But first, as a part of our "What's Good Campaign" (which seeks to spotlight something "Good" happening in the seafood world as opposed to unfortunate news), here is Sofia (a new addition to our seafood news team) to give you this week's "What's Good".

--- An Indonesian scientist and his team have created a filtration prototype capable of separating microplastic particles from water using acoustic waves.

Doctor Dhany Arifianto and his team used two speakers to create the acoustic waves and the force produced was able to separate the microplastics from the water by creating pressure on a tube of inflowing water.

Although further research is required to measure how the frequency of acoustic waves impact marine life, this is certainly fascinating technology to remove microplastics that are released into the environment by cosmetics, clothing, and various industrial processes.



And that's what's good this week in the world of seafood.

--- On March 11th, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an executive order banning Russian seafood imports from entering U.S. ports - a move to hold Russia accountable following the country's attack on Ukraine.

Some of the language used in the executive order still remains to be interpreted (such as whether Russian caught seafood processed in China will be allowed entry into the U.S.), however we can confirm that new contracts are not allowed for Russian value-added and H&G, and any contracts that were in-place before Biden signed the order can still be carried out, but the expected imports must be delivered before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, March 25th.



This order is expected to add even more pressure to the limited availability and higher pricing of Alaska Pacific Cod and Pollock - all while Atlantic Cod and Haddock continue to be short in supply.

To layer on even more obstacles, on the back of the US House passing legislation in February that would expand SIMP from 13 species to all imported seafood - President Biden's new order will be a segway that will expedite broader traceability requirements for all seafood imports into the U.S.

In fact, we have already received inquiries from several high profile private label customers requesting audits on raw material origins - and to that extent, we were able to provide that information without delay.

SIMP stands for Seafood Import Monitoring Program and the new legislation would require additional data elements to be collected such as location of catch, electronic reports of chain-of-custody records, maritime mobile service identity number of harvesting and transshipment vessels, and beneficial owner of each harvesting and transshipment vessel or aquaculture facility.

On the Canadian side, there is already a 35 percent duty on Russian products into Canada and as the Canadian Snow Crab fishery is about to start in late March/early April (with most likely another Total Allowable Catch of around 150 million pounds), it's anyone's guess where the 100 million pounds of Russian Snow Crab will go this year.

In talking to Crab industry veteran Les Hodges, he says "Currently the Russian companies who can, have all moved to servicing the China live market. It's too early to see what the future will bring. But there is no way for them to deliver 100,000 M/t of various crab live."



My advice right now is to source as much North American product as possible - and sooner than later.

As Russian products become more compromised due to the devaluation of the Russian ruble (most Russian supply transactions are paid for in US dollars), to severe supply chain issues and fuel surcharges - buying domestic is the best option right now.

Check our TradexLIVE Seafood Offers Portal daily for a variety of products readily available from all major North American hubs.

And if you are not currently receiving our daily TradexLIVE Spotlight emails - contact your Tradex Foods representative to get on the list.

CHECK OUT OUR #SeaTheGood CAMPAIGN Which Seeks To Spotlight Something “Good” Happening In The Seafood World As Opposed To Unfortunate News. #SeaTheGood

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