Saving Seafood

RUSSELL F. SMITH: US takes stronger role in international fisheries

December 16th, 2016 — On the high seas, the U.S. has all hands on deck. Congress just passed landmark legislation giving the U.S. a formal role in international organizations that govern vastly important areas of the North and South Pacific Ocean, including the high seas adjacent to Alaska and the Pacific Islands and American Samoa, respectively.

Further, sweeping improvements were made to existing international fishery management in the Northwest Atlantic, which includes waters off the coasts of New England and Canada. Collectively, this week’s passage of three major bills demonstrates a renewed commitment to sustainably manage fisheries on the high seas and to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the effects of adverse fishing practices.

While the United States has long worked with other nations to improve international fisheries management, the new legislation ensures our country will fully and formally participate in developing standards for best fishing practices in two new international organizations in the North and South Pacific, respectively.

Until now, our status with these organizations has essentially been that of observer. With the new legislation, the U.S. will speak with an active global voice. We have new opportunities to learn, and a proud track record to share and leverage.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News 

Landmark Legislation A Victory For High Seas Fisheries Management

December 13th, 2016 — On the high seas, our nation has all hands on deck.

Congress just passed landmark legislation giving the U.S. a formal role in international organizations that govern vastly important areas of the North and South Pacific Oceans, including the high seas adjacent to Alaska and the Pacific Islands and American Samoa, respectively.

Further, sweeping improvements were made to existing international fishery management in the Northwest Atlantic, which includes waters off the coasts of New England and Canada. Collectively, this week’s passage of three major bills demonstrates a renewed commitment to sustainably manage fisheries on the high seas and to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the effects of adverse fishing practices.

The milestone legislation is of particular interest to Hawaiian fishing interests. The U.S. can now bring its best practices to the management of seriously depleted stocks such as jack mackerel in the South Pacific and pelagic armorhead in the North Pacific. It further opens opportunities to advance U.S. interests in developing sustainable squid and other new fisheries on the high seas and, where U.S. fleets are active, to improve coordination with other organizations managing tuna, swordfish and other valuable species.

While the United States has long worked with other nations to improve international fisheries management, the new legislation ensures that our country will fully and formally participate in developing standards for best fishing practices in two new international organizations in the North and South Pacific, respectively. Until now, our status with these organizations has essentially been that of observer. With the new legislation, the U.S. will speak with an active global voice. We have new opportunities to learn, and a proud track record to share and leverage.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat 

Canada’s largest herring fishery achieves MSC certification

November 29, 2016 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

TORONTO — The Canada 4VWX purse seine herring fishery in the Bay of Fundy area is the third and largest Canadian herring fishery to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as sustainable and well managed.  Herring products from the purse seine vessels and processing companies based in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick can now carry the blue MSC label to inform customers the fishery meets a global standard for sustainability.

Meeting the world’s most recognized standard for sustainability

To achieve MSC certification the 4VWX purse seine herring fishery demonstrated that it meets a high bar of sustainability set by the MSC Fishery Standard.  Widely recognized as the world’s most credible and robust standard for sustainable fishing, the MSC Standard is founded on three principles: a healthy fish stock, protection of the surrounding marine ecosystem, and effective fishery management.

“We are proud of the work our fishery has undertaken together with Fisheries and Oceans Canada to maintain the health of this important Canadian resource” says Roger Stirling, President of the Seafood Producers Association of Nova Scotia, the client representative for the 4VWX herring fishery. “As one of the longest-running commercial fisheries in Canada the herring fishery and associated processing companies have demonstrated the ability to sustain the resource.  The MSC certification now allows us to clearly signal the fishery’s sustainability to global markets.

A ‘clean’ fishery with local and global markets

Purse seining produces very low bycatch levels when harvesting the dense schools of herring that form during specific seasons.  The fishing vessels harvest at night and return to shore for immediate processing.  Annual catch for this fishery is 50,000 metric tonnes.

In addition to providing employment for fishers, herring plants in the local area employ hundreds of people in coastal communities and significantly contribute to the rural and coastal economy in the area.

A versatile fish, 4VWX herring is destined for primary markets around the world where it is sold in various forms like frozen fillets (Europe and North America), marinated and sauced canned products (Europe), smoked (kippers, in North America), canned (global), roe (Japan) and bait (Canada, for MSC certified lobster fisheries).

