The long, cold, dark days of February are behind us. And right smack in front of us is Seafood Expo North America (SENA) 2025.
So, break out those Dr. Scholl's inserts, charge those backup phone batteries, and, for the love of sweet and crispy coconut-fried shrimp, make sure you have your QR code handy to get your badge! But most importantly -- download the new episode of Catch the Current!
Pre-game for the biggest seafood event in North America with Catch the Current co-hosts and seafood fin-atics Amanda Buckle and Lorin Castiglione. What big trends will emerge from the show floor? What new products should you keep an eye out for? And will the pink suits make their epic return?
Lorin (L) and Amanda (R) in their Barbie-era circa SENA 2023.
No. The answer is "no" for the last question. But there is a chance that the green suits may make their Boston debut in honor of St. Patrick's Day on day two of SENA. Keep your eyes peeled for Amanda and Lorin -- they'll likely be sampling something while chewing into a mic.
Listen below to get ready for the Boston seafood show with Amanda and Lorin. Plus, Undercurrent's Barb Dean-Simmons and Gary Morrison join to give the latest updates on snow crab ahead of the new season opener in Canada.
Subscribe now! Catch the Current is available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Pandora and other major podcast streaming platforms. Don't see Catch the Current on your favorite app? Reach out to podcasts@undercurrentnews.com.
Don't have time to listen? Find a transcript of season 1, episode 7 of Catch the Current below:
Amanda Buckle (AB): You’re listening to Catch the Current, your go-to podcast from Undercurrent News for seafood business news, data and pricing. I’m Amanda Buckle.
Lorin Castiglion (LC): And I’m Lorin Castiglione. It’s the final countdown…
AB AND LC: [You'll have to listen to the episode if you want to hear some bad karaoke of Europe's "The Final Countdown."]
AB: It is Seafood Expo North America weekend. So you may very well be listening to this episode while traveling to the wickedly awesome city of Boston, Massachusetts. And if that's the case, thank you very much.
And if you see us walking the floor of SENA, please stop and tell us how much you love us. Because we truly can't hear enough of it.
I love you, Lorin.
LC: I love you too, Amanda.
AB: You're a fantastic co-host and I value all the really interesting data and insight you bring to the table. And dang girl, your hair has been looking great.
LC: Thank you.
AB: Where were we? Pre-gaming for Boston.
There is nothing like good old St. Patrick's Day in Boston during SENA. So Lorin, any SENA predictions for this year?
LC: Well, we've got merger and acquisition news for sure.
AB: Well, that’s the safest answer if I ever heard one. I was going to go for early-open bar at Lineage’s booth, but OK.
LC: Well, that's an obvious one too.
AB: Boston -- or the time period, at least -- certainly brings out the M&A in people. Over the past few years that’s when Cooke announced that it would be acquiring Slade Gorton.
LC: Fortune’s acquisition of Boston Sword and Tuna, too, happened at Boston one year.
AB: This week the big M&A news leading into Boston is that US seafood investor Jordan Mazzetta has acquired an East Coast scallop and whitefish processor based in Portland, Maine.
LC: Undercurrent editor-in-chief Tom Seaman got the scoop earlier this week that Highwood Harbor, owned by Mazzetta, acquired a majority stake in Nova Seafood, a seafood processing and distribution company.
The Portland-based company processes and distributes scallops, haddock and cod from its 18,000-square-foot facility. Mazzetta told Undercurrent that Nova will operate independently from Eddie M's Seafood, the former Morey's Seafood International business acquired by Mazzetta in December 2022.
AB: What other mergers and acquisitions are happening within the industry? Undercurrent will have unmatchable coverage of Seafood Expo North America, so be sure to keep an eye out for UCN’s upcoming SENA blog, covering all the big news from the show floor.
Know what I’m really looking forward to?
LC: The samples.
AB: Stop it! But yes, kind of. I love seeing the new products.
LC: I checked out the page of all the new products and it's always so invigorating seeing all the new inspiration that's happening.
