Saving Seafood

Coast Guard wages battle against illegal fishing boats

May 29, 2019 —  In the sun-blasted, wind-riven waters between the South Padre Island jetties and the mouth of the Rio Grande, a different kind of border crossing crisis is playing out.

One side has spotter aircraft, radar and fully crewed patrol craft loaded with the latest technology. The other employs simple 20- to 30-foot boats with outboard motors, capitalizing on speed and a canny sense for beating a tactical retreat.

For Mexican lancha crews fishing illegally in the waters of the United States, low-tech often proves good enough.

In the past five years, U.S. Coast Guard interceptions (visual sighting at sea or by air) and interdictions (stop and seizure) are up. Last year, Coast Guard crews seized 60 vessels which were fishing illegally in U.S. waters.

This year, they’ve already boarded and taken 58.

Read the full story at The Brownsville Herald

To create sustainable seafood industries, the United States needs a better accounting of imports and exports

May 28, 2019 — Global seafood trade nearly doubled in recent decades, fueled by decreasing transportation costs, advances in preservation and processing technologies, and open trade policies and is now among the most highly traded commodities. The United States is currently the world’s top seafood importer and among the top five exporters. It is often quoted that 90% of seafood consumed in the United States is imported, implying only 10% is of domestic origin. Over the past decade, this statistic has been widely shared and highlighted with more than 60 news articles quoting it annually since 2014, and it is increasingly used to support proposed policy changes. In recent years, the former US Secretary of State, current US Secretary of Commerce, and members of Congress have all cited the number to call for new policy measures addressing seafood sustainability and dependence on foreign seafood.

However, we argue that far more than 10%, likely 35–38%, of seafood consumed in the United States is of domestic origin. Precise estimates are difficult because of complex supply chains: for instance, some seafood caught in the United States is exported for processing and imported again under a different trade code for consumption in the United States. Such globalized supply chains are commonplace with many products relying on numerous foreign inputs and crossing international borders multiple times. For example, beef production between the United States and Mexico can involve multiple exchanges of calves, adults, and final products. These counterintuitive patterns are created by low tariffs and transportation costs that allow producers to optimize for favorable interest rates and low production costs across supply chains, keeping prices low for US consumers of beef, seafood, and countless other products.

Unfortunately, a dark cloud looms over seafood trade as tariffs recently imposed by the United States and retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and other countries hit US seafood exporters and importers, resulting in higher seafood prices for US consumers. Accounting for the realities of globalized supply chains is not only needed for better statistics that support evidence-based policy but is also key to supporting the US seafood industry, achieving sustainable production, and meeting consumer demand.

Read the full story from the National Academy of Sciences at Medium

Seafood fraud a hot topic at US restaurant show

May 21, 2019 — Seafood fraud is a hot topic at the ongoing National Restaurant Show, taking place from 18 to 21 May in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

Celebrity chefs Barton Seaver, Rick Bayless, and Andrew Zimmern all touched on the topic during public appearances at the show, as did executives from several top foodservice companies.

“The seafood industry as a whole is ill-served and everyone loses when seafood fraud happens,” Barton Seaver, a chef, author, and founder of the Coastal Culinary Academy, told SeafoodSource at the event, which is the largest U.S. restaurant show.

Seaver spoke on a panel about seafood mislabeling and sustainability along with Bayless, who is the chef and owner of Frontera Grill and other restaurants, and Josephine Theal, director of category management for food and hospital management firm Delaware North.

“We as operators create an environment in which fraud can profit,” Seaver said. “If I as a chef am only willing to buy cod, then I’ve created a situation where pollock needs to become cod,” Seaver said. Some restaurants are okay with buying the “flaky white fish of the day” and labeling it “cod,” Seaver added.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Illegal fishing heats up diplomatic exchanges between Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia

May 14, 2019 — Diplomatic relations in Southeast Asia have been strained in recent weeks following alleged encroachments by Vietnamese fishermen in Malaysian and Indonesian territorial waters.

Tensions have flared as inspectors from the European Commission are expected to visit Vietnam later this month or early June to review the “yellow card” given to Vietnam in 2017, imposed in part due to Vietnam’s failure to curb its fleet’s participation in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

On 8 May, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Vietnam’s ambassador to demand an explanation of the large number of encroachments of Vietnamese vessels into Malaysian territorial waters. Ministry Deputy Secretary-General Raja Datuk Nushirwan Zainal Abidin received ambassador Le Quy Quynh and handed over a protest note expressing the Malaysian government’s objection to the encroachments, according to a statement from the ministry.

“The Vietnamese government was urged to take measures to rectify the situation,” the statement said.

