Saving Seafood

High material, transportation costs continue to impact US seafood industry

September 24, 2021 — The latest in a long line of transportation snags affecting the seafood industry is gridlock at ports in the U.S. state of California, which has created supply chain woes for importers of products from China and other major seafood-supplying nations.

A record-breaking 73 ships were waiting at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach on 20 September, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, per The Wall Street Journal, with the average wait time for ships to get into Los Angeles extending out to 8.5 days, also a record.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Landmark Arctic Fisheries Agreement Enters Into Force

August 30, 2021 — In June, the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement entered into force, bringing to fruition a diplomatic effort that began more than a decade ago.

The agreement represents an unusual and farsighted effort to address a potentially serious environmental problem before it occurs. Too often, governments find themselves in the unenviable situation of dealing with issues only after they have arisen. This time, acting in advance will prevent unregulated commercial fishing in a wide swath of the Arctic Ocean that could have caused significant harm to the marine environment.

In another first, a formal agreement relating specifically to the Arctic region includes non-Arctic signatories, with parties to the agreement comprising Canada, China, Denmark (in respect of Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

It demonstrates that nations can find ways to act in their mutual self-interest even in the face of serious geopolitical tensions. There were many sources of friction that might have derailed progress along the way – particularly during the Trump administration. But with key players in the United States, Russia and China signing and ratifying the agreement, the oceans have a new and groundbreaking multilateral instrument.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

Facing “double whammy,” China’s processors forced to pass on costs

August 23, 2021 — China’s seafood importers could be looking at price rises due to port congestion and higher freight costs, according to a Siam Canadian executive.

Most Chinese processors are renegotiating their contracted prices due to rising costs for raw materials and freight, according to Landy Chow, the general manager of Bangkok, Thailand-based seafood trader Siam Canadian Group’s Guangzhou office.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Global Biodiversity Agreement: China to Host a Two-Part Summit on Nature

August 18, 2021 — The following was released by the Convention on Biological Diversity:

Decisive in-person meetings on a highly-anticipated new UN agreement on biodiversity have been paused for a few more months by the coronavirus pandemic.

Host country China and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) today announced dates for the UN Biodiversity Conference, which includes the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-15), www.cbd.int/meetings/COP-15, to be convened in two parts, the 10th meeting of Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (CP-MOP 10) and the 4th meeting of Parties to the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP-MOP 4).

From Monday 11 to Friday 15 October 2021, an official opening will take place online, followed by final negotiations on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework during face-to-face meetings in Kunming, China, Monday 25 April to Sunday 8 May 2022.

The opening meeting will address agenda items essential to the continued operations of the biodiversity convention and its two Protocols. It will also include a High-Level Segment to be held on 12 and 13 October and expected to produce a Kunming Declaration adding political momentum to the Framework negotiations.

Read the full release here

Hawaii Fishermen Concerned Over Growing Chinese Presence

August 5, 2021 — Early morning in Honolulu, yellowfin, bigeye and other types of tuna, along with swordfish, are put up for auction after being offloaded from ships overnight. Longline boats, 145 of them, operate from this port, trailing kilometers-long baited lines. These vessels mostly fish in international waters at least 400 kilometers offshore, alongside boats from Taiwan, China, Japan and South Korea. Wholesale buyers compete for the catch in an early morning auction, and a single high-quality tuna can fetch from several hundred dollars to more than $1,000.

Confrontations are rare on the high seas near Hawaii, where the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is based and the U.S. Coast Guard maintains a strong presence.

But fisherman here have watched with concern as Chinese fishing vessels intimidate Philippine fisherman in waters that China claims in the South China Sea.

U.S. fishing vessels, on the other hand, face more scrutiny than the Chinese ships. They are closely monitored under U.S. domestic law, says Eric Kingma, executive director of the Hawaii Longline Association, which represents local fishermen.