Jay Lugar, Program Director for MSC in Canada adds: “We congratulate the Bay of Fundy purse seine herring industry on achieving MSC certification.  The fishery consistently generates employment in the local community while working diligently to protect herring stocks that also play an important role in the ecosystem as food for other fish and mammals.  MSC is very pleased to see this long-standing industry take the sustainability message to global markets.” 

Continued improvement

As part of the MSC Theory of Change, MSC certification requires annual audits by an independent certifier to ensure that each fishery retains its status while also implementing improvements, allowing it to progress toward an even higher level of sustainability. To help the 4VWX herring stock sustain its role in the ecosystem, the fishery has committed to meet improvement goals with respect to biomass levels.

Assessment process

The assessment against the MSC Fisheries Standard was conducted by Acoura Marine, an accredited, third-party certification body, in a robust, scientific, transparent process that considered all available information presented by all fishery participants and stakeholders with an interest in the fishery.

University of Ottawa catches on to certified sustainable, traceable seafood standards

November 23, 2016 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

OTTAWA – The University of Ottawa is celebrating World Fisheries Day with the achievement of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, solidifying the University’s commitment to sourcing and serving wild seafood that meets the world’s most rigorous standards for sustainable fishing and traceability.

“Aquatic ecosystems around the world are under tremendous pressure from a combination of environmental change, habitat degradation, and over-harvesting. This commitment by the University of Ottawa will make a real difference in encouraging and supporting sustainable seafood harvesting,” says Nathan Young, interim director of the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences.

By choosing seafood with the blue MSC label, uOttawa diners can trust they’re making an ocean-friendly choice that directly rewards fishers, companies and institutions dedicated to preserving healthy oceans and sustainable seafood supplies for generations to come.

“MSC certification is an important marker of ecological sustainability, allowing consumers to know their seafood can be traced to a well-managed, sustainable fishery.  This is particularly important given the overall trend of fish stock decline,” says Melissa Marschke, associate professor of international development and global studies.

As an international non-profit organization established to address the problem of overfishing, the MSC runs the world’s most recognized certification program for sustainable seafood. The program recognizes fisheries that manage their fish stocks responsibly and ecologically, and then assures traceability from ocean to plate.

“World Wildlife Fund Canada applauds the University of Ottawa’s decision to address the problem of unsustainable fishing by purchasing Marine Stewardship Council-certified seafood. Overfishing is a serious threat to the health of our oceans, as almost one-third of fish stocks globally are now considered overfished. Choosing MSC means supporting a healthy marine environment by only consuming fish from stocks that are well-managed and sustainably harvested,” says Bettina Saier, vice president of oceans, WWF-Canada.

The University of Ottawa is working towards one-hundred percent MSC-certified wild seafood for its state-of-the-art dining hall, which feeds 7,500 people a day and prepares 20 tonnes of seafood each year. The University ranks as the second most sustainable university in Canada according to the UI Green Metric Ranking.

China’s top fisheries official lashes out at ‘Cold War’ criticism of international fisheries expansion

November 23, 2016 — China’s most senior fisheries official, Yu Kangzhen, has lambasted his foreign counterparts for taking a ‘Cold War’ view of China’s international fishing ambitions.

Established fishing nations are seeking to “blockade” the development of Chinese fishing vessels overseas, Yu, the vice minister for agriculture with responsibility for fisheries, told a gathering of diplomats and officials attending the annual fishery expo in Qingdao.

China accounts for 17 percent of catches in international waters “and this is our rightful share,” Yu told his guests. In unusually blunt language, Yu told critics to “look fairly” at China’s long-distance fishing development and stop “looking through tinted glasses” while criticizing Chinese fishing in international waters.

Fishery officials in both developed and developing nations have disparaged the opaque nature of Chinese data on fish landings as well as China’s track record of secretive access deals with poorer countries.

“We produce 6.6 million tons of aquatic products in a year but only 1.8 percent of that comes from long-distance fishing,” Yu said.

China’s overseas trawlers are “old” and need modernizing, Yu said. China is a “big fishing country but not a strong fishery country,” he said.

