Economic Effects of Pandemic on Commercial Fishing Industry
Written by : Jamie Cahalan
This year has been changed in many unpredictable ways by the Covid-19 Pandemic. The pandemic caused the shutdown of imports and exports of many countries, closing of bars and restaurants, and countless restrictions trying to control the spread of the pandemic. One industry hit harder than others is the commercial fishing industry, imports and exports came to a halt, ports were closed, and misconceptions made it very difficult for the fishing industry to stay afloat.
All over the world ports and harbors closed during the heat of the Covid - 19 pandemic. Cities closed their ports to decrease and slow the spread of the pandemic, which shut down the fishing industry. A closed port means fisherman can’t take their boats out and catch fish, their whole livelihood was almost completely shut down. The recreational fishing industry also slowed as many ports closed charter businesses couldn’t take people out. Now that the spread has slowed down a little some charters and commercial fleets have been able to open back up and get back to catching fish. These businesses felt the affects of the pandemic head on.
Not only have Covid-19 port and harbor restrictions hurt the fishing industry, the closing of bars and restaurants has hurt the industry too. During the beginning of the pandemic, the Wisconsin put in place an order where restaurants and bars were to close for a period of time. This really hurt the fishing industry, because restaurants are a large consumer for the industry. At Artisan 179, the restaurant I work at, we sell several different seafood products, including Salmon, Chilean Sea Bass, Scallops, Shrimp, Langoustine, Lobster, and recently several seafood specials.
Another negative effect of the pandemic on the fishing industry is the misconception and misinformation spread by media that seafood was a carrier of the Covid-19 virus. The media spread information like seafood being a potential route of transmitting the virus to humans. According to the FDA, “There is no evidence to suggest that food produced in the United States or imported from countries affected by COVID-19 can transmit COVID-19.” The spread of that misinformation caused an immediate decline in consumption of seafood products.
The worst effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the fishing industry is the huge decline in imports and exports, but also the countless trade restrictions put in place to protect the domestic food supplies. The heightened restrictions on the trade of seafood makes it even more difficult for the fishing industry to grow.
The fishing industry was hit harder than many other industries, they faced shutdowns, heightened restrictions, and huge misconceptions that all severely hurt the industry as a whole, commercial and recreational. Whole lakes, ports, and harbors were closed down to slow the spread of the Covid-19 Pandemic
Works Cited
Commissioner, Office of the. “COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/emergency-preparedness-and-response/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/covid-19-frequently-asked-questions#:~:text=There is no evidence to,transmit COVID-19.
Markets, Research and. “Worldwide Seafood Industry to 2027 - Impact of COVID-19 on the Market.” PR Newswire: News Distribution, Targeting and Monitoring, 9 July 2020, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/worldwide-seafood-industry-to-2027---impact-of-covid-19-on-the-market-301090860.html#:~:text=With regional and international food,of the COVID-19 storm.&text=Commercial fishing fleets are tied,of the global food system.
ReportLinker. “Global Seafood Industry.” GlobeNewswire News Room, "GlobeNewswire", 14 July 2020, www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/14/2061716/0/en/Global-Seafood-Industry.html.
I understand that covid-19 impacted the commercial fishing industry a lot. By making many people lose their jobs like everyone else. However it can’t be that bad because when everyone gets off the water for months that can really help the ocean and lakes recover from the mass amount of fishing done on them. Which could also help when you bring the fishing charters back on them catching more fish than ever before. Soon enough prices would go back down again with the abundance of fish returning to the markets. These effects from covid-19 can’t all be bad for the fishing industry.
