Saving Seafood

Fishing Presents a Vexing Snag in Brexit Talks

March 16, 2020 — In the pitch black of early morning, huge waves hurled the 30-ton vessel from side to side, drenching crewmen who struggled to keep their footing as they cast the trawler’s nets into the swirling seas.

But, once back on the bridge, the skipper, Dave Driver was oblivious to the stomach-churning motion of the boat, and dismissive of the perils of his work — even as he recalled once falling overboard and, on another occasion, rescuing two fishermen from drowning.

“I’m my own boss, I do what I want, I think it’s the best job in the world,” said Mr. Driver, who left school at age 15, but now owns the 1.2 million pound trawler Girl Debra, named after his wife.

He has only one major gripe in life: the French.

Mr. Driver thinks French boats are allowed to take too many fish too close to the British coast — touching on a deeply emotional issue on both sides of the channel that could dash hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the European Union.

Read the full story at The New York Times

France to Britain: No fish for finance deal

February 7, 2020 — The European Union must not give the UK concessions on access to EU financial markets in exchange for rights to fish in British waters, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday.

French fishermen temporarily lost access to waters off Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands situated near the French coast of Normandy, when a European fisheries treaty expired automatically on Jan. 31 with Britain’s exit from the EU.

While the fishermen are due to regain access to the area off Guernsey, future fishing rights in UK waters more generally are likely to be a flashpoint in the negotiations between Brussels and London on a post-Brexit relationship.

Read the full story at Reuters

Going fishing? Watch out for chemical weapons

May 15, 2019 — The US Army will destroy stockpiles of mustard gas and nerve agents this summer as part of its commitment to a 1997 treaty banning the production and use of chemical weapons. The undertaking will require specialized personnel—toxic-materials handlers, chemical-accountability managers, surety specialists, ammunition surveillance/quality assurance specialists, and a coterie of supervisors.

In the decades immediately following World War II, America’s military wasn’t quite so buttoned up about its chemical cast-offs. Until Congress outlawed dumping of munitions at sea in 1972, there were an estimated 74 offshore chemical weapons disposals through 1970, 32 of which took place in US waters and 42 abroad.

Oceanographers at Texas A&M University have estimated that at least 31 million pounds of munitions of all types were dumped in waters off 16 states and in the Gulf of Mexico, although “that could be a very conservative estimate.”

The problem is not limited to US waters. Sections of the Baltic and North Seas are known to contain large numbers of abandoned chemical weapons, and such munitions have turned up off the coasts of France, Sweden, and Germany.

Read the full story at Quartz

MSC, ASC sustainable seafood week in France urges consumers to eat responsibly

April 30, 2019 — A joint campaign in France run by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), has just landed the two organizations a Grand Prix Award for Social Responsibility. It was presented during a ceremony in Paris at PRODURABLE, the fair for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibly.

The prize was awarded for “Semaine de la Peche Responsible” (Sustainable Seafood Week), which was first run in February 2017 and has since become an annual event.

The week of activities highlighted issues including overfishing, illegal fishing, and the importance of safeguarding marine biodiversity and habitats, and fish stocks for future generations. The event has been growing quickly in both size and public profile in recent years.

In competition with 48 other brands, the ASC and MSC were joint winners of the best NGO label category, in recognition of their collaborative efforts with partners, brands, aquariums, institutions and distributors, to mobilize public support for sustainable fisheries and responsible fish farming.

The award was shared with French retailer Carrefour, which won for its support of programs to find permanent living solutions for the homeless.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

International Collaboration Sheds Light on Ocean Acidification’s Impact on Shellfish

April 10, 2019 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Emilien Pousse has been fascinated by the sea since learning to scuba dive with his father. He wasn’t always as keen on computer programming.

Yet here he is, a post-doctoral researcher from France, working to calibrate a computer model that describes the energy budgets of two commercially important shellfish – oysters and surfclams.

But first, he must know more about the consequences of ocean acidification on the metabolism and shell development of these creatures. He’s in the process of conducting those experiments with shellfish experts at the NEFSC Milford Lab.

Back in France, Emilien pursued his master’s degree with a math professor who required students to learn computer modeling skills. While some students enjoyed it, initially Emilien did not. Despite this, his internship advisor convinced him to apply for a Ph.D. project in the marine ecology doctoral program at Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest, France, though the project also involved modeling.

After conducting experiments for his dissertation, Emilien persevered in learning computer programming and discovered the dynamic energy budget theory on which his shellfish model is based.

“Little by little, I understood computer modeling,” Emilien says. When he began to see it as a tool to understand how oysters function, learning became easier. “I needed to learn some new skills to understand computer modeling, but it allowed me to learn more about the physiological processes of oysters and other marine animals,” Emilien reflected.

Oysters are a major industry in France. In 2012, a large bloom of Alexandrium minutum, a toxic algae known to cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, caused the oyster fishery in the Bay of Brest to close for several weeks during the summer and led to considerable economic disruption.

This algal bloom inspired Emilien’s doctoral work, which focused on modeling the accumulation of paralytic shellfish toxins in oysters. His dissertation was part of a multidisciplinary project, which engaged marine biologists, policy experts and researchers studying food safety.