Nonetheless, China will increase the scale of its operations in international waters, he told the assembled officials, including Canadian fishery officials and Iceland’s and Ireland’s ambassadors to China.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Can North Carolina’s Local Seafood Movement Help Save its Fishermen?

November 16, 2016 — North Carolina’s commercial fishermen—who work primarily in independent, small-scale operations—landed 66 million pounds of fish last year, but rather than ending up on North Carolina plates, the majority was whisked out of state to markets where it could fetch a higher price.

“I think more New Yorkers eat North Carolina seafood than North Carolinians,” says Ann Simpson, who grew up in a small town on the coast and currently directs North Carolina Catch, a partnership of smaller organizations working to strengthen the state’s local seafood economy.

To fill the void created by the export of its catch, North Carolina—like most states—ships in seafood from abroad. Today, around 90 percent of the seafood Americans eat has been imported from places like China, Thailand, Canada, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Ecuador, and the average fish travels more than 5,400 miles between the landing dock and point of sale.

“People come to the coast looking for fresh seafood, and for the most part, they’re getting seafood from halfway around the world, which they’re eating in a local setting,” says Noelle Boucquey, assistant professor of environmental studies at Eckerd College, who studied North Carolina’s fisheries while at Duke University. Patronize a vendor at the Outer Banks Seafood Festival in Nags Head, and you’ll face the same conundrum.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

Atlantic Cod: The Good, The Bad, and the Rebuilding

November 1, 2016 — Atlantic cod have been emblematic of fisheries problems, with the 1992 collapse of the Northern cod stock in Canada setting the stage for the last 25 years of concern surrounding status of cod stocks. Mark Kurlansky’s book “Cod” sold over a million copies, increasing awareness and concern over cod fisheries. Further, the two U.S. cod stocks continue to be at very low abundance; an article in the Houston Press released September of 2011 stated“Atlantic cod has been fished nearly to extinction.” However, over the entire Atlantic Ocean, the abundance of cod is high and increasing (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Abundance (in metric tons) of Atlantic cod from 1970 – 2010.

Figure 1. Abundance (in metric tons) of Atlantic cod from 1970 – 2010.

 

The purpose of this feature is to clarify the myriad of different claims recently released regarding the current status of Atlantic cod to highlight that not all is doom and gloom, but rather a mixed story of good and bad. In other words, not all stocks are low, failing to recover, and doomed to perish. In fact, what we actually see are three broad categories of stocks: those that are doing poorly, those that are low but rebuilding, and those that are large and doing well. In researching this story, we analyzed abundance data collected by scientific institutions and interviewed a range of scientists who have been involved in cod stock assessment and management over the last 15-35 years. These experts include: Chris Zimmermann, Director of the Institute of Baltic Sea Fisheries with 15 years of experience working on ICES stocks; Coby Needle, Head of the Sea Fisheries Programme at MSS Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, Scotland and an active member of several ICES working groups for 20 years; Jake Rice, Chief Scientist Emeritus at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada (DFO) with 35 years of experience in cod stock assessment; Robin Cook, a Senior Research Fellow in the MASTS Population Modelling Group at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow who has been involved in ICES fisheries science since 1982; and Steve Murawski, a Professor of Biological Oceanography at University of South Florida (USF) with 7 years of experience as a Chief Scientist at the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

The story of cod is complex; there are many different and unique stocks occupying distinct regions within the Atlantic basin that are subject to environmental factors and political influences that differ based on geographic location. “If you look at the whole picture, you see that there is no consistent whole picture…Every single stock develops differently” says Chris Zimmermann. “Stock dynamics are quite different from area to area, so a big picture is difficult to get a handle on because there isn’t one,” agrees Coby Needle. Further, “they all have very different management histories and scenarios in terms of their status” says Steve Murawski.

Status of Stocks

There are over two dozen cod stocks that are defined as management units, 6 of which are addressed in this feature: 2 on the western side and 4 on the eastern side of the Atlantic basin (see Figure 2). The two U.S. stocks are Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine, and the four European stocks occupy the shelves of Iceland, the Barents Sea, the North Sea, the Celtic Sea, and the Baltic Sea.