“We have independent observer coverage levels of at least 20% in our tuna fishery, whereas China barely scratches (reaches) 5%. And we have a whole suite of environmental laws, statutes and regulations,” he said.

Read the full story at Voice of America

Demand for seafood outstripping supply in China

July 27, 2021 — There are signs that China’s economy is cooling, as economic data for the second quarter of 2021 showed China’s GDP growth slowed due to slower state-led investment and weaker consumption growth. China’s exports in Q2 2021 rose 20 percent, but higher prices for oil and other imports are eroding China’s strong trade balance.

Meanwhile, seafood prices are soaring across the country. Wholesale prices for freshwater seafood surged 20 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021 in China, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics. The climb in prices is 13.1 percentage points higher than the rise seen in the first half of 2020 and has added 0.12 to China’s overall consumer price index (CPI). The overall seafood price index was up 17.2 percent in the first six months, suggesting tightened supply.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NFI Red Crab Council Renews Commitment to Improving Chinese Crab Fishery

July 20, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute’s Red Crab Council and its partners –  Ocean Outcomes (O2) and Tao Ran on the ground in China – have renewed their annual contract to keep the comprehensive Red Crab Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) on track.

“For a number of years the Red Crab fishery has faced adversity from things like the pandemic, the market and tariffs,” said Newport International President Anjan Tharakan, the NFI Red Crab Council Chair. “But none of the companies we partner with, and certainly not O2 nor Tao Ran, have lost sight of the importance of working hard towards the most sustainable fishery possible. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If nothing, this is one committed group.”

The FIP is focused on improving crab production in Fujian Province, the leading harvesting region in China for red crab.

The NFI Red Crab Council funds the work by assessing a fee on its members based on the number of pounds they import each quarter.

“Despite all the external challenges this FIP has faced, we’ve never changed our ultimate objectives,” said O2 Founder and CEO Rich Lincoln. “We have dedicated companies supporting the work and experts on the ground executing it. Continuing this contract keeps us on track to seeing the best science-based strategies driving Red Crab fisheries management in the Fujian region”

The status of the Fujian Zhangzhou Red Crab FIP is updated biannually on fisheryprogress.org.

COVID-19 has scrambled China’s aquafeed sector markets, with domestic market now a primary focus

July 14, 2021 — China’s domestic aquaculture sector is shifting its production focus to a later harvest in order to supply rising demand from within the country, according to a leading Chinese supplier of fishmeal and fish oil.

A fishmeal trader with an IFFO-certified fish oil refining plant, Fujian High Fortune Bio-Tech Group also has a GMP plant for omega-3 related products and healthcare industry production. Its clients are in the human consumption and health care industries, in addition to animal and aquafeed production and the pet food industry.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Overwhelmed by Chinese Fleets, Filipino Fishermen ‘Protest and Adapt’

July 12, 2021 — The fishermen along the western coast of Luzon Island, in the Philippines, have known for generations that the seas, the tides and the weather can determine their fortunes. More recently, they have added China to that list.

Scarborough Shoal, a nearby triangular chain of reefs and rocks in the South China Sea, was once the source of bountiful catches of large reef fish. But the fishermen are no longer allowed to go near it.

“The Chinese have already swallowed Karburo whole, but that area is really ours,” said Johnny Sonny Geruela, using the Filipino name for Scarborough. Mr. Geruela lives in Masinloc, a small fishing community just 124 nautical miles from the shoal.

China’s Coast Guard has had ships anchored near Scarborough for almost a decade. Five years ago this week, an international court ruled that the territory was well within Manila’s exclusive economic zone, and invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. Beijing has effectively ignored the ruling and expanded its presence in the region.

Filipino fishermen like Mr. Geruela now avoid the shoal, where they once sheltered during storms, exchanged greetings and cigarettes, and harvested the abundant reef fish. And the lessons of Scarborough are playing out elsewhere in the South China Sea, as China continues to flex its muscle on the water and pursue power through a campaign of steady provocation.

Read the full story at The New York Times