Saving Seafood

New Study Seeks To Reveal The Secrets Of Halibut

August 29, 2018 — Fred Bennett has been a fisherman for about 60 years and he just stared, perplexed, at a graph supposedly showing a halibut, tagged to track its progress, moving in the water column.

He shook his head in consternation and looked at fellow captain Mike Anderson who has spent more than 40 years on the water.

How is that possible? Bennett wondered.

Anderson was laughing.

It’s not, he said – unless the storied flat fish had been eaten by something, most likely a great white shark.

“The tag was hanging out near the bottom during the day and was near the surface of the water during the night time, plus the tag temperature shot up suddenly and stayed there – pretty clear indications that it was eaten by a shark,” agreed George Maynard, research coordinator at the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.

Stumping Bennett and Anderson would be tough. The two spent many years catching halibut, a great-tasting fish that is making fishermen money in Canada, and used to make fishermen money here. But stocks crashed, and for the last 18 years local fishermen have been allowed to land only one fish per trip, and that one has to measure at least 41 inches.

Read the full story at The Cape Cod Chronicle

 

‘Laxative of the sea’ being passed off as premium fish in Canada

August 29, 2018 — Canadian consumers forking out for seafood are not getting what they pay for. What masquerades as sea bass, cod or wild salmon could be a far cheaper catfish, pollock or even a fish dubbed “the laxative of the sea”, according to a national report from advocacy organization Oceana Canada.

That poses a serious risk to consumers’ pockets — and public health.

Roughly 44 per cent of fish were incorrectly labelled, the report found. What’s more, 60 per cent of the roughly 400 samples collected from retailers in Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax were found to carry potential health risks.

Instead of butterfish, consumers have been eating escolar — an oily fish that has been called “the laxative of the sea” and can cause diarrhea, vomiting and other stomach problems — which is banned in several countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Italy. Escolar was also a substitute for white tuna.

This, researchers say, is rampant seafood fraud, defined as any activity that misrepresents the seafood being purchased.

Read the full story at The Star Vancouver

Revised NAFTA agreement between US and Mexico may leave Canada behind

August 28, 2018 — The United States and Mexico have come to a preliminary agreement to revise the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),

The agreement, which does not yet include Canada, is expected to be finalized within days, according to U.S. President Donald Trump. It includes modest changes to the trade accord, which was put in place in 1994 as a means to lower tariffs and other trade barriers between the three countries.

“We’re very excited about this agreement,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in an interview with CNBC. “We think it is going to lead to more trade, not less trade.”

Changes to the accord include modifications to regulations affecting the automobile, energy, and telecommunications industries, as well as a tightening of intellectual property protections. The agreement, which extends NAFTA for 16 years, also includes a sunset clause that requires the U.S., Mexico, and Canada to ratify the deal every six years.

However, an agreement that does not involve Canada is likely to face a legal challenge, according to The New York Times.

“[NAFTA] is a trilateral agreement. It requires legislation and a change to NAFTA requires legislation,” said U.S. Senator Patrick J. Toomey [R-Pennsylvania]. “I’ve told them any change has to go through Congress. There is not necessarily complete agreement about that.”

Trump will also likely face opposition from Congress, which only granted his administration authority to renegotiate NAFTA as a trilateral deal.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

BETH CASONI: Canada needs to do more to protect right whales

August 28, 2018 — For generations, Massachusetts lobstermen have been part of a revered tradition of marine coexistence that has sustained a proud New England fishing industry and protected an ecosystem for marine mammals. Now, that coexistence is threatened and international action is needed.

The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered and faces extinction within our lifetime. For centuries, these enormous and majestic animals have migrated through New England waters, but largely due to unintentional human harm from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, today the right whale population is estimated to be down to as few as 435. And the last year has been especially disastrous, with 17 confirmed right whale mortalities and no new calves sighted in the most recent calving season.

Now is the time for cooperative international intervention to turn this situation around and head off the preventable tragedy of extinction of this species.

For decades, the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association has worked in concert with conservation organizations like the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the International Fund for Animal Welfare to be good stewards of the ocean and marine mammals. Facing serious concerns about how to make a living and keep businesses going, we work to find middle ground between our industry and the efforts of conservationists to advance the shared aims of all.

Over the years, regulators have imposed restrictions on U.S. Atlantic Coast fisheries in an effort to reduce harm to endangered species including the right whale. The MLA is proud of our history of adopting and complying with these requirements. To name a few: Vessels, aircraft or other approaches must be restricted within 500 yards of a right whale; and, all vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain locations along the East Coast of the United States at certain times of year to avoid collision with right whales.

Read the full opinion piece at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Scientists and fishermen team up to help save North Atlantic right whale

August 23, 2018 — Whale researchers and fishermen are out at sea together on a two-week mission, combining efforts to help save the endangered north Atlantic right whale.

These two worlds have usually stayed far apart, but for the first time scientists are onboard a crab boat to do their field work.

It’s been a controversial fishing season in northern New Brunswick.

Whale protection efforts caused many fishing areas in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to be closed off, angering fishermen who saw it as an attack on their livelihood — some even taking to protest.

Crab fisherman Martin Noel, captain of the Jean-Denis Martin boat in Shippagan, agreed to take scientists out in the gulf to help them carry out their research this year.

“We don’t want to be called whale killers,” Noel said. “We want to be called fishermen that are implicated in the solution.”

All season, fishermen begged Ottawa to involve them in fisheries management. They felt the federal government was imposing overly strict measures without consultation with industry.

Read the full story at CBC News

 

About 400 Escaped Salmon From Cooke Aquaculture Recaptured in Hermitage Bay

August 20, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Of the 2,000 to 3,000 salmon that escaped from a farm in Newfoundland’s Hermitage Bay, around 400 have been recaptured — a pretty good number, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Some time between July 27 and 30, the salmon escaped from the Olive Cove farm operated by Cooke Aquaculture, after net extensions were sewn onto a pen at the site.

Chris Hendry, regional aquaculture coordinator with DFO, says the rate of recapture to date is actually pretty good.

“Our reports so far suggest that about 400 salmon have been recaptured, so for a two- to three-thousand escape, that’s about a 15-20 per cent recapture rate,” he told CBC’s The Broadcast.

“When we had the last large escape incident back in 2013 and there were capture methods deployed, about 10 per cent of those fish were recaptured. So this seems to be a better percentage of success.”

Investigation to Come

Hendry said the licence to use gillnets for recapturing is set to expire on Friday, but there will be a meeting with DFO, provincial fishery officials and Cooke Aquaculture to assess the recapture process so far and determine if that should be extended.

This week, a humpback whale got snared in those gillnets, and a rescue operation was launched to free the whale, so the use of gillnets was temporarily suspended to ensure no other whale entanglements happened.

Hendry said there will be an investigation into what happened at the Hermitage Bay site, and further discussions once the capture of salmon is completed.

“One of the questions is, in a case of a release of salmon, is there any type of repercussions, and that’s something we would discuss with the province as we both co-deliver the code of containment,” he said.

“It also requires us to do an analysis of any type escape incident and recommendations on improvements or identifying any deficiencies.”

The captured salmon, meanwhile, will need to be destroyed by the company, Hendry said.

“As a condition of the licence, they’re required to dispose of them … but we are requiring them to take samples so we can build on an existing database of genetic and scale samples for identification of farm salmon.”

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Trade wars forcing Canadian seafood businesses to make tough decisions

August 17, 2018 — American-initiated tariffs are impacting Canadian seafood businesses in unexpected ways.

The growing trade war between the United States and its neighbor to the north began with a 25 percent surcharge on steel and aluminum initiated in May by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In reaction, Ottawa used the symbolism of Canada Day to launch CAD 16.6 billion (USD 12.6 billion, EUR 10.8 billion) in retaliatory tariffs strategically targeted to products like orange juice, yogurt, coffee, soya sauce, mayonnaise, and bourbon, which are produced in the home districts of key Republican allies of President Trump.

As a result of this, Galen G. Weston, CEO of Loblaw Companies, Canada’s largest food retailer, believes the trade war may result in higher prices for retail goods sold in Canada.

“We see a very strong possibility of an accelerating retail price inflation in the market,” Weston said at a recent press conference. On the upside, he added, “We don’t think it’s going to be meaningful [or] super significant, but it certainly will be higher than what it is today.”

Krishen Rangasamy, an economist with the National Bank of Canada, agreed the Canadian tariffs won’t have an overly significant impact on consumer prices. He thinks importers are unlikely to pass on higher prices and those that do will have minimal impact on the consumer price index, around 0.01 percent. However, Karl Littler, a representative of the Retail Council of Canada, suggested in the Financial Post that already-thin retail margins will mean prices have to rise, but not by the full 10 percent Canadian tariff of targeted goods.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Humpback Whale Entangled In Cooke Aquaculture Nets Being Used to Recapture Escaped Salmon

August 16, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Cooke Aquaculture has been told to remove all nets being used to recapture escaped farm salmon after a humpback whale became entangled in one Tuesday morning.

