Saving Seafood

Evidence persists of IUU, forced labor in Taiwanese fleet, including on FCF-linked vessels

April 3, 2020 — Greenpeace East Asia is accusing Bumble Bee’s parent company, Taiwan-based Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), of forced labor and environmentally harmful practices aboard at least two vessels linked to the company.

FCF is among the top three tuna traders in the world, and acquired Bumble Bee in January after the American seafood company filed for bankruptcy. The two companies have a long history: Prior to the acquisition, FCF had been supplying Bumble Bee with 95 percent of its albacore and more than 70 percent of its light meat tuna, according to Greenpeace’s examination of court filings.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Evidence persists of IUU, forced labor in Taiwanese fleet, including on FCF-linked vessels

March 30, 2020 — Greenpeace East Asia is accusing Bumble Bee’s parent company, Taiwan-based Fong Chun Formosa (FCF), of forced labor and environmentally harmful practices aboard at least two vessels linked to the company.

FCF is among the top three tuna traders in the world, and acquired Bumble Bee in January after the American seafood company filed for bankruptcy. The two companies have a long history: Prior to the acquisition, FCF had been supplying Bumble Bee with 95 percent of its albacore and more than 70 percent of its light meat tuna, according to Greenpeace’s examination of court filings.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

IUU economic estimates climb as high as USD 50 billion in new study

March 20, 2020 — Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has profound effects on the economies and pocketbooks of developing countries, removing billions of dollars worth of fish every year from the legal trading system.

Between 8 and 14 million metric tons of fish are caught illegally every year, according to a new study from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Those fish are worth an estimated USD 9 billion to USD 17 billion (EUR 8 billion to EUR 15 billion).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ILO finds improvements in Thailand’s seafood sector

March 13, 2020 — A new report released in March by the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) has found improvements in working conditions in Thailand’s fishing and seafood processing sectors. However, there remain problems with forced labor in the industry, the organization noted.

Despite the finding, a group of human rights-focused NGOs are calling on the U.S. government to downgrade Thailand in its annual report on human trafficking, according to Reuters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FLORIDA: House passes shark fin ban — renamed after Kristin Jacobs — with carveout for domestic fishermen

March 10, 2020 — The House passed the Senate version of a bill (SB 680), which outlaws the import and export of fins to or from Florida.

However, one amendment was added, meaning the Senate will have to vote anew on the reconfigured bill.

Rep. Kristin Jacobs, in what may be some of her final remarks on the House floor, noted that a lot of traffic has moved through Miami due to that and other illicit trades.

“There’s no end to finding a black market for all kinds of things,” Jacobs noted, adding that shark carcasses have been used to traffic cocaine.

Shark finning is the process of catching a shark, removing its fins and discarding the shark. Shark finners usually drop the body back into the ocean, where it bleeds to death or drowns because it can no longer swim properly. The fins fetch a hefty price on the black market where they are most often sold to Asian countries.

Read the full story at Florida Politics

ILO Says Working Conditions Improve in Thai Seafood Sector

March 10, 2020 — A report issued Tuesday by the U.N.’s International Labor Organization credits Thailand with improving working conditions in the fishing and seafood processing industry, but says that serious abuses including forced labor remain.

The report is a follow-up to one published in 2018, and compares the workers situations from earlier surveys to one conducted last year.

Thailand’s seafood sector accounts for billions of dollars in export earnings annually and employ more than 350,000 workers.

However, the industry began facing the threat of trade sanctions from Western nations after media exposure in 2014 of poor working conditions and especially the exploitation of ‘fishing slaves’ — forced labor.

In response, Thailand’s government began instituting reform measures, most effectively by strengthening its legal, policy and regulatory framework, the report says.

But the measures have failed to substantially cut the use of forced labor, it says. Extrapolating from the 2019 survey of workers, it estimates that 14% of those engaged in fishing and 7% of those in seafood processing were subject to some form of forced labor.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New York Times

US to enforce ban on shrimp, other fish caught in Mexico’s Gulf of California

March 6, 2020 — US importers of Mexican shrimp and other seafood should soon be prepared to present documentation certifying that any of the products they are bringing over the border do not match a list of roughly five species caught in the upper Gulf of California using multiple gear types.

The US’ National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced Wednesday that it will ban the import of virtually all Mexican shrimp and other fish caught in that region of the country over concerns about the endangered vaquita porpoise. An effective date has not yet been set, but it is expected to be within a month and require importers to maintain a “certification of admissibility” that is signed by a Mexican government official establishing that the products being shipped are not from the upper Gulf of California’s:

  • shrimp trawl fishery, for both small and large vessels;
  • shrimp suripera fishery;
  • sierra purse seine fishery;
  • sierra hook and line fishery;
  • chano trawl fishery, for small vessels;
  • curvina purse seine fishery; or
  • sardine/curvina purse seine fishery, for both small and large vessels.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Florida’s freshwater turtles falling prey to the international black market

March 4, 2020 — Florida freshwater turtles are being illegally caught and exported live in increasingly large numbers to keep up with demand for their meat, their supposed medicinal purposes and their value as pets, state wildlife officials said this month.

The black market trade is putting a strain on the state’s already vulnerable fresh water and terrestrial turtle populations, and officials say they expect demand to grow along with the dollar amount poachers in Florida can fetch.

Depending on the species, harvesters can make anywhere from $300 to more than $16,000 for a single turtle, officials say.

The appetite for freshwater turtles in Asian countries like China, Indonesia and India is already measured in tons per day, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and it has reached the point where it is unsustainable. While China has large farms raising turtles, the demand for wild caught adult turtles in the country is exploding.

Turtles live a long time, some species from 80 to more than 100 years, and they reach sexual maturity later in life than many other animals. This combination makes their populations particularly at risk to not only poaching, but to development, traffic and predatory animals, as well as sea level rise and climate change.

Read the full story from the Miami Herald at the Baltimore Sun

SADC states developing joint strategy to combat IUU

March 3, 2020 — As campaigns against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing continue in Africa, at least eight countries have resolved to develop a common strategy to counter the practice.

The eight countries, all members of the Southern Africa Development Community – an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana – are drawing up a plan of action on monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS) methods. Those methods are planned for both the marine and inland water fisheries in the country, with the intention of countering illicit activities such as illegal fish landings, transshipment at sea, violations of catch limits, and deployment of illegal equipment.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

WPFMC Leaders Express USCG Appreciation for Combatting IUU Fishing in Western Pacific Region

March 2, 2020 — Western Pacific Fishery Management Council Chair Taotasi Archie Soliai and Executive Director Kitty M. Simonds laud the US Coast Guard’s recent success in combating illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing in the Western Pacific Region.

On Monday, the Maritime Executive reported that for the first time since 2012, the Coast Guard’s Honolulu-based 14th District intercepted foreign vessels illegally operating within the U.S. exclusive economic zone waters off Guam and Hawai’i.

Read the full story at Seafood News