A total of 748 vessels and 7,203 Vietnamese crew members have been detained by Malaysian authorities on suspicion of illegal fishing since 2006. The encroachments into Malaysian waters by Vietnamese fishermen are not only a threat to Malaysian citizens, but also a violation of Malaysia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and contravene international law, including relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the ministry’s statement said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Researchers push back against Hawaii shark protection bill

May 13, 2019 — Legislation meant to protect Hawaii’s shark population was altered at the 11th hour to remove the apex predators from the bill amid concerns from the scientific community.

The bill was intended to extend protections already in place for manta rays to include all rays and sharks, West Hawaii Today reported Tuesday.

It would have made it illegal to “capture, take, possess, abuse, or entangle any shark, whether alive or dead, or kill any shark, within state marine waters,” the measure said. There were exceptions for academic research, but the scientific community found them inadequate.

University of Hawaii shark researcher Kim Holland said researchers would be forced to apply for permits from Department of Land and Natural Resources personnel without scientific expertise.

“It will be virtually impossible to prove that someone is ‘knowingly’ fishing for sharks,” wrote Holland, adding state enforcement resources are already insufficient for current polices.

Holland also said the bill was too ambiguous in defining terms such as “take” and “harassment.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Star Advertiser

Sen. Wicker’s bipartisan bill protects national security by fighting illegal fishing

May 7, 2019 — U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) last week introduced a bipartisan bill to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing that threatens the national security of the United States.

Sen. Wicker on May 1 sponsored the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act, S. 1269, with U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), which also would prevent the illegal trade of seafood and seafood products, among other purposes, according to the congressional record.

“The Maritime SAFE Act would give federal agencies greater tools to protect maritime security, lawful fishing and the global seafood supply chain,” Sen. Wicker said on Wednesday.

Sen. Wicker pointed out that bad actors involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing also have been known to conduct other illicit activities, including weapons, drugs and human trafficking.

“We cannot let illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing jeopardize the livelihoods of America’s honest fishermen or fund other criminal activities,” said Sen. Wicker, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.

Read the full story at The Ripon Advance

In Indonesia, bigger catches for a fishing village protecting its mangroves

May 3, 2019 — The phone signal comes and goes and the electricity grid has yet to reach this patch of jungle on the west coast of Borneo. The quickest way into the village of Sungai Nibung is by boat through the rivers. (Sungai means “river” in Indonesian.) You arrive at a small dock put up by fishermen, onto which shrimp catches are pulled from nets and sorted by size.

Tauke, a fisherman descended from pioneer Chinese traders, concentrates as he keeps count of the incoming shrimp. “These large ones are Class A,” Tauke tells Mongabay, his eyes fixed on a calculator. “If you want smaller ones we also have them further in.”

For years, weak law enforcement and low public awareness meant environmentally dangerous practices were commonly employed in global fisheries. Here in western Borneo, fishermen often bombed, poisoned and netted catches indiscriminately. Closer to shore, mangroves were ripped up for aquaculture, and much of the tree cover inland converted to plantations.

A consequence of overfishing and depletion of the habitat on which fisheries stocks rely is both a dwindling catch and declining incomes. But local and national government reforms, combined with customary traditions and ambitious NGO programs, are beginning to address the problem.

Read the full story at Mongabay

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

SeaWeb Seafood Summit conference program puts focus on social and human rights challenges

April 26, 2019 — Representatives from Walmart, Anova Food, Thai Union, and North Atlantic/Bali Seafood International will be featured speakers at the 2019 SeaWeb Seafood Summit, which will have a major focus on social and human rights challenges in seafood supply chains.

The summit, taking place 10 to 14 June in Bangkok, Thailand, will involve many of the leading voices in the seafood sustainability movement in Asia and globally. Companies taking part in the event will discuss ways they’ve created stronger relationships with supply chain partners and workers, reduced their exposure to risk, and produced a better product to sell through the adoption of sustainability measures in their respective businesses.

The conference’s keynote speaker will be Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice, an advocate of “impact sourcing” as a core strategy for both poverty alleviation and sustainable business. Rice is the author of “The Human Face of Sustainability: Empowering Fishers, Farmers, and Workers.” Rice will also serve on a panel with Richard Welford, the founder and chairman of CSR Asia, Walmart Senior Buying Manager Trevyr Lester, and Sarah Hogan, the program officer for the Packard Foundation’s Global Seafood Markets strategy, to discuss successful examples from seafood and other industries of sustainable supply chains. The panelists will share their experiences in using market forces to drive positive impacts on workers, communities, resources, and corporate profits, according to Diversified Communications, which operates the summit. (Editor’s note: Diversified Communications also operates SeafoodSource).

