Saving Seafood

Nearly all the world’s coral reefs are at risk of collapse within 50 years, IUCN warns

October 23, 2026 — Nearly every shallow-water coral reef ecosystem on Earth is at high risk of ecological collapse by 2075, according to the first coral reef assessment of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE).  The RLE is a scientific framework for assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse.

More than 250 experts assessed shallow water coral reef ecosystems across 127 tropical and subtropical ecoregions worldwide including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Coral Triangle of Southeast Asia.

The Oct. 22 report concluded that 24% of coral reefs are already critically endangered. When scientist include projected heat stress from climate change, they found 96% will be critically endangered in the next 50 years.

One coral reef ecosystem, the Western Galapagos Islands, has collapsed already, the assessment found.

Read the full article at Mongabay

URI to join State Department grant to help feed the future in fisheries

October 23, 2026 — A University of Rhode Island professor with a global portfolio of work and a marine research associate in URI’s Coastal Institute are joining a multi-million dollar project funded by the U.S. Department of State, utilizing their expertise in international fisheries.

Professor Austin Humphries, Chair of URI’s Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences, and Lauren Josephs M’17 in the University’s Graduate School of Oceanography are part of a team recently awarded a State Department grant in a project being led by Mississippi State University. The award is up to five years with up to $8 million in the first year.

A fisheries scientist, Humphries studies how ocean health and human well-being are linked. He’s led interdisciplinary research across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. His research programs have attracted more than $150 million in collaborative funding. He and Josephs are teaming up to implement research that engages policy-makers to curb illegal fishing.

Humphries will lead the marine fisheries component of the project, as part of MSU’s Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Fish to advance research and innovation that strengthens global aquatic food systems while creating benefits for U.S. agriculture, industry, and food security. The project will be managed by MSU’s Global Center for Aquatic Health and Food Security and builds on the previous Fish Innovation Lab, which supported multidisciplinary research in 10 countries.

The new Fish Innovation Lab will focus on solutions that can move from development to practice, including opportunities to open international markets for U.S. products and technologies, and strengthen the protection of U.S. aquaculture from emerging disease and biosecurity threats.

Read the full article at The University of Rhode Island

 

Coastal states agree to stick to ICES advice on blue whiting, herring but have yet to reach quota distribution agreement

October 15, 2026 — Northeast Atlantic coastal nations have once again agreed to abide by International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) scientific advice on the blue whiting and Atlanto-Scandian herring quotas but have yet to reach a quota-sharing agreement.

ICES released its advice on multiple Northeast Atlantic pelagic species in early October, bumping up the blue whiting advice for 2027 to 1,064,191 metric tons (MT), up from the 851,344 MT it advised in 2026; herring was increased to 588,004 MT, up 10 percent over its advice for the prior year. Coastal states including Norway, the E.U., the U.K., the Faroe Islands, and Iceland then met in London and agreed that those numbers should be the unilateral quota for 2027.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Ocean Visions publishes mCDR platform to aid in research collaboration

October 15, 2026 — Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based nonprofit Ocean Visions recently launched a new knowledge platform on marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) that’s publicly available and aimed to give researchers, innovators, funders, policymakers, journalists, and stakeholders a hub to refer back to when working on mCDR-related projects.

The launch of the platform follows the July publication of Ocean Visions’ mCDR digital roadmap, which aims to identify trends and industry connections for utilizing already occurring resources in decarbonization efforts.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Nations at southern bluefin tuna meeting stop short of adopting new seabird protections

October 15, 2026 — Seabird protections drew debate at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), held Oct. 5-8 in Brussels. The eight-member multilateral body that manages the stock has long struggled to curb seabird deaths caused by longline fishing targeting southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) across several oceans.

This year’s meeting saw a modicum of progress on the issue. Based on recent modeling, the parties agreed on 13 priority seabird species for conservation efforts and designated high-risk areas for them. However, the designations don’t carry any new mandatory protections: Due to the reluctance of some members, the commission stopped short of adopting proposed conservation measures for the high-risk areas, most notably tighter seabird bycatch mitigation requirements.

Oliver Yates, head of the marine program at BirdLife International, a U.K.-based NGO, told Mongabay that the identification of high-risk areas was “a good step forward” but said it was a problem that “they’ve not then adopted any management action to accompany the fishing activity in those spatial areas.”

“[T]hey recognise bycatch of seabirds is a very serious issue but again agreed to do nothing about it,” Yates, who attended the Brussels meeting, added in a text message.

Read the full article at Mongabay

Five-year initiative targets overfishing in six countries

October 15, 2026 — Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) has launched a five-year initiative aimed at strengthening fisheries management and seafood supply chains across six countries in Northwest Africa and Latin America.

The Global Marine Commodities 2 (GMC2) Project brings together government agencies, seafood industry participants, and other public and private partners in Mauritania, Morocco, Senegal, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Panama. The initiative is implemented by the United Nations Development Program, funded by the Global Environment Facility, and executed by SFP.

The project will combine market-based approaches with fisheries governance efforts to address overfishing and improve the sustainability of seafood supply chains in the Canary Current Large Marine Ecosystem off Northwest Africa and the Pacific Central American Coastal Large Marine Ecosystem.

Representatives from authorities in the six participating countries met remotely Oct. 7 for the project’s first Steering Committee meeting, marking the official global launch of GMC2.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Squid industry calls for stronger global fisheries management

October 14, 2026 — Global squid industry leaders are calling for stronger international fisheries management, improved scientific cooperation, and greater traceability as fishing activity and market demand continue to grow.

