Saving Seafood

The European Commission sees the light

November 16, 2015 — On Tuesday November 10, the Director General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Mr.  João Aguiar Machado announced that the European Commission had dropped its proposal to ban all kinds of drift nets throughout EU waters. Addressing the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament, DG Aguiar Machado stated that the regulation of drift nets would rather be addressed through regionalisation and the framework proposal on technical measures due to be published in early 2016.

Small scale fishers across Europe had been dismayed by the former Commissioner Damanaki’s announcement in May 2014 that she was determined to “eradicate once and for all” fishing with drift nets in European waters, with a ban to be implemented on January 1 2015.

Damanaki’s decision was backed by an impact assessment that had reached the conclusion, that due to signs that the number of vessels partaking in driftnet fishing had seen a decrease, ‘the overall socio-economic impact of the total ban is therefore considered irrelevant’. The impact assessment by its own admission, was inherently flawed, noting it had “not been possible to collect accurate landings data from driftnet fisheries apart from Italy and UK, which made it almost impossible to identify the economic importance of the gear at the European level.”

Read the full story at Low Impact Fishers of Europe

 

EU looks into reports of fake fish labeling in Brussels

November 3, 2015 — BRUSSELS (AP) – The European Union is looking into reports that cheap seafood is often mislabeled as choice fish in some of the Belgian capital’s fine restaurants and even in EU cafeterias.

The Oceana environmental group said Tuesday it found that 31.8 percent of seafood it tested in and around EU institutions in Brussels was a different fish than what was labeled on the menu. In the cafeterias of the EU, which sets fishery policies for the 28-nation bloc, the total amount of falsely labeled fish stood at 38 percent.

“We take this very seriously,” EU spokesman Alexander Winterstein said of the report.

Oceana said 95 percent of what was labeled Bluefin tuna – a fatty, sublime sushi favorite – was actually a less expensive species, served to make a hefty profit. In 13 percent of the cases, cod was also mislabeled and people sometimes were fed pangasius instead, a freshwater fish farmed in southeast Asia.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at New Jersey Herald

 

Bill targeting pirate fishing worldwide heads for presidential signature

October 22, 2015 — WASHINGTON — A bill aimed at taking down “pirate” fishing by keeping illegally caught fish out of U.S. ports is headed for President Barack Obama’s signature.

The Senate late Wednesday passed a bill aimed at giving the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Coast Guard greater enforcement capabilities to combat illegal and unregulated fishing, a multibillion-dollar problem for Alaska and the U.S. fishing industry.

The bill, which brings together such unlikely bedfellows as Republican lawmakers and Greenpeace, passed the Senate by a unanimous vote. The House passed the same legislation in July.

The bill has the backing of the White House, which determined in 2014 that new legislation was needed to implement a port agreement requiring member countries to reject ships that have illegal product onboard. The European Union, Australia, Chile and New Zealand have signed on, among other countries. Ten more are needed to reach the 25 required before the agreement takes effect, according to environmental group Oceana.

“This important legislation, which imposes added sanctions on countries whose vessels engage in IUU fishing, would provide our authorities the tools they need to fight back against these global criminals and ensure millions of pounds of illegally caught product never reach market,” said Alaska Rep. Don Young, a Republican who co-sponsored the House version of the bill.

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

 

 

EU auditors’ report reveals lack of transparency of EU fishing in developing countries

October 21, 2015 — A report by the European Court of Auditors has revealed a lack of data that jeopardises the sustainability of EU fisheries agreements with third countries (Sustainable Fisheries Partnership agreements or SFPAs). According to the Common Fisheries Policy, EU fleets can only target the surplus of a stock, but the report questions the calculations of this surplus and if the actual catch data is reliable. Oceana is concerned about these findings, which adds to the long-existing absence of public information on vessels operating outside the EU.

View a PDF of the report

Read the full story at EU Reporter

 

EU probes illegal fishing, slave labor before Thai ruling

BRUSSELS (AP) — October 1, 2015 — The European Union is including Thailand’s actions to stamp out slave labor in the fishing industry during its investigation whether to impose sanctions on the major fish-exporting nation for failing to crack down on illegal and unregulated fishing.

The EU is expected to rule by the end of the year whether to impose an EU seafood import ban on Thailand and is in negotiations with Bangkok on amending a series of fishing practices which it considers as seriously contributing to the depletion of fish stocks.

The EU has successfully forced several nations to change its fisheries policies, but in the case of Thailand though, it is also looking into the social conditions of some fishermen that many have called slavery.

An AP investigation has shown that enslaved fishermen are routinely hauled from Thailand to work on smaller Thai trawlers in foreign waters where they are given little or no pay. Hundreds of former slaves told AP they were beaten or witnessed other crew members being attacked. They were routinely denied medicine, forced to work 22-hour shifts with no days off and given inadequate food and water.

“We are very concerned about the situation, both at the level of fishing and slavery. And we think we have to deal with both issues,” a senior EU fisheries official said on condition of anonymity because the talks with the Thai authorities were still ongoing.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald

EU Extends Thailand’s “Yellow Card” Deadline Past October to Fix Trafficking Issues

SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Bangkok Post] — September 18, 2015 — Thailand has been given more time by the European Union to stamp out illegal fishing practices beyond the initial deadline of October, government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Thursday.

Maj Gen Sansern said the respite was confirmed by a Thai delegation that has gone to the EU Council headquarters in Brussels to report progress in Thailand’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In April, the EU yellow-carded the country’s fishing industry giving it six months to fix its IUU situation or face an expensive ban on seafood imports into the EU.

Maj Gen Sansern said Thailand was being given more time to counter the IUU situation, but stressed that the country must make tangible achievements on three major issues, including the promulgation of the Fisheries Act, the implementation of Marine Fisheries Management Policy, and the implementation of a national action plan. These issues were expected to have been dealt with by the October deadline.

He did not say whether the EU had set a new deadline.

“The prime minister is glad that the EU understands the Thai government’s intentions and is allowing it to continue to solve the problem,” Maj Gen Sansern said. “Thailand has shown its sincerity in tackling the problem and there has been progress in several areas.”

Thailand’s overall annual exports to the EU are estimated to be worth between 23.2 billion baht and 30 billion baht. Its global fish exports were worth about 110 billion baht in 2014.

This story originally appeared on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.