But the one picture that caught my eye first was the Superfood and Salmon Smashers. The description reads: "A bold new take on salmon. Get ready to smash it. A game-changing salmon experience packed with fun and flavor." So I'm really looking forward to seeing what that's all about.
Smash It Foods is a new concept from the Plant Based Seafood Co. Photo Credit: Smash It Foods
AB: I'm hoping we get to visit Smash It Foods. They're at booth #3459 and the Smash It Foods name -- it doesn't sound familiar to me. I don't know if it sounds familiar to you, Lorin.
LC: No.
AB: But does Plant-Based Seafood Company ring a bell?
LC: Yes.
AB: So the makers of Mind Blown plant-based seafood brand -- they have the line of dusted shrimp and crab cakes. They are the same company and they're expanding. Founder Monica Talbert, and her mom, Shelley Van Cleave, have a background in traditional seafood. And then they went into plant-based seafood and now they're getting into this smash thing, combining veggies and seafood.
It says it's loaded with six grams of protein, prebiotic omegas for gut health. That's pretty cool.
LC: So really making a perfect protein even better.
AB: Girl power. They got some really cool stuff going on.
Another cool thing I'm excited to see is this umami paste from Culinary Aid.
It can enhance any meal. I think it's kind of cool. It seems like something I'd run into at Costco.
I like going through those aisles with the random new spices and seasonings I can add to my everyday food. I'm always buying broccoli and then I like adding different seasonings. I used to find this parmesan and truffle cheese mixture.
So I feel like this umami paste would be something I would pick out. Anything to elevate our normal meal.
LC: I'm continuing to see those hot honey flavors, those sesame soy flavors, lots of that smoked fish, either the salmon or some of that bronzino.
Like we saw from Angel Oak, hot smoked bronzino. That looks awesome.
AB: A lot of convenience items.
LC: Yes.
AB: You see the Sushi Go bowls?
Sushi Go Bowls from East Coast Seafood. Photo Credit: East Coast Seafood
LC: Yes, that is so cool.
AB: You're definitely seeing a lot more in the convenience stores too. More people are carrying sushi. So seeing these Sushi Go bowls are really neat. If you want to check out the Sushi Go bowls, booth #705, that's from East Coast Seafood.
Another one -- Phillips came out with a stuffed lobster tail. Remember that Phillips working with lobster is still relatively new. They just acquired that processing facility in Canada. I think it was last year. They're definitely coming up with different and unique items. And this stuffed lobster tail -- the photo looks really good.
LC: It looks so good.
AB: And again, any way to elevate my evening at home without me doing a lot of extra work is appreciated.
LC: Just looking through all of the submissions, your mouth is just watering. I also saw one that we've tried and already know that it's so good. The salmon snack stick from Surfsnax.
AB: Yes, I was excited to see that. I want to see if they have different flavors there because I absolutely love the one we got. And then you said they also did pepperoni?
Don't they also have like a salmon ... a Salmaroni. Salmaroni. I'm taking that if no one has that name yet. I'm taking a Salmaroni. No, the point is, is that this is the time to try different things and see what everyone's got going on. And we're so, so excited.
LC: All right. Enough about Boston. Let's get to the real reason we're here. Snow crab.
We are roping in Undercurrent's very own Gary Morrison and Barb Dean-Simmons into the conversation again. We're changing Catch the Current to The Barb Show because I am fully taking advantage of having Barb on the team.
So the first obvious question here, Barb, is since we last talked, do we have any idea of when the snow crab fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador is going to open? Fingers crossed.
Barb Dean-Simmons (BDS): No.
LC: And that wraps up our episode.
AB: Thanks for joining us, Barb.
BDS: We have no confirmation yet of a start date for Newfoundland. I expect any day that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will make that announcement.
So, yeah, we're still in limbo. Everybody's hoping for end of March, but it could possibly go into the first week of April.
