Saving Seafood

China protests IOTC yellowfin tuna allocation limits for 2022

January 25, 2022 — Despite the People’s Republic of China maintaining that mainland China and Taiwan are parts of “One China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided, the world’s second-largest economy appears reluctant to entertain such perceptions when it comes to the management of fisheries for both entities.

The country’s delegation to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has disagreed with the commission’s 10,557 metric ton (MT) yellowfin tuna catch-limit for 2022, saying the figure is below the 15,339 MT it expected. The higher quota is based on catch limits being calculated separately for mainland China and Taiwan.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Southeast Asia attracting seafood processing away from China

January 21, 2022 — As China’s economy continues to evolve and its trade relationship with the U.S. remains strained, it is likely other countries in Southeast Asia will take a larger role in processing seafood, according to a panel of experts at the National Fisheries Institute’s Global Seafood Market Conference.

Trade relations between the U.S. and China became suddenly more volatile when the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump implemented tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump’s stated goal was to put an end to the significant trade imbalance between the two countries – an imbalance that U.S.-China Business Council President Craig Allen said was nothing new.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

China’s difficulties a potential boon for US seafood processors

December 16, 2021 — Mounting difficulties in bringing seafood processed in China into the United States has created an opportunity for U.S. processors, including Portland, Maine-based Bristol Seafood.

China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed China’s seafood-processing sector’s production, and related logistical and transportation issues have impeded delivery of their products to the U.S. Those issues, along with the continued imposition of U.S. tariffs as high as 25 percent on seafood imported from China, have made China a less-attractive option for processing for U.S. seafood buyers, according to Bristol Seafood CEO Peter Handy.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

China’s seafood production, consumption continue to grow

December 9, 2021 — China’s seafood production will total 65.7 million metric tons (MT) in 2021, and will increase to 66.1 million MT in 2022, according to a Chinese research consultancy.

China’s overall seafood output rose from 64.5 million MT in 2017 to 65.4 million MT in 2020, according to Zhong Shang Chan Ye Research Agency, which also trades as China Commerce and Industry Research and Ask CI Consulting.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

The U.S. Has a Leading Role to Play in Reducing Ocean Plastic

December 6, 2021 — Plastic waste of all shapes and sizes permeates the world’s oceans. It shows up on beaches, in fish and even in Arctic sea ice. And a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine makes clear that the U.S. is a big part of the problem.

As the report shows, the U.S. produces a large share of the global supply of plastic resin – the precursor material to all plastic industrial and consumer products. It also imports and exports billions of dollars’ worth of plastic products every year.

On a per capita basis, the U.S. produces an order of magnitude more plastic waste than China – a nation often vilified over pollution-related issues. These findings build off a study published in 2020 that concluded that the U.S. is the largest global source of plastic waste, including plastics shipped to other countries that later are mismanaged.

And only a small fraction of plastic in U.S. household waste streams is recycled. The study calls current U.S. recycling systems “grossly insufficient to manage the diversity, complexity and quantity of plastic waste.”

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

China blocks US forced labor proposal at WTO fishery subsidies talks

November 19, 2021 — China has refused to endorse a U.S. demand for annual inspections of fleets for use of forced labor to be included in a World Trade Organization accord on curbing illegal fishing subsidies.

China said the WTO has no mandate for tackling the labor issue in the agreement. The topic of forced labor was introduced to the talks only recently by the U.S. delegation in response to increased emphasis on the issue in Washington D.C.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Chinese vessels accused by EJF of IUU fishing, labor transgressions in Somali waters

November 2, 2021 — A new investigation has exposed how China is defying international law to carry out illegal fishing operations in Somali water, while subjecting foreign crew to mistreatment.

A new Environmental Justice Foundation report claims six Chinese fishing vessels entered Somali waters without permission and used prohibited fishing gear, such as trawl nets, in fishing zones that have been reserved for Somali fishing communities.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Report finds China becoming more secretive about its fishing subsidies

October 29, 2021 — A new study prepared for campaign group Oceana suggests 85 percent of China’s subsidies to its fleet are harming the sustainability of fish stocks.

The report, “China’s Fisheries Subsidies Propel Distant-Water Fleet,” found that while China has reduced its fuel subsidies to the distant-water fleet, it is becoming more secretive about releasing data on direct and indirect subsidies to fishing firms.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Wind farms blew jobs to the heartland. Will offshore wind do the same in Massachusetts?

October 21, 2021 — Before he worked for American Clean Power, Jeff Danielson was an Iowa state senator for 15 years, representing Black Hawk County, the state’s fourth most populous region, and a Democratic stronghold. But most of Iowa is rural and Republican. In 2020 residents voted wholesale for former President Donald Trump, an outspoken opponent of clean energy.

So it was a surprise, Danielson said, that in a 2017 vote on a redesign of the state license plate, the public chose to include an increasingly familiar feature on Iowa’s rural landscape.

“The license plate that won was a landscaped picture with silos, smokestacks — traditional manufacturing strength and farming — right alongside a wind turbine,” Danielson said. “If you drive around Iowa today, that is the license plate you see.”

What was once controversial has now become an accepted feature in the heartland. In 2019, wind energy generated more electricity than coal-fired plants for the first time in Iowa state history and now accounts for 57% of the state’s electric power generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

It is the highest percentage of electrical production by wind power of any state and it happened fast. Five years ago coal-fired plants generated 53% of the state’s electricity, according to EIA, but as of 2020 only accounted for 24%.

It’s a matter of economics, wind power advocates say, not politics.

The U.S. is second only to China in terms of installed wind power. China has 288 gigawatts compared to the U.S., which has 122. But China is way ahead of the U.S. when it comes to offshore wind installations. This year, China displaced the U.K. as the top offshore wind country with 11.1 gigawatts of power installed. The U.S. has only one, a 55-megawatt, five-turbine offshore wind installation off Block Island, Rhode Island. 

Last year, the Biden administration set a goal of generating 30 gigawatts of offshore power along the East Coast by 2030 as part of its strategy to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector. Massachusetts’ recent update of its climate change plan set a goal of 5.6 gigawatts of offshore wind as an integral part of its plan to achieve a 50% emissions reduction target by 2030, and net-zero emissions from the energy sector by 2050.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

 

Conference Tackles Overfishing In The World’s Oceans

October 12, 2021 — Protecting the world’s oceans and its resources could be coming closer to reality as countries gather this week in China for the United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity.

Nations are expected to start keeping promises to protect 30% of the world’s oceans, including implementing or pledging support for the implementation of more Marine Protected Areas around the world.

The conference, to be held in Kunming, China starting Monday, follows a collective pledge from more than 100 countries to protect at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. Climate change was a major theme during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September, and the goal remains lofty though conservationists remain hopeful.

The global Marine Protected Area Atlas that covers some 18,000 MPAs shows just 2.7% of the ocean is fully or highly protected from fishing impacts. A previous goal of protecting 10% by 2020 was missed.

And though it was expected that some nations would up their MPA coverage, management was still an issue, according to University of Hawaii marine researcher Alan Friedlander.

Friedlander was among a group of marine experts who called for more effective management strategies — a blueprint for future MPA management — as there was a broad range of interpretations and “not all MPAs are created equal.”

Management was of equal importance to designation, he said.

“It’s a big difference between what’s strongly protected and what’s declared protected,” said Friedlander. “We really need to have strong protection if the goal is biodiversity.”

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat