Saving Seafood

Climate redistribution of tuna may mean a loss of USD 60 million for Pacific by 2050

September 11, 2019 — Pacific island countries could lose an estimated USD 60 million (EUR 54.5 million) in revenue annually due to the impacts of climate change on the tuna population within the next 30 years, according to Conservation International (CI).

In a fact sheet produced by CI with the assistance of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), modeling indicates increases in ocean temperature due to climate change will cause skipjack and yellowfin tuna to shift to the east.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

$60 Million Loss in Revenue Expected in Pacific Islands Tuna Industry by 2050 Due to Climate Change

July 25, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Revenue from tuna caught within the Economic Exclusive Zones (EEZs) of Pacific Island Countries is expected to decline by 2050, according to Johann Bell, senior director of Pacific tuna fisheries at Conservation International.

He told PACNEWS climate change will affect revenue generated from the industry.

“What we’ve done with the recent modelling is actually look at how the biomass of tuna might change within the EEZ of Pacific Island countries and territories and how it might change in the high seas areas.

“And the modelling that we have now is indicating that by 2050 there is likely to be a 15 percent movement of the amount of tuna in the EEZ onto the high seas. So yes that will affect the revenue of several countries because if you make the assumption that the revenue is proportional to how much tuna we have in our waters, then that is likely to change and countries will get less revenue,” Bell told PACNEWS in Noumea at the end of the Pacific Community workshop for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030.

Bell said climate change will continue to increase the surface temperature of the ocean and this will cause skipjack and yellowfin tuna species to shift significantly to the East.

He told PACNEWS regional governments will receive less revenue because foreign fishing fleets will take more of their tuna catch from the high seas where they do not have to pay fishing license fees.

“There are some countries further to the East where the amount of tuna in their EEZ is likely to increase and they might expect to get greater catches.

“So if you look at the numbers at the moment, in 2016 license fees revenue for all the Pacific Island Countries and Territories was about US$465 million with 15 percent of the biomass of tuna moving from the EEZ onto the high seas. So we could be looking at a change in license revenue of about US$60 million, a loss of license revenue collectively across the region by 2050,” said Bell.

He said a promising way to cushion Pacific island economies against a loss of license revenue would be to explore how best to add value to tuna.

Bell said they are also exploring how best to help the region retain the rights to the tuna resources that currently occur within their EEZs, regardless of displacement of the fish by climate change.

This would mean that although some tuna would no longer physically be in the EEZs of a Pacific island nation, these tuna would still belong economically to that country, said Bell.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership announces new joint aquaculture improvement project in Indonesia

March 18, 2019 — The following was published by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce the initiation of a new sustainable aquaculture improvement project in Indonesia.

The project, scheduled for two years in Banyuwangi, East Java, will focus on improving the sustainability of aquaculture in the region, as well as governance and management of ongoing shrimp farming.

“Effective management of the natural resource base and protection from disease is critical to ensure the long-term investability of the shrimp industry,” said SFP Aquaculture Director Anton Immink.

SFP is working to coordinate the project, together with Conservation International, IDH—the Sustainable Trade Initiative, and Longline Environment. The Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning, and the Financial Service Authority of Indonesia will all be collaborating on the project as well.

“This program will support the ministry’s efforts to grow sustainable shrimp exports from Indonesia,” said Machmud, Directorate General of Product Competitiveness for the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries.

The approach is designed to address disease risks and environmental impacts across a politically and ecologically relevant location, to attract investment and insurance and create a scalable model that can be exported to other geographies.

“This project builds positively on the guidelines we jointly developed and creates the action needed to ensure a sustainable future for the shrimp industry in Indonesia,” said Dane Klinger, Aquaculture Innovation Fellow at CI.

The project is supported by the Walton Family Foundation and the Packard Foundation.

HAWAII: Report contends state’s nearshore fisheries undervalued, undermanaged

September 6, 2017 — KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — Hawaii is neglecting a “hidden economy” by significantly undervaluing its nearshore fisheries both economically and culturally, according to a recently published report.

“Follow that fish: Uncovering the hidden blue economy in coral reef fisheries” was compiled by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Conservation International, Center for Oceans. Researchers at Arizona State University also contributed to the report released in August.

The report states that because of the inherently “remote and dispersed” nature of nearshore fisheries, they have been studied more sparsely and thus are not understood as well as industrial fisheries.

According to the report, the economic benefits of nearshore fisheries around islands throughout the Pacific Ocean are often significantly underestimated. As a factor of gross domestic product, these fisheries are typically five times more valuable than their country’s recognize.

Researchers estimated the annual value of Hawaii’s nearshore fisheries at between $10.3-$16.4 million, adding they produce roughly 7.7 million meals per year.

Read the full story at West Hawaii Today

Hawaiʻi nearshore fishery provides big benefits

August 16, 2017 — The monetary, social and cultural importance of Hawaiʻi nearshore fisheries has been examined by researchers in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM). The study argues that fully appreciating the multitude of benefits the nearshore fishery provides to society is a crucial step towards sustainable management.

The multi-year study tracked commercial and noncommercial reef-fish value chains, which was conducted as a collaboration between researchers in the College of Tropcial Agriculture and Human Resources and Conservation International Hawaiʻi. The study, “Follow that fish: Uncovering the hidden blue economy in coral reef fisheries,” was published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

Small-scale fisheries support the well-being of millions of people around the world—even in a well-developed economy such as Hawaiʻi’s, they provide important economic as well as social benefits. The total annual monetary value of the fishery is approximately $10.3 to $16.4 million. The non-commercial fishery in particular provides huge benefits to the community—non-commercial catch is around three times reported commercial catch and is worth $4.2 to $10 million more annually.

Read the full story at University of Hawai’i News

Can Sustainability Commitments Get Slavery Out of Seafood?

June 30, 2017 — In 2015, more than 2,000 enslaved fishermen were rescued from brutal conditions in the seas around Indonesia. Some had been savagely beaten while others had been kept in cages. Slave labor was found off these fishing boats as well: In one scenario, seafood workers were forced to peel frozen shrimp for 16 hours a day.

Wracked by these and other stories in the Pulitzer Prize-winning series from the Associated Press chronicling slavery, abysmal working conditions, and restricted freedoms, the extent of the abuse was shocking given the seafood industry’s recent global focus on environmental sustainability. However, existing seafood labels—most notably, the blue Marine Steward Council label—focus almost exclusively on the management and environmental impact of fisheries. These traceability standards largely neglect workforce concerns.

Early actions from the complex web of seafood suppliers, distributors, and retailers to address human rights abuses were fragmented and ineffective at best. For example, a European Union threat to ban seafood imports from Thailand led Thai authorities to enact legislation to combat illegal fishing and prevent underage labor, and arrest more than 100 people on human rights violations. But watchdog groups continued to find abuses months later.

Over the last year, members of social responsibility and environmental non-governmental organizations met with leading academics and business leaders to hash out key elements necessary to achieve socially responsible seafood. The primary objectives—protecting human rights, ensuring equitable production, and improving food security for resource-dependent communities—were detailed at the beginning of June in the journal Science.

“It’s not enough to be slavery-free,” said Jack Kittinger, senior director of the Global Fisheries and Aquaculture Program at Conservation International and co-author of the paper. “There are other social issues—notably gender equity and livelihood security—that need to be tackled as well,” he added.

Read the full story at Civil Eats

NEIL ANTHONY SIMS & BRIDGET OWEN: America needs a blue revolution

November 1, 2016 — America needs another revolution. We need a Blue Revolution, to start to grow fish in the open ocean, where they belong. And we should lead the world in this initiative. This is an economic opportunity: we must reverse our $12.9 billion seafood trade deficit. We have the technologies, we have the investment capital, and we need the jobs and the working waterfronts. It is also a moral obligation: over 90% of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported. America controls the largest ocean expanse of any nation on earth, yet we import more seafood—by dollar value—than any other country. This means that if we quash the development of aquaculture in the U.S., then we are simply exporting the environmental footprint to other countries, where environmental standards may be more lax.

Leading conservation groups such as WWF, Conservation International and Ocean Conservancy now recognize the global imperative for expansion of aquaculture, and are actively working to encourage best practices. Yet Marianne Cufone, of the Recirculating Farms Coalition, (The Hill, October 17, 2016, 01:40 pm) asserts that the “Feds must end push for ocean aquaculture.”

Cufone and her fellow anti-aquaculture activists cling tenaciously to data that is two or three decades old, or cite no data at all, to support their position. This continues the pattern of deliberate distortion and misrepresentation of the impacts of ocean culture on the environment. Growing this industry is vitally important for the health of the planet, for the health of the oceans, and for the health of American consumers. Consider, please:

Planetary health: A 2012 study by Conservation International, titled ‘Blue Frontiers’, conducted a full Life-Cycle Analysis of all water, land and feed resource use, and impacts on greenhouse gas emissions, and concluded that aquaculture was, far and away, the least impactful of all animal protein production systems. We should therefore be growing more seafood to meet the increased demand for proteins. If the 3 billion people that are projected to rise into the middle class by 2050 are eating farmed fish, then the prospects for managing global climate change, and our other ecological challenges, are far brighter.

Read the full opinion piece at The Hill