AB: Okay, so we are slowly inching there because, right now we're recording this on Thursday in mid-March. So it could be any week now. We're all waiting with bated breath.
Barb, I feel like in the past few years during this time of the year leading up to the opening, there's always a lot of chaos over prices and fighting.
LC: And we live for that.
AB: We love it. You know, so all that between the Fish, Food and Union Workers, or FFAW, and the Association of Seafood Producers, also known as ASP. Then there's 2025 and the start of the Trump administration and the introduction of the tariffs.
It's kind of like a new "hold my beer moment" in terms of snow crab chaos.
BDS: And don't forget, Newfoundland has the largest snow crab fishery in the world. But we also have some major quotas coming out of the rest of Atlantic Canada.
Just today, actually, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced a quota for the Southern Gulf, putting it at about 18,000 metric tons or thereabouts. So that fishery will likely get going the first week of April. They'll start fishing.
They don't have the same mechanism that Newfoundland has in the same formal process for setting prices. So they'll start fishing, and they'll figure out the dock price later, while the processors figure out the market and all that fun stuff. In Newfoundland, it's a bit more complicated.
What they're doing this year, like last year, is they're meeting to try to settle a price that works for both the FFAW and the Association of Seafood Processors. If they don't agree themselves, then they pass it off to a price-setting panel, which then determines which price offer would be closer to the market reality. That price-setting panel is set to meet on March 20.
So if the FFAW and ASP want to avoid that process, they kind of have to settle something in the next week or so. And I know they're deep into negotiations right now in St. John's, to the point where the negotiator for the ASP has canceled his trip to Boston because they're at crunch time.
AB: Wow.
LC: That's pretty serious. So Barb, looking into your crystal ball, do you think the price is going to lie close to where 2024 started?
BDS: Hard to say at this point. I was talking to a crab harvester from Nova Scotia earlier this week. They were speculating prior to January 1 that the dock prices for crab this season might reach as high as CAD $6 a pound. They're pulling back on that. I think the hope is that they'll get at least $3 to $3.50 like they did last year.
But again, it's a big question mark because it depends on how the market reacts and the impact of tariffs. And so everybody's just going into this season with some hope, but a lot of worry.
AB: Gary, you've been quiet. What are your thoughts on what you think the price is going to be at the start of the season?
Photo of a crab processing operation in Newfoundland. Credit: Fish Food and Allied Workers.
Gary Morrison (GM): Yeah, I'll echo a lot of what Barb has said. I think one of the constraining factors that people talk about is that they don't come to an agreement, is when they go to negotiations, it's an either-or. So the price-setting panel has to pick one side or the other. They can't come up with something that's maybe in the middle that might be a little bit more fair to both sides. So I think that's one of the constraints that these guys are talking about. But when we're talking about this year, I mean, Barb talked a lot about some of the things that are going to impact what's happening.
And I want to set the stage of where we came from as well, because I think there are a lot of factors at play. I mean, the industry's at virtually a zero-inventory position right now. So prices that maybe were a year ago at around $5.50 per lb started this season at about $6.50 last year.
Steady demand from all sectors of the economy has pushed prices up to about $9.40/lb right now, if you can find any inventory. So if you look at some of the import numbers from January -- 1.3 million pounds imported from Canada, that's 19% below last January. So that's compounding the issue.
So there's virtually no inventory out there. There's no supply. The new season, there's really strong buy-in right now.
And that's probably going to be one of the factors that play into the price setting and these negotiations. And all these things that we just talked about really set it up for something really bullish. But the panel will have to navigate the higher prices and the current US tariff threats, which are basically unprecedented and heading into the negotiations.
AB: Yeah. And I know, Barb, you mentioned in your story this week that Jeff Loder from the Association of Seafood Producers said that the industry does not expect US consumers to pay 25% more for snow crab.
I don't know if anyone can even answer this question, but if this proposed tariff is passed on to consumers and these US consumers decide that they don't want to pay it, what happens next?