“Earlier this morning, at approximately 11 a.m., a humpback whale became entangled in a gillnet set by Cooke Aquaculture to recapture salmon that recently escaped from the farm in the Hermitage Bay area,” said Jen Rosa-Bian, a communications advisor with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The company was asked to remove the nets, which were put out to catch a reported 2,500 salmon that escaped the fish farm in late July, because there are several other whales in the area, Rosa-Bian said.

The whale was freed late Tuesday afternoon, according to DFO. The agency said no other information was available at the time.

Laverne Jackman was talking her granddaughter for a walk along the beach line on Tuesday morning in Hardy’s Cove, where she could see a boat putting out the nets.

In the same area where she and her granddaughter had watched whales feeding earlier in the day, according to Jackman, she saw a whale become tangled in one of the nets.

“The whale went into the net, and the next thing we saw was the whale swimming, entangled in the net, dragging the net and the buoys with it,” she said.

“You’d think people would have more sense than to put a net where whales are feeding.”

Cooke Aquaculture had previously told CBC on Tuesday it was working with the proper authorities.

“Unfortunately, reports are that a whale has its tail tangled in a net,” said Joel Richardson, Cooke Aquaculture’s vice-president of public relations.

“We have been in contact with Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and will work with them on solutions. We have also advised the provincial department of FLR [Fisheries and Land Resources].”

DFO says conservation and protection officers are on site and that Whale Release and Strandings, a DFO-authorized group that helps disentangle sea life, is en route.

Whale ‘in distress’

Jackman said the whale looked like it was unable to dive or feed because of the net.

She said her son and daughter-in-law saw the whale still entangled at about 12:30 p.m.

“They could hear sounds that the whale was making, moaning,” said Jackman, who worries the whale will die.

“That’s a very high price to pay for a few bloody salmon.”

Those salmon, who escaped through holes that resulted from a net repair in late July, can be seen in the waters in the bay, she said.

“You can see salmon any time you look out,” Jackman said.

“They’re jumping, and if you go out in boat you can see them going in, through and under the boat. Hermitage harbour is full, and every little cove and bay around here is full.”

DFO says attempts by untrained professionals to release a trapped marine mammal can be dangerous to that animal, even when the intent is to help.

“Marine mammal experts warn against people that are not trained getting involved because it increases the stress on the animals and creates a high risk of injury.”

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

The Trump administration is ensnared in another border dispute — this time with Canada

August 13, 2018 — Canadians often boast that their 5,525-mile boundary with the United States is the longest undefended border in the world. But tempers have frayed on at least one small stretch.

Machias Seal Island is a 20-acre, treeless island teeming with puffins, razorbills, terns, eiders and other seabirds, making it a prime destination for birdwatchers. Canada and the United States both claim sovereignty over the island, which is about 10 miles off the coast of Maine, and the surrounding 277-square-mile Gray Zone, where fishermen from both countries compete over valuable lobster grounds.

In late June and early July, Canadian fishermen said, U.S. Border Patrol agents in speedboats intercepted Canadian lobster boats in the Gray Zone.

“I have no idea where they came from,” said Laurence Cook, a lobsterman and representative of the Fishermen’s Association from nearby Grand Manan Island. “We’ve never seen U.S. Border Patrol in the Gray Zone before.”

Read the full story at The Washington Post

An Ailing Orca Was Given Medication in the Wild for the First Time Ever

August 13, 2018 — A team of experts injected an ailing orca calf with a dose of antibiotics, in a medical intervention that’s never been tried before on a wild killer whale.

A team of biologists from NOAA Fisheries, Vancouver Aquarium, and other institutions have been tracking the three-year-old orca, named J50, or Scarlet, for weeks. They’re not entirely sure what’s wrong with her, but she’s dangerously underweight and often lethargic. Scarlet is a member of the J-Pod, a group of about 76 critically endangered southern resident orcas, or killer whales. Maintaining the life of each pod member, females especially, is crucially important, hence the extraordinary and unprecedented measure to administer medication.

Yesterday, Vancouver’s head veterinarian, Martin Haulena, managed to visually inspect Scarlet from a boat near Washington state’s San Juan Island. With the help of his team, Haulena administered a dose of antibiotics at close range using a dart, as AP reports. It’s the first time that a killer whale has been given medication while living in the wild, the CBC reports.

“Response teams reached J-Pod in Canadian waters and followed them into U.S. waters near San Juan Island. While very skinny and small, J50/Scarlet kept up well with her mother and siblings,” explained NOAA Fisheries in a press release. “Vancouver Aquarium’s veterinarian and the team conducted a visual assessment, obtained a breath sample that will help assess any infection, and administered antibiotics through a dart.”

Other orcas in Scarlet’s pod are not malnourished, so food shortage is not considered the problem.

Read the full story at Gizmodo