ReplyDeleteWhen you were able to share with us that the fishing industry is not only affecting restaurants around the world but connecting it locally we were able to get a clearer understanding. As most of us have been in downtown Pewaukee at Artisan 179, this is a local restaurant. By connecting your fishing industry topic to Artisan 179 we are able to see how this is affecting our community. By not being able to produce and sell up to 7 meals this puts a major toll on the restaurant by not bringing in as much income. You also mentioned the imports and exports which is highly important because in the US, we tend to import more than export. We are also even able to connect this to our grade of the US as we researched and graded how the US is doing in balance of trades.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading the article I never really thought on how COVID-19 would affect the fishing industry. But post reading the article, I realized just how much the fishing industry has a financial impact on the market. And as you had stated in the article it has been very very limited due to the restrictions in quarantine. However, in the article you say there are also misconceptions. What do you mean when you say misconceptions about the fishing industry?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that very many people outside of the fishing industry ever really concerned themselves with the impact this pandemic has had on it. But as someone who myself isn't very involved in it I still found the article very ejoyable and infomative to read. However even though it's been very restricted I think it might have a positive outcome, as it gives the lakes and rivers time to recover the fish populations, giving more produce for when the fishers some back.
ReplyDeleteI never really considered how the pandemic would affect ports, though I suppose it makes sense so it could limit unnecessary travel. I would’ve thought more about its effects on the shipping industry and how the country's imports and exports are now handled, but the fishing industry is very interesting too. I’d like to see how prices for seafood have been affected- with fishing being harder due to closed ports, supply would go down and prices would rise, but if there are misconceptions about COVID-19 being in seafood, did consumer tastes change and prices drop again? There’s a lot of interesting cause and effect here from ports shutting down and even how this affects the restaurant businesses.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about how Covid-19 would affect the fishing industry. Connecting this to a local business was a very good idea, I think that was a great way to explain this and to open peoples eyes, I can't even begin to image all the other importing industries that are affected by this as well
ReplyDeleteI found your piece really interesting because I hadn’t thought of the fishing industry when considering the impact of Covid-19. You brought my attention to a number of different ways that this industry took a hit. Not only were ports closed, but you explained that restricted exports, rumors of corona spreading through fish, and restaurants shutting down made it difficult for the fishing industry to thrive. Even after hearing a lot about the pandemic within the past couple of months, this was a new facet that I hadn’t considered/ heard about before. I wonder how this will impact the economy moving forward.
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ReplyDeleteI had no idea how largely impacted the fishing industry was due to covid. Not only do you bring up the fact of the misconceptions spread that fish were carriers of Covid, you also talk about how the selling and distribution was halted. This makes me curious as to how other food industries could have been affected by the pandemic, could there have been halts on the distributions of beef, thus causing farmers to have a loss of income?
Wow, I never imagined that the fishing industry would be so greatly impacted by COVID. It’s crazy to think that so many of our imports and exports also come from food, rather than just technology and other items. One thing I thought about while reading this is how the industry of recreational fishing has been impacted because of COVID. I can presume that more people have gone fishing on smaller lakes rather than commercial fishing on the ocean. Although the finishing industry was almost shut down completely because of COVID, there may be an upside to it. This time may have allowed for more fish to repopulate so that the fish don’t become extinct.
ReplyDeleteFish being a major role in the covid-19 pandemic is never something I would have thought about… Them being a big carrier of the virus is also something I didn’t think about. What you explain in this post makes sense and is understandable, and definitely not something that I would ever sit down and think about had you not posted. Could other food be carriers to this? Like produce or simple grains? We spent an entire summer of crops growing in fields, could these crops potentially be magnets to the virus like fish are and carry it all the way into our bodies? It’s interesting to think about, your post was very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog. This was a very unique topic as not many people talked about the fishing industry and how they were affected by COVID-19. I really like how you talked about the different ways they were impacted from the physical closing of ports, to restaurants being closed, to misinformation being spread by the media and word of mouth that fish can carry and spread the disease. You gave the domino effect of how the fish catching industry was hurt not just by the physical closing of ports but also due to onshore things such as the closing of businesses, restaurants, and people’s taste and liking of fish going down due to the misconception that fish spread the disease. You also mentioned the trade imports and how the restrictions put on the food that could be exported and imported into countries really hit the fishing industry as well as all the other things I already mentioned. Overall, great blog and way to bring light to a topic that not many people, myself included, were aware of before reading your blog.
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