Saving Seafood

COVID-19 Leaves Fisheries Observers in the Dark

October 5, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic does not appear to have hindered the distant-water fleets of China and other major fishing nations, but it has largely sidelined the fishery observers and port officials who monitor illegal fishing.

“In most of the South Pacific, fishery inspectors cannot come onboard the vessel to do inspections before authorising” the transfer of catch, known as transshipment, says Francisco Blaha, a New Zealand-based fisheries adviser.

The presence of independent observers on trawlers is a frontline deterrent to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. A 2016 study found that a third of the world’s fish catch is not reported.

“The absence of observers will bring a level of uncertainly on reporting” catch, adds Blaha. “The biggest issue we have in the South Pacific is misreporting and underreporting by the licensed fleet.”

This absence comes as the World Trade Organisation (WTO) resumes negotiations in Geneva this month in the latest attempt to reach a consensus on a long-delayed agreement to eliminate harmful subsidies. These promote the IUU and over-fishing that is decimating global fish stocks.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

New Oceana Report Suggests Shady Fishing Practices By Large Fleet Near Galápagos

October 5, 2020 — In August, the world turned its attention towards the tiny Galápagos archipelago when nearly 300 Chinese-flagged vessels were found fishing near the Ecuadorian EEZ that encompasses the biologically-significant islands, raising concerns about illegal and unregulated fishing. A new report by environmental non-profit Oceana claims that the vessels, now moving south through Peru, may be purposefully turning off their satellite trackers to avoid detection.

Prompted to investigate by past illegal fishing in the same area in 2017, Oceana analyzed data from satellite transponders on the squid-fishing vessels over a one-month period to track vessel movements and map fishing activity.

Automatic Identification Systems

Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) on commercial vessels were originally used by ships to avoid collisions. A vessel’s identity, speed and location are automatically transmitted to satellite and terrestrial receivers at regular intervals. This publicly-available information is used by Global Fishing Watch, a public mapping tool developed by Oceana in collaboration with Google and SkyTruth, to visualize where vessels stop to fish, allowing for more scrutiny of potentially-illegal fishing activity.

Read the full story at Forbes

Past illegal activity dogs Chinese fleet that fished squid near Galapagos

September 24, 2020 — In early June, a fleet of around 260 boats from China reached the limits of Ecuador’s exclusive economic zone around the Galápagos Islands to fish for Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas). For months, the fleet skirted this area, drawing outrage among Ecuadorans as well as scientists and conservationists around the world.

The fleet remained in international waters and no ship crossed the country’s maritime limits, according to the Ecuadoran authorities, who detected no illegal actions. However, scientists and fishery analysts say the volume of fishing is so high as to potentially overexploit the squid. Moreover, the boats could be capturing species threatened with extinction. Beyond that, vessels within this fleet have a history of illegal fishing, according to Milko Schvartzman, a marine conservation specialist with the Argentine organization Circle of Environmental Policies, who has studied the fleet for years.

Experts say the presence of these ships is not only a problem for Ecuador but for other countries in the region, too. Every year they travel a route that goes from the South Atlantic off Argentina to the South Pacific near the Galápagos, passing through Chile and Peru. According to Schvartzman, at least two boats that have been caught illegally fishing in Argentine waters and were pursued by that country’s navy were fishing south of the Galápagos in August.

Read the full story at Mongabay

Alaska fishermen hurt by U.S. trade standoffs can apply for federal relief funds

September 23, 2020 — Alaska fishermen can increase their federal trade relief funds by adding higher poundage prices for 15 fish and shellfish species. While it’s welcomed, the payouts are a band-aid on a bigger and ongoing problem.

Through December 14, fishermen can apply to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP) if their bottom line has been hurt by the Trump administration’s ongoing trade standoffs, primarily with China.

“STRP is part of a federal relief strategy to support fishermen and other producers while the administration continues to work on free, fair and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets to help American producers compete globally,” said a USDA fact sheet.

The damages to fishermen are calculated as the difference with a trade tariff and the baseline without it based on 2019 catches.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

US-China fight over fishing is really about world domination

September 22, 2020 — China’s aggressive, sometimes illegal fishing practices are the latest source of conflict with the United States.

China has the world’s largest fishing fleet. Beijing claims to send around 2,600 vessels out to fish across the globe, but some maritime experts say this distant-water fishing fleet may number nearly 17,000. The United States has fewer than 300 distant-water ships.

