Some in seafood industry see Trump as fishermen's friend

Portland, Maine, Dec. 14: The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is likely to bring big changes for one of the oldest sectors of the U.S. economy — seafood — and some in the industry believe the returning president will be more responsive to its needs.

Economic analysts paint a more complicated picture, as they fear Trump’s pending trade hostilities with major trading partners Canada and China could make an already pricy kind of protein more expensive to consumers. Conservationists also fear Trump's emphasis on government deregulation could jeopardize fish stocks that are already in peril.

But many in the commercial fishing and seafood processing industries said they are excited for Trump’s second presidency. They said they expect he’ll allow fishing in protected areas as he did in his first presidency, crack down on offshore wind expansion and cut back regulations they describe as burdensome. And they expect a marked shift from the administration of President Joe Biden, who prioritized ocean conservation and championed wind power from the start.

The seafood industry isn't hungry for another tariff war, which hurt fishermen during Trump's first term, said Beth Casoni, executive director of the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. But she said the new Trump administration has a unique chance to throw its support behind U.S. fishermen.

But the seafood industry, which is international in nature, could be seriously disrupted if Trump goes through with a plan to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada, said John Sackton, a longtime industry analyst and founder of Seafood News. Canada is the largest seafood market for the U.S. for both imports and exports, and nearly a sixth of the seafood imported by the U.S. is from its northern neighbor, according to federal statistics published in November. In total about 80% of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported.

Losing Canada — an especially important buyer of American lobster — as a market for U.S. seafood could cause prices to fishermen to collapse, Sackton said. And some products could become unavailable while others become more expensive and still others oversupplied, he said. He described the seafood industry as “interdependent on both sides of the border.”

In Canada, members of the country's seafood industry are watching closely to see what changes Trump ushers in, said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

One of the major changes for fishermen under a new Trump administration is that they can expect to have a seat at the table when high-level decisions get made, said representatives for several commercial fishing groups. Last time around, Trump sat down with fishermen and listened to their concerns about loss of fishing rights in Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, a nearly 5,000-square mile (13,000 square kilometres) protected area off New England, said Robert Vanasse, executive director of industry advocate Saving Seafood.

That goodwill is likely to carry over into Trump's new presidency. And the industry feels it has already scored a win with election of a president who is an outspoken critic of offshore wind power, said Drew Minkiewicz, an attorney who represents the New Bedford, Massachusetts-based Sustainable Scalloping Fund. Fishermen of valuable seafoods such as scallops and lobsters have long opposed offshore wind development because of concerns wind power will disrupt prime fishing grounds.