Saving Seafood

James G. Stavridis & Johan Bergenas: The fishing wars are coming

September 14, 2017 — Lawmakers are finally catching up to something that the Navy and Coast Guard have known for a long time: The escalating conflict over fishing could lead to a “global fish war.”

This week, as part of the pending National Defense Authorization Act, Congress asked the Navy to help fight illegal fishing. This is an important step. Greater military and diplomatic efforts must follow. Indeed, history is full of natural-resource wars, including over sugar, spices, textiles, minerals, opium and oil. Looking at current dynamics, fish scarcity could be the next catalyst.

The decline in nearly half of global fish stocks in recent decades is a growing and existential threat to roughly 1 billion people around the world who rely on seafood as their primary source of protein. No other country is more concerned about the increasingly empty oceans than China, whose people eat twice as much fish as the global average. Beijing is also the world’s largest exporter of fish, with 14 million fishers in a sector producing billions of dollars a year.

In order to keep its people fed and employed, the Chinese government provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year in subsidies to its distant-water fishing fleet. And in the South China Sea, it is common for its ships to receive Chinese Coast Guard escorts when illegally entering other countries’ fishing waters. As such, the Chinese government is directly enabling and militarizing the worldwide robbing of ocean resources.

Read the full opinion piece at the Washington Post

Nations Will Start Talks to Protect Fish of the High Seas

August 2, 2017 — UNITED NATIONS — More than half of the world’s oceans belong to no one, which often makes their riches ripe for plunder.

Now, countries around the world have taken the first step to protect the precious resources of the high seas. In late July, after two years of talks, diplomats at the United Nations recommended starting treaty negotiations to create marine protected areas in waters beyond national jurisdiction — and in turn, begin the high-stakes diplomatic jostling over how much to protect and how to enforce rules.

“The high seas are the biggest reserve of biodiversity on the planet,” Peter Thomson, the ambassador of Fiji and current president of the United Nations General Assembly, said in an interview after the negotiations. “We can’t continue in an ungoverned way if we are concerned about protecting biodiversity and protecting marine life.”

Without a new international system to regulate all human activity on the high seas, those international waters remain “a pirate zone,” Mr. Thomson said.

Lofty ambitions, though, are likely to collide with hard-knuckled diplomatic bargaining. Some countries resist the creation of a new governing body to regulate the high seas, arguing that existing regional organizations and rules are sufficient. The commercial interests are powerful. Russian and Norwegian vessels go to the high seas for krill fishing; Japanese and Chinese vessels go there for tuna. India and China are exploring the seabed in international waters for valuable minerals. Many countries are loath to adopt new rules that would constrain them.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Maine’s lobster business is booming despite record catches

July 19, 2017 — The lobster business is booming in Maine.

Lobstermen are hauling in record catches, while prices are near all-time highs. That’s because the industry is also seeing record demand.

U.S. lobstermen have seen their yearly haul quintuple over the last 30 years. They brought in 131 million pounds of the crustacean in 2016, more than 80 percent of that was caught in Maine.

“Compared to 20 years ago, I’m getting twice as much,” said Jack Thomas, who has been lobstering for almost 50 years. He works traps off the coast of Freeport, Maine. “Last year, the last couple of years have been record years for me.”

But increased catches haven’t always been good news. In 2012, an historic lobster harvest sent prices plummeting, when demand didn’t keep up.

“Everybody points to this year as a year that was a big learning experience for all of us in the industry and it certainly was,” said Annie Tselikis, marketing manager at Maine Coast, a distributor in Portland, Maine. “What that did was give us a wake-up call to invest in infrastructure, to really invest in marketing, our business relationships. And in that one year, we changed the entire game.”

The industry made a huge push to increase demand, both domestically and around the globe. And they’ve had great success, especially in China, where distributors are marketing Maine lobster as a clean source of quality protein. It also helps that the Chinese word for lobster is similar to the word for dragon, it resembles the mythical creature and when cooked, it turns the lucky color red.

China accounted for just third-of-a-percent of all U.S. lobster exports in 2010. By 2016, that jumped to 13 percent, according to WISERTrade.

Read the full story at CNBC

Sixth Pacific Islands Fisheries Observer Missing At Sea

July 3, 2017 — Another Papua New Guinea fisheries observer has gone missing at sea.

He has been named as James Junior Numbaru, a certified Pacific Islands Regional Fisheries Observer in his 20’s with six years of observer experience. This brings to six the number of Pacific observers missing at sea while four in Papua New Guinea alone.

A statement issued yesterday by the PNG Fisheries Forum Agency (FFA) states Mr Numbaru was reported missing by the Chinese flagged, PNG-chartered purse seiner FENG XIANG 818 on Monday 26 June.

Attempts to get comments from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the Minister for Fisheries Mao Zeming were unsuccessful.

Read the full story at Pacific Islands Report

Seven Species of Giant Clam on Deck for Federal Protection

June 28, 2017 — The National Marine Fisheries Service announced that seven of ten giant clam species petitioned for listing under the Endangered Species Act need further study. The 90-day review process found that the petition provided enough scientific evidence to move seven of the species to the second stage of the ESA listing process, known as the 12-month status review.

The petition was filed by “private citizen” Dwayne W. Meadows Ph.D., formerly the Coordinator for the NMFS’ Species of Concern Program, who is a conservation biologist and educator, with additional background in SCUBA diving and underwater photography.

Giant clams live along shallow shorelines and reefs in the tropical Indo-West Pacific region. The largest of the giant clam species, Tridacna gigas, grows up to 4.5 feet wide and can weigh up to 440 pounds. “The petition points out that the giant clam (T. gigas) is preferentially targeted for international trade due to its large size and because it is considered a desirable  luxury item in China thought to confer supernatural powers and improve health,” the action notes. “A pair of high quality shells (from one individual) can fetch up to US $150,000.”

A United Nations tribunal arbitrated a dispute between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China last year regarding maritime rights in the South China Sea, including the matter of China’s poaching of giant clams.

“The Tribunal is particularly troubled by the evidence with respect to giant clams, tons of which were  harvested by Chinese  fishing vessels from Scarborough  Shoal,  and  in  recent  years, elsewhere in the Spratly Islands. Giant clams (Tridacnidae)… play a significant role in the overall growth and maintenance of the reef structure…Excavation is highly destructive, with early reports showing a drop in coral cover by 95 percent from its original value. More recently, fishermen  in  the  South  China  Sea  are  reported  to  utilize  the  propellers  of  their  boats  to excavate shells from reef flats in the Spratly Islands on an industrial scale, leading to near-complete destruction of the affected reef areas,” the report stated.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Maine scientists, academics condemn Trump’s decision on climate accord, see consequences for state

June 2, 2017 — Maine scientists, academics and physicians were dismayed by President Trump’s decision Thursday to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, saying his action will endanger the health of Mainers and harm the state’s fisheries and agriculture.

The move will make the United States look ridiculous in the eyes of world leaders who are trying to effect change, one prominent scientist said.

“China and Europe will become the heroes and we will look like fools,” said Paul Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine.

Mayewski has led more than 55 expeditions to some of the remotest polar and high-altitude locations on Earth, has been published in more than 450 scientific publications, and led climate-change research programs in Antarctica, Greenland and Asia.

Mayewski said that while countries such as China are taking steps to reduce carbon emissions, the U.S., under Trump’s leadership, stands to lose credibility because it remains the second-largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world. He noted that Syria and Nicaragua were the only countries that did not sign the Paris climate agreement.

“We’re giving up, at least politically, the high road on being a leader in climate change,” he said.

Mayewski said Mainers could be harmed by the president’s decision. As temperatures continue to rise and weather patterns become more unstable, extreme heat will make more people vulnerable, especially the sick and the elderly. Climate change also will impact tourism and lobstering, Mayewski said. Health care costs also could increase.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

SHAUN GEHAN: Shark fin bill hurts Americans, hinders shark conservation

May 16, 2017 — After more than three decades of stringent conservation measures and sacrifices by American shark fishermen, domestic shark populations are on the rise. But just as fishermen are on the verge of being able to realize the reward for years of painful cuts and downsizing, Congress is considering a bill that will effectively end the fishery.

Laudable in intent—attacking the wasteful practice of harvesting sharks solely for fins—the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act is likely to do more harm than good, both to the sharks it seeks to protect and to American fishermen abiding by the world’s strictest rules.

Its sponsors, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Rep. Edward Royce (R-Calif.), would mandate discarding shark fins and ban their importation or sale. Unlike ivory, however, the U.S. is a very minor market for fins.  All fins produced domestically are exported, mostly to China.