Figure 2. Map showing location of 6 different cod stocks addressed in this feature. The darker blue region represents Atlantic cod distribution, and the 6 circles represent stocks being examined in this feature. Red circles represent stocks that are doing poorly (Celtic Sea, Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank), yellow circles represent stocks that are low but recovering (North Sea), and green circles represent stocks that are doing well (Barents Sea, shelves of Iceland).Figure 2. Map showing location of 6 different cod stocks addressed in this feature. The darker blue region represents Atlantic cod distribution, and the 6 circles represent stocks being examined in this feature. Red circles represent stocks that are doing poorly (Celtic Sea, Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank), yellow circles represent stocks that are low but recovering (North Sea), and green circles represent stocks that are doing well (Barents Sea, shelves of Iceland).

This feature focuses on the general trends among most of these stocks to demonstrate that rather than all stocks doing poorly, what we actually see are 3 broad categories of stocks: those that are (1) doing poorly, (2) low but rebuilding, and (3) doing well.

Read the full story at CFOOD

Northeast Ocean Plan emerges as development tool

October 19, 2016 — When, as expected, the Northeast Ocean Plan is approved later this year, New England will lead the nation in developing guidelines and an online database to provide framework for all future development and decision-making regarding the sea.

Originating from a 2010 presidential executive order, the national ocean policy instructs nine regions bordering the ocean or Great Lakes to form regional planning bodies consisting of representatives appointed from federal, state and regional entities and tribes to hold several hearings with a variety of stakeholders. (In New England, the New England Fishery Management Council and two ex-officio members from New York and Canada were also included.) The input is used to develop guidelines for how to proceed, for instance, in the case of a proposed offshore wind farm.

“For any project that comes up now, the ocean plan will guide the consideration of that project and in very specific ways,” said Priscilla Brooks, vice president and director of ocean conservation at the Conservation Law Foundation, who participated in stakeholder meetings. “It will guide [the project] in terms of agencies using this new Northeast Ocean Data portal – which is a tremendous compilation of data of the ocean and how we use it – for the first time. There are guidelines on how to engage stakeholders early in the process.”

Read the full story at the New Hampshire Business Review

Orca Killed by Satellite Tag Leads to Criticism of Science Practices

October 7, 2016 — They bounced around the coast in a 22-foot Zodiac, a team of federal scientists with a dart rifle trying to nail the dorsal fin on a killer whale. The seas had been calm when they came across the pod of orcas along the Pacific Ocean near the U.S. border with Canada. But then the winds exploded and the waters turned rough, and the satellite tag and dart they fired missed the mark and smacked the water.

It was February 2016, and the scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been trying to attach tiny satellite transmitters to the endangered cetaceans to track where they go in winter, to help see why their populations are so depressed. So the researchers retrieved the dart, reloaded the rifle, and took another shot, this time hitting the animal, a healthy-looking 20-year-old male known as L95.

The darting seemed “routine in all regards,” a report would later state, until the orca wound up dead and that dart became the prime suspect. On Wednesday, an expert panel of scientists agreed that efforts to attach the satellite tag to L95 likely paved the way for a rare fungal infection that killed the endangered mammal, leaving only 82 orcas left in that population.

The accident and findings left whale scientists reeling. NOAA is “deeply dismayed that one of their tags may have had something to do with the death of this whale,” said Richard Merrick, the agency’s chief scientist, himself a former whale researcher.

Read the full story at National Geographic

US Wants to Strengthen Agreement to Ban Arctic Ocean Fishing

October 7, 2016 — The United States is trying to broker an agreement between a host of nations to prohibit unregulated fishing in the international waters of the Arctic Ocean.

Such an agreement would be binding and include more countries than a non-binding agreement that the U.S. entered into with Norway, Denmark, Russia and Canada last year to avoid fishing in the area.

Adm. Robert Papp, the U.S. special representative for the Arctic, said a binding, multinational agreement would prevent fishing in the Arctic high seas before scientists can determine what is sustainable. He said the issue is especially important as Arctic ice melts, making the area more open to potential commercial fishing.

“We don’t want people fishing in there until we have the science of what’s happening,” Papp said. “It’s a pre-emptive effort to be able to sustain fisheries into the future.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at ABC News