Saving Seafood

Open Season: No one is more upset with ‘greedy’ poachers than ethical fishers

June 11, 2018 — Fishing for black sea bass is both a simple and exciting sport.

Bump the bottom with a double hook rig baited with squid or sea clams and hang on. The fish are aggressive and the males are a gorgeous fish, sporting iridescent blue on their heads, backs and dorsal fins. They are also fine eating fish. The rules are simple. The open season for recreational fishermen is May 19 to Sept. 12. The daily limit is five fish per angler and the minimum size is 15 inches. Greedy poachers however, who are slimier than fish, abuse the resource, which angers the ethical fishing community.

According to Massachusetts Environmental Police, officers in New Bedford inspected a headboat that had returned from a fishing trip in Buzzards Bay and found 560 pounds of black sea bass over the legal limit, 33 of which were under the legal limit of 15 inches. Officers also located 90 pounds of scup over the legal limit, one undersized striped bass, and one undersized tautog. Multiple citations were issued in response to the violations and the illegal catch was donated to the New Bedford Salvation Army.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

The ‘dark fleet’: Global Fishing Watch shines a light on illegal catches

June 11, 2018 — New data is being used to expose fleets of previously unmonitored fishing vessels on the high seas, in what campaigners hope will lead to the eradication of illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has turned low light imaging data collected by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into the first publicly available real-time map showing the location and identity of thousands of vessels operating at night in waters that lie beyond national jurisdiction.

More than 85% of the “dark fleet” detections include smaller vessels that are not fitted with transponders and larger ones that have switched off their tracking systems to avoid detection, according to GFW, which launched the map on Friday to mark World Oceans Day.

The data, collected by the NOAA’s visible infrared imaging radiometer suite, is being used to track a fleet of about 200 mostly Chinese vessels at the edge of Peru’s economic exclusion zone.

The monitoring, conducted by GFW, a non-profit organisation campaigning for greater transparency in the fishing industry, and the conservation group Oceana, reveals that about 20% of the Chinese vessels are not broadcasting via automatic tracking systems, raising suspicions they are operating illegally.

The report on the high seas activity coincides with the launch by GFW of the first ever real-time view of transshipment, which enables fishing boats to transfer their catch to refrigerated cargo vessels and remain at sea for months, or even years, at a time but still get their catch to the market.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Countries, NGOs form tighter bonds to shut down IUU vessels

June 11, 2018 — Two different governments had captured the STS-50, but it had escaped both times. Authorities believed the vessel was fishing illegally, and had regularly falsified its nationality, sailing under eight different national flags over the years.

When Indonesian authorities at last apprehended the vessel in early April, they were able to do so because of growing cooperation between countries and with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that are seeking to fight illegal fishing.

Illegal operators try to avoid detection by regularly changing vessel identity, vessel owner, and fishing location. Sometimes those changes are legitimate, but oftentimes they’re not.

In response, fishery authorities are sharing information with each other through new and expanded networks. And NGOs are offering expertise and resources that regulators might not otherwise have.

The STS-50, for example, was listed as a vessel that was involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and Interpol had issued a notice against it on behalf of New Zealand. Those listings were recorded on the updated Combined IUU Vessel List published