Notably, and with industry support, shark finning has been illegal in the U.S. since 1993.  Over time, that ban has been expanded and measures to ensure effective enforcement have been created.  Those include stiff penalties, at-sea and dockside enforcement, and a requirement to land sharks with fins attached. Combined with scientifically determined catch limits, this has led to a rebound in shark populations that has been recognized by federal managers, independent shark experts, and academic research institutions.

The bill will, as a practical matter, end domestic commercial shark fishing because, on average, fins account for half the value of the landed catch.  Absent that income, fishermen would lose money catching and landing these fish. The ban also runs counter to the main principle behind this nation’s fisheries law: to maximize the economic return from sustainable use of our marine resources.

Read the full opinion piece at The Hill

NEW YORK TIMES: China Wants Fish, So Africa Goes Hungry

May 4, 2017 — Of all the stresses that humans have inflicted on the world’s oceans, including pollution and global warming, industrial fishing ranks high. For years, trawlers capable of scouring the ocean floor, and factory ships trailing driftnets and longlines baited with thousands of hooks, have damaged once-abundant fisheries to the point where, the United Nations says, 90 percent of them are now fully exploited or facing collapse.

The damage is not just to the fish and the ecosystem but also to people who depend on them for food and income. This is particularly true in Africa. In 2008, in two striking articles, The Times reported that mechanized fleets from the European Union, Russia and China had nearly picked clean the oceans off Senegal and other northwest African countries, ruining coastal economies.

It’s still happening, but now, according to a report by The Times’s Andrew Jacobs, China stands alone as the major predator.

With its own waters heavily overfished, and being forced to forage elsewhere to feed its people, the Chinese government commands a fleet of nearly 2,600 vessels, 10 times larger than the United States fleet, all heavily subsidized. As Zhang Hongzhou of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University observes, “For China’s leaders, ensuring a steady supply of aquatic products is not just about good economics but social stability and political legitimacy.”

Read the full opinion piece at the New York Times

China’s Appetite Pushes Fisheries to the Brink

May 1, 2017 — Once upon a time, the seas teemed with mackerel, squid and sardines, and life was good. But now, on opposite sides of the globe, sun-creased fishermen lament as they reel in their nearly empty nets.

“Your net would be so full of fish, you could barely heave it onto the boat,” said Mamadou So, 52, a fisherman in Senegal, gesturing to the meager assortment of tiny fish flapping in his wooden canoe.

A world away in eastern China, Zhu Delong, 75, also shook his head as his net dredged up a disappointing array of pinkie-size shrimp and fledgling yellow croakers. “When I was a kid, you could cast a line out your back door and hook huge yellow croakers,” he said. “Now the sea is empty.”

Overfishing is depleting oceans across the globe, with 90 percent of the world’s fisheries fully exploited or facing collapse, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. From Russian king crab fishermen in the west Bering Sea to Mexican ships that poach red snapper off the coast of Florida, unsustainable fishing practices threaten the well-being of millions of people in the developing world who depend on the sea for income and food, experts say.

But China, with its enormous population, growing wealth to buy seafood and the world’s largest fleet of deep-sea fishing vessels, is having an outsize impact on the globe’s oceans.

Having depleted the seas close to home, Chinese fishermen are sailing farther to exploit the waters of other countries, their journeys often subsidized by a government more concerned with domestic unemployment and food security than the health of the world’s oceans and the countries that depend on them.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Elver landings rising slowly, but price stays low

April 18, 2017 — A little more than three weeks into the 10-week fishing season, Maine elver dealers have reported buying about 30 percent of the total annual 9,616-pound landings quota allocated to the state’s fishery.

As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to figures the Department of Marine Resources described as “extremely preliminary,” dealers had purchased a total of 2,828.908 pounds of elvers and reportedly paid harvesters a total of $4,057,115 — an average price of $1,434 per pound.

That price may be misleading, though. On Patriots Day morning, an elver dealer in Ellsworth was paying $1,150 per pound and advising the fishermen who sell to him to hold on to their eels for a few days in hopes the price would rise.

At this time last year, dealers in the Ellsworth area were offering harvesters $1,300 per pound, with the low price reportedly a reflection of a weak market in Asia.

For the past two seasons, Maine harvesters have landed fewer elvers than allowed under their quota: 5,259 pounds in 2015 and 9,400 pounds last year. In 2015, the average price of elvers was just under $2,172 per pound and, at times, the price has soared above $2,400 per pound.

Read the full story at The Ellsworth American