GM: The only thing I can think to say, the easy answer is somebody is going to have to find a way to fish that for less money or process it for less costs to save that 25%.
I mean, to answer the question, maybe go out a little bit more on a limb here. If you look at the luxury US consumer right now and you look at crab prices as a barometer, they seem to be doing pretty well, right?
But two things can happen, and Barb alluded to it. If the 25% tariff is passed on to the consumer, they can either absorb it and pay the higher prices or the processors are going to have to discount and squeeze a little bit of their margins or work with some of the other people in the supply chain to share some of that burden.
One of my favorite sayings in the commodity markets is that high prices cure high prices. So the consumers will eat that until they don't. And at that point, they're going to have to find something that is better on their seafood tower. The sellers are going to have to lower the prices and we'll find a new market for it, right?
Size 8-10 ounce Canadian snow crab clusters at a Giant grocery store in Burtonsville, Maryland, on Oct. 13, 2024. Photograph by Jason Huffman.
AB: I don't know, Barb, if you could tell me if this factors into anything, but China's also imposing a 25% tariff on Canadian seafood. Do you see this affecting the global snow crab trade at all?
BDS: In order to talk about snow crab and Canada, I have to talk about lobster and Canada and trading avenues.
So a few years back when the US imposed tariffs on China, Canadian lobster found a home in China.
We were a little bit more competitive. I guess China was probably being considered as an optional market for Canada. But when you already have 95% of your crab product going to the US market, which is very easy for shipping. It's a truck right across the border.
China is a little bit more challenging in terms of shipping costs and the appetite for crab in China. Because remember, China is getting cheaper crab from Russia right now. So that's probably not a great option for Canada at the moment.
AB: Something else I forgot that we need to throw into the equation. North Atlantic right whales. We're worrying about what Canada is going to do with the tariffs, but we don't even have a start date yet for the season. You said, maybe at the end of this month. Barb, if things are delayed, does the industry risk running into issues with the endangered whales? Could we be seeing fishing grid closures?
BDS: Yeah, that typically happens in and around the Gulf of St. Lawrence every summer.
And that's why the crab season in Nova Scotia, for instance in some parts of Nova Scotia, it runs into August. And that's to accommodate for those right whale closures. That's something they're used to.
They've been dealing with it for several years now. So that's pretty typical for their season. And usually they have a shutdown in crab 'round about May, June for the right whales.
And then they can come back at it in some parts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick in August. So they're used to dealing with that. But in Nova Scotia, they don't have the same complications that you see in Newfoundland with protests and buy-ons and people bickering over dock prices.
In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, they just go fishing and they figure out the price after that. So their start date will be their start date.
LC: So we all need to pack for Boston. We're shooting for carry-on only.
Gary, before we let you go, what are your final thoughts on snow crab?
GM: So we talked a lot about tariffs here, but I believe that the quota reductions and the quotas will really impact the snow crab markets more than the tariffs. I think the optimism may believe that the cooler heads will prevail by the time the season opens and any meaningful replacement is seen.
LC: And Barb, can you leave us with just a tease of what you're chasing or watching next when it comes to seafood?
BDS: Well, I'm watching for, of course, the DFO decisions on opening dates for snow crab and the quota announcement for Newfoundland and Labrador, which I am expecting within days. So that's the big thing I'm watching for.
LC: Thank you both. If you want an opportunity to talk snow crab or actually any species while in Boston for Seafood Expo North America, then just reach out.
Barb, Gary, can you share your email or the best way to reach him?
GM: It's gm@undercurrentnews.com.
BDS: Barb@undercurrentnews.com. Anyway, this suitcase ain't going to fill itself, but we want to see you in Boston.
Message us at podcast@undercurrentnews.com with your booth number and LORIn and I will try to stop by.
LC: And after listening to all the happenings that are going on with the markets, if you want a free trial to our services, hit us up. We can get that set up for you.
AB: Exactly. Thanks for listening. Bye!
Contact the author amanda.buckle@undercurrentnews.com
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