Another featured panel at the summit will investigate the economics of sustainable seafood in Asia, sustainability trends in other Asian markets, and how sustainable practices might come to be better recognized in Asian markets in the future. The panel will include Janice Lao, director of group corporate responsibility and sustainability at The Hongkong & Shanghai Hotels Limited; Rabobank’s Umesh Madhavan; Nobukazu Furuya with AEON TopValu Thailand; Wakao Hanaoka from Seafood Legacy; and Julie Qiu, the marketing director for Australis Aquaculture.

A separate plenary session will look into illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in Asia, and will include Environmental Justice Foundation Co-Founder Steve Trent and Adisorn Promthep, the Director-General of Thaland’s Department of Fisheries. Trent and Promthep will discuss transparency initiatives and how they can be applied in the real-world, studying examples from Thailand and Indonesia.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF Participating Tuna Company Compliance Report Shows 98.5 Percent Conformance with Foundation Conservation Measures

April 25, 2019 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has released its ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which shows a 98.5 percent conformance rate by 25 ISSF participating companies with all 27 ISSF conservation measures in effect in 2018, the audit period. Many of the world’s largest tuna processing companies participate in ISSF.

As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to continuously assess ISSF participating companies’ compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures according to a rigorous audit protocol.

“It is encouraging to see the independent audit process continue to show high conformance among our Participating Companies,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “As we celebrate our organization’s 10th anniversary, these are the metrics that make a difference. Particularly in the last three years, our industry participants have collectively scored high marks on a consistent basis, meaning they’re taking seriously the science-based measures we’ve developed.”

The April 2019 annual compliance report is based on participating company activity for 2018. ISSF publishes this annual compliance report with initial audit results in the second quarter each year; in November, ISSF publishes an updated report to show any remediation of non-conformances previously reported.

The April 2019 report shows that:

  • 17 companies were in conformance with all 27 measures in effect during the 2018 reporting period.
  • 8 companies had at least one minor non-conformance, for a total of 9 instances of minor non-conformance. These typically involved instances where companies achieved some, but not full, compliance with a given conservation measure.
  • 1 company had one major non-conformance. As defined by MRAG Americas, a “major non-conformance” means a company does not comply with a particular conservation measure or commitment, and this compromises the integrity of ISSF initiatives.

ISSF conservation measures where companies achieved 100 percent conformance include: 2.1 Product Traceability; 3.1(b) Prohibition of Transactions with Shark Finning Policies; 3.4 Skipper Best Practices; 3.5 Transactions with Vessels that Use Non-entangling FADs; and 5.2 IUU Product Response. Areas for improvement include data submission to RFMOs, observer coverage on tuna vessels, and IMO Unique Vessel Identifiers.

The rate of full conformance had been mostly steady in each annual reporting period, as shown across the below compliance report publication dates. The April 2019 report audited companies against five new Conservation Measures that were not in effect during previous reporting periods.

  • June 2015: 79.8 percent
  • June 2016: 87.2 percent
  • November 2016: 95.6 percent
  • May 2017: 97.5 percent
  • November 2017: 100 percent
  • June 2018: 97 percent
  • November 2018: 99 percent
  • April 2019: 98.5 percent

The five new measures for which ISSF Participating companies were first evaluated during the 2018 audit period are as follows:

Measure 2.3 Product Labeling by Species and Ocean of Capture: On all product labeling, or through a publicly available web-based system by product, for all branded tuna products:

  1. Identify the species of tuna contained in the product.
  2. Identify the ocean of capture for the tuna contained in the product.

Measure 3.6 Transactions with Vessels Implementing Best practices for Sharks and Sea Turtles: Transactions only with those longline vessels whose owners have a policy requiring the implementation of best practices for sharks and marine turtles.

Measure 4.4 (C) Transshipment at Sea – Observer Coverage (Large Scale Longline): Transactions with longline vessels that conduct transshipments at sea, whether high seas, EEZ, territorial seas or archipelagic waters, only if 100% of such transshipments are observed.

Measure 7.2 Threshold Requirement for PVR Listing: All large-scale purse seine vessels owned by the same business organization shall be in demonstrated compliance with, or otherwise exempted from, Section 6 —Capacity.

Measure 7.4 Supply and Tender Vessels: For controlled supply or tender vessels that operate with purse seine vessels:

  • register all vessels on the PVR and maintain registration indefinitely;
  • ensure all are listed on the authorized vessel record of any RFMO governing the ocean area in which the tuna was caught;
  • ensure all have an IMO unique vessel identifier; and
  • ensure all are not listed on the IUU Vessel List of any RFMO.

In addition to the annual compliance reports, MRAG Americas issues individual ISSF participating company reports, published on the ISSF site, detailing each company’s level of compliance with conservation measures. Under the compliance policy, companies may be required to remediate non-conformances found during the annual audit, and MRAG will immediately issue reports for those companies that do so.