Representatives from fishing fleets, seafood processors, and regional advisory groups discussed the future of global squid fisheries during a panel at CONXEMAR 2026 in Vigo, Spain, highlighting gaps in stock assessments, international governance, and efforts to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

Squid fisheries supply major international seafood markets and processing industries, particularly in Europe, but many operate across national boundaries and international waters, complicating management and enforcement.

Panelists pointed to uncontrolled fishing effort near exclusive economic zones, limited scientific data, and inconsistent oversight as challenges facing the sector.

Much of the discussion centered on the South Pacific jumbo flying squid fishery, where the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) has been working to improve scientific assessments. At a recent scientific meeting, however, member countries stopped short of completing a full stock-assessment framework or establishing hard catch limits for the fishery.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Friend of the Sea introduces new certification labels designed to strengthen transparency

October 14, 2026 — Friend of the Sea (FOS), the sustainability certification scheme overseen by the World Sustainability Organization (WSO), is introducing new labels for its certified products and services.

The new labels combine the existing Friend of the Sea logo, which has been used since 2008, with a sector-specific certification claim, such as “Certified to Fisheries Standard,” alongside a unique FOS ID that connects the label to its relevant certification record.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Global squid supply chain leaders call for stronger governance, scientific cooperation and improved traceability

October 9, 2026 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

Representatives from fishing fleets, regional advisory councils and processing industries gathered at CONXEMAR 2026 this week to highlight opportunities for stronger coordination and engagement among industry players to ensure the long-term sustainability of squid resources. During a panel at the international trade fair, participants highlighted the need for stronger coordination across international waters, enhanced scientific cooperation and compliance with new destination-market regulations – and emphasized the important role that industry can, and must, play in advancing these efforts.

Global squid fisheries are vital resources for international markets and processing industries, particularly in Europe. However, they face challenges related to ocean governance; a lack of stock assessments; illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and uncontrolled fishing effort in areas adjacent to Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Because all actors across the squid value chain are interconnected, progress in governance, science, traceability and market regulations are all critical to ensuring sustainable squid production and trade.

In recent months, the international debate, focused on finding solutions and space for collaboration, has reached important milestones, with implications for the international commercialization of squid products derived from these fisheries. However, at the recent South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) scientific meeting, member states stopped short of finalizing a complete stock-assessment framework or hard catch limits for the jumbo flying squid fishery.

In response, Alfonso Miranda, president of CALAMASUR, said “In the South Pacific, advancing the scientific foundation for jumbo flying squid management remains a priority. While SPRFMO has worked to improve stock evaluation models, closing the data gap requires unified international commitment. Coastal states, flag states and market states must work side by side to ensure management decisions keep pace with fishing activity and market expectations.”

Focus on European industry engagement in southern squid fisheries

To help ensure industry input, Conxemar (the Spanish Association of Wholesalers, Importers, Exporters and Manufacturers of Fish and Aquaculture Products) has joined the SPRFMO as an observer. Luis Garcia, sustainability manager at Conxemar, emphasized that markets must be part of the conversation and that strengthening science based management is essential for the future sustainability of the jumbo flying squid and trade. Without a fleet in the South Pacific, the commodity is key for the European and Spanish processing sector; thus Europe must take action in support of strong conservation measures.

Alexandre Rodriguez, executive secretary and general director of the Long Distance Advisory Council echoed this sentiment, noting that this “global fishery has grown immensely, but its governance framework has failed to keep pace. The Long Distance Advisory Council calls for a level playing field for all products entering the EU market, backed by risk-based import controls, stronger enforcement of existing rules—such as CATCH / IT catch tools—and full transparency throughout the entire value chain.”

Robust science-based management is equally critical for the southern Atlantic Argentine shortfin squid (Illex argentinus) squid fishery. A recent scientific workshop in Vigo highlighted the role of the Spanish fleet and international partners in collecting data and sharing historical series as indispensable for building a trustworthy regional stock assessment. Representatives attending the workshop agreed to create a common database to help define a regional stock assessment.

A call to action

Concluding the Conxemar 2026 panel, David Comesaña, chair of SFP’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable and purchasing director at Congalsa Corporation, called for individual and collective industry action: “Seafood companies invest in and implement tools to ensure legality, but industry action alone is not enough. Administrations must play their essential role in supporting monitoring, control, and compliance through robust import controls, alongside a shared commitment to scientific cooperation and transparency across every step of the supply chain.” His words reflected the content of the Public Statement on Science-based Management, recently signed by participants of the Global Squid SR.

Coming out of these international events, and looking forward to upcoming meetings and opportunities for progress, the panel participants proposed three key priorities for the squid sector over the next 1-2 years:

  • Strengthening regional fisheries management by accelerating data sharing and developing scientific assessment models through SPRFMO and in FAO Area 41

  • Expanding traceability and control by implementing standardized digital documentation and leveraging Port State Measures (PSMA) to combat IUU fishing

  • Enhancing pre-competitive collaboration by promoting ongoing dialogue between producing fleets, coastal states and importing markets to align sustainability standards.

Carmen González-Vallés, SFP Supply Chain Roundtables director, noted “The panel at Conxemar, and other recent progress in the global squid sector, has highlighted the common willingness among industry actors to cooperate on ensuring the long-term sustainability of squid resources. I hope that these discussions can continue in the future to foster robust collaboration between stakeholders.”