing & Charter is the only vessel in Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 36 to harvest scallops, halibut, lobster and conduct tourism tours. Because of its unique versatility, the family calls its boat the 'Transformer.'

They staged a live lobster hauling with a few in the group volunteering to try their hand at banding lobster claws.

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Tuesday, Sept. 29, 1.00 p.m. AST

An experimenting Cooke

Spears' Fishing & Charter steered its vessel, Jeremy Jaden, over to one of Cooke Aquaculture's salmon farm sites in the Bay of Fundy. This site is leased from the New Brunswick province and went through 12 government agencies for approval.

"There are half a million fish at this one site ready for market in two months," said Lobster Council of Canada Executive Director Geoff Irvine. The fish at the site are currently at an average weight of seven pounds and "this time of year, the salmon put on about one pound a week."

"We have 120 salmon sites in North America, but not all are active" as the company rotates the sites. There is a CAD$20 million ($22.35 million) insurance policy on each site.

"It's a high risk industry but capital intensive." The company also has salmon sites off the coast of Scotland and the southern part of Chile.

Cooke is currently experimenting and researching IMTA sites with the University of New Brunswick and the University of Maine. IMTA, or integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, sites look to "raise salmon alongside kelp and mussels, which uses different trophic levels of the environment," said Irvine.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 9.00 p.m. AST

Lobster: more than just a meal

Maine landed 123 million pounds of lobster in 2014 worth $456.9 million (€407.3 million). "Collectively between the United States and Canada, you're looking at about 300 million pounds of lobster," said Annie Tselikis of the Maine Lobster Dealers Association.

The worldwide farmed salmon industry produced 2.5 million metric tons last year. In comparison, the Maine lobster fishery produced about 56,000 metric tons.

"In terms of fisheries worldwide, this is a very small fishery, but it is a big industry for Maine and its coastal communities," said Tselikis.

The largest lobster landing port in Maine in Stonington, landed 16.4 million pounds of lobster last year worth $57.7 million (€51.4 million).

To show the fishery's importance in this community, its total value of commercial landings for all species last year was $60 million (€53.5 million). This port is ranked 21st in value nationwide and 43rd in volume.

Of the year-round island population of 3,000, about 800 jobs are directly related to lobstering activity while 75 are dock crew, truckers, etc ... There are 450 active fishing boats in Stonington. In total, about $130.3 million (€116.2 million) is derived from fishing alone.

Lobster Council of Canada Executive Director Geoff Irvine gave a similar presentation using his hometown of of Digby, which has 3,000 year-round residents and 265 full-time fishing jobs. This industry generates CAD 18 million (€12 million/$13.4 million) in wages and salaries and CAD 5 million (€3.3 million/$3.7 million) in goods and services to sustain the fleet of about 100 fishing vessels.

This is the largest and most significant economic driver in southwest Nova Scotia.

Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 34 covers Digby to Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia. The 3-year gross stock average was CAD 205,000 (€136,361/$153,036) and 50,000 pounds of lobster.

In LFA 38, which covers Grand Manan, New Brunswick, the 3-year gross average is CAD 196,000 (€130,375/$146,318) and 47,000 pounds of lobster.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 7.10 p.m. AST

Lobster Academy: 'an interesting mix'

Since its inception, the Lobster Academy has expanded in its offerings.

"The first year was just lobster, and then the year after that, we added salmon education," said Andrew Lively of Cooke Aquaculture's marketing division.

The Lobster Academy schedule includes Lobster Biology with Bob Bayer, University of Maine Lobster Institute executive director; tours of salmon hatcheries and farms and academy participants will actually haul lobster traps.

Lively told IntraFish the hands-on experience draws a diverse group of people from all over.

"It's an interesting mix. We have chefs, large seafood buyers, government people, a mix of retail and food service.

"The most common comment we get from people when they leave is the openness, the ability to interact directly with the people in the lobster and salmon business. There's a lot of unknowns about what we do. A lot of people don't fully understand the intricacies of the lobster and salmon business and this is a way to allow people to come in, see who we are, how we operate."

He said he knows many who meet through the academy and "learn about how retail works in different parts of America or Canada as well as how the foodservice side works."

However, he said the in-person experience has a big impact on what people take away from the four-day program.

"I can say all I want about how the tide goes up and down 30 feet a day, but to show people: here's the road that leads to that island and in six hours, you're not going to be able to get there because it's going to be completely covered with water."

That, along with facility tours and lobster hauling are a few activities that offer participants a direct glimpse into different parts of the industry.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 6.15 p.m. AST

​Huntsman, a natural fit

Five years ago, the Lobster Academy and the Huntsman Marine Science Center partnered to offer a new opportunity to the seafood industry.

Huntsman "is an educational and conservation facility in the Gulf of Maine and also serves as a research development facility," said Andrew Lively of True North Salmon, Cooke Aquaculture's marketing division.

Huntsman was a natural fit as it advocates seafood education through its partnerships with about 10 universities and 10 high schools. It mainly caters to students in marine biology.

"More than 35 years ago, a lot of the research that was done in aquaculture was done here. Not a lot of it, actually all of it. It's at the cradle of aquaculture in North America," Lively told IntraFish. "Today, we continue to do research at Huntsman."

Ongoing research at Huntsman ranges from DNA “barcoding,” marine life census projects, aquaculture systems and fish health management studies, including infection models for sea lice and other pathogens, according to the center.

"There's a whole series of temporary aquarium and holding ponds for aquaculture and lobster research," said Lively.

The Lobster Academy docket includes several visits to the center with lobster and salmon aquaculture lectures led by industry veterans and experts.

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Monday, Sept. 28, 5.30 p.m. AST

Hello Lobster Academy

It was partly cloudy and 70 degrees Fahrenheit pulling up to the historic Anderson House on Monday late afternoon.

Lobster Academy participants will spend four days immersed in a lobster and salmon hands-on program and live in either the newly refurbished 20-room Anderson House on the Huntsman Marine Science Center campus or at the nearby Algonquin Resort.

Nearby buildings serve as dormitories for high school and college students funneling through the Huntsman education program.

The week is packed with in-depth lectures, hatchery and salmon farm tours as well as cooking classes and in-person lobster harvesting.

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