According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations control marine resources within a 200-mile “exclusive economic zone”; beyond that are international waters. While the U.S. never signed the treaty, it has declared a 200-mile offshore exclusive economic zone.

Read the full story at Yahoo News

Chinese Customs finds traces of COVID-19 on Indonesian, Russian seafood packaging

September 21, 2020 — China’s Customs authorities have announced the discovery of traces of COVID-19 on the packaging of seafood originating from Indonesia and Russia.

A shipment of frozen hairtail shipped by Medan City, Indonesia-based Pt. Putri Indah was held by the General Administration of Customs after its packaging was found to contain traces of the novel coronavirus. In response, China has announced that imports from the firm will be barred for a week, according to the Announcement No. 103 from the Chinese Customs Administration.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Eric Trump tells Maine lobstermen: ‘We will never, ever let you down’

September 18, 2020 — When Seth Dube was growing up in Camp Ellis, Saco’s gritty seaside community boasted a robust ground fishing fleet, but the draggers are mostly gone now, replaced by lobster boats like his. The sixth-generation fisherman blames government overregulation for that industry’s demise, and used to worry lobstering could be next.

That was before President Trump became a friend of the Maine fisherman, Dube said – reopening marine monuments to fishing, delaying environmental rules that would have forced some lobstermen to install greener diesel engines, inking a trade deal allowing tariff-free lobster trade with Europe and giving lobstermen trade relief for lost China sales.

“The Trump administration has become a driving force to protect the fishery,” Dube said at a “Make America Great Again” rally at Camp Ellis on Thursday. “The ground fishermen were regulated out of business along with the Maine shrimp fishery, forcing families to find other jobs and other means to make a living. We can’t let the same thing happen to lobster.”

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Lobstermen may get up to $50 million in pandemic relief funds

September 16, 2020 — Whatever the relationship between China and the United States — particularly the lobster industry — may be, Maine lobstermen are certainly living in interesting times. 

Last week, a scant two months before the upcoming presidential election, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that it would soon release some $530 million appropriated by Congress last March under the CARES Act to assist the U.S. seafood industry and fishermen damaged by retaliatory tariffs. Those tariffs have been imposed primarily by China and the European Union on imports of U.S. live and processed seafood. 

Payments from the Seafood Trade Relief Program vary by species and are based on each fisherman’s 2019 landings multiplied by an amount established by the USDA. For lobstermen, the multiplier is 50 cents per pound. Total payments to Maine lobstermen based on 2019 landings figures could reach $50 million. 

Herring fishermen get 4 cents per pound. Salmon farmers get 16 cents per pound. The total payment is limited to $250,000 to any one fisherman or entity. Some fishermen and most aquaculturists operate as small business corporations or limited liability companies, for all species combined, and payments are subject to federal and state income tax. 

That limit means nothing to the shellfish farmers who grow primarily oysters, mussels, hardshell clams and scallops in Maine. They get nothing, presumably because exports of those species, if any, were not damaged by tariffs. 

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American

WTO Panel: US tariffs on China violate trade rules

September 16, 2020 — A World Trade Organization panel established in January 2019 to examine U.S. tariffs on goods from China has found that the tariffs were not justifiable under WTO rules.

The tariffs, the first set of which was imposed in July 2018, covered USD 234 billion (EUR 197.8 billion) in Chinese goods, including hundreds of seafood products. Those initial tariffs sparked a trade war that has continued to this day – with some relaxations between the two countries in the wake of a “Phase One” trade deal initiated in January.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

USDA tweaks farm assistance program to fund fishermen hurt by U.S.-China trade war

September 14, 2020 — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it’s setting aside more than half a billion dollars for fishermen hurt by tariffs associated with the U.S.-China trade war. Some Alaskans are applauding the move, but others worry the program leaves some out.

Jeremy Leighton is a dive fisherman based in Ketchikan. That means that as often as he can, he spends his days on the cold, murky seafloor looking for sea cucumbers and geoduck clams.

He was among the first Alaskans to see the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic — most of Alaska’s geoduck clam harvest is sold to consumers in China. When China locked down as the coronavirus spread, demand for the husky bivalves collapsed and managers closed the market.

Leighton and other fishermen were already facing a tough market — they were already looking at a 25% tariff on seafood exported to China.

“So the last year prices dropped since […] the tariffs were put on,” Leighton said.

But it’s not just geoduck fishermen. Frances Leach heads up United Fishermen of Alaska, a fishing industry group.

Read the full story at Alaska Public Media