While he was wrapping up his dissertation, a group of collaborators from the Milford Lab, led by lab director and shellfish expert Gary Wikfors, visited the university to conduct an experiment. The lab has a 25-year long (and counting) collaborative relationship with researchers in France. A colleague who had previously conducted research in Milford introduced Emilien to the group. Research chemist Shannon Meseck mentioned that she was looking for a post-doctoral researcher to work on a modeling project with shellfish, which was exactly the opportunity that Emilien had been looking for.

While driving home from that meeting, he weighed whether to apply for the job. The opportunity would mean moving thousands of miles away from home for two years. Ultimately, the excitement of coming to the United States and working with scientists in Milford won out. Emilien knew the project would allow him to grow as a researcher, flex his computer modeling skills, and expand his knowledge to understand the effects of ocean acidification. He was also excited to experience American culture and live close to New York City.

Although Emilien is currently studying the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, a native of the US East Coast, he admits his favorite oyster to eat is the European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis. No matter the species, he likes to eat oysters on the half shell, with a little bit of vinegar and shallots. Emilien hopes the results of his research will help shellfish growers plan and be resilient in the face of a changing ocean.

Story originally posted by NOAA Fisheries 

Submissions open for WSI’s second “Women in Seafood” video contest

March 22, 2019 — Women at work in the seafood industry is the focus of an international video competition that’s now open for entries. The scope includes all segments of the industry – fishing on boats, fish farming, processing, selling, managing, research, monitoring, teaching, and any related services.

It’s the second round for the contest that was launched last year by the Paris-based group Women in the Seafood Industry.

“Women are very numerous in the industry, but not very visible,” said Marie Christine Monfort, WSI president, and co-founder.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

No-deal Brexit could destroy Britain’s fishing industry, warns seafood boss

January 31, 2019 — Britain’s fishing industry could be destroyed by a no-deal Brexit, a leading figure has warned.

The UK fishing industry has long been one of the biggest backers for Britain to leave Brussels but Graeme Sutherland, the director of Whitelink Seafoods, said fishing would not survive if Britain crashes out of the European Union.

‘As a company, we export into Europe at a rate of 85-90% of what we produce here,’ he told LBC.

‘We are working on a next-day delivery into France for distribution into Europe. So if we are delayed in any way in clearing customs, in effect, we are going to lose 24 hours on delivery.

‘We need frictionless borders. It has to be that for our industry to survive.’

Read the full story at Yahoo News

Access to UK fishing waters post-Brexit is not up for renegotiation -UK PM May

January 31, 2019 — Access to Britain’s fishing waters is not up for renegotiation in any talks with the European Union over possible changes lawmakers have demanded to the country’s exit deal, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.

May has said she wants to reopen negotiations on Britain’s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, something she had previously warned might see other countries also make new demands including over access to British fishing waters after Brexit.

Read the full story from Reuters at Yahoo

Aquaculture sector thriving in the European Union

January 15, 2019 — The performance of the aquaculture sector in the European Union is improving across the board, with all sectors displaying strong economic growth, according to the latest report from the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF).

The 2018 Economic Report of the EU Aquaculture Sector is a comprehensive overview of the latest production figures, value, structure, and competitive performance of the sector at both country and E.U. level between 2008 and 2016.

Analysis shows that sales volumes amounted to 1.4 million metric tons (MT), valued at EUR 4.9 billion (USD 5.6 billion) in 2016, which was an increase of six percent in volume and eight percent in value compared to 2014. Profits doubled during this time, reaching EUR 800 million (USD 917.2 million) total in earnings before interest and tax.

Of the 28 countries making up the E.U., the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain accounted for around 75 percent of aquaculture production.

Speaking at the 50th anniversary of the European Fisheries Partnership in Brussels, prior to the report being released, E.U. Fisheries Commissioner Karmenu Vella stressed the need for sustainable fish farming to flourish and confirmed the European Union’s commitment to large-scale expansion of aquaculture by member-states.

“It is an industry that creates economic growth, employment and economic stability, especially in rural areas and along coastal areas,” Vella said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Fears Grow of New ‘Cod Wars’ Under No-Deal Brexit

January 14, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — Fishermen worry that without terms of exit, European boats will test UK’s resolve to take back its territorial waters.

Newlyn, Cornwall – James Hellewell, a picture-book image of a bearded fisherman, contemplates what could happen in the high seas off the English peninsula Cornwall on the first day after a “hard Brexit”.

“Someone’s going to die,” Hellewell warns. “If a trawler has got its beams out and a Frenchman goes and hits it under the beam, he can turn that boat turtle.”

Hellewell, like many others in the fishing community of Newlyn in southwest Cornwall, fears European boats will test Britain’s resolve to take back control of its territorial waters if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without an exit agreement on March 29.

The waters are currently shared by European fishermen under the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy, but once outside the EU, Britain will regain full control of fishing stocks unless its government reaches a deal with Brussels over the terms of its withdrawal.

Although many fishermen in Cornwall support Brexit, they want conditions put in place that will protect their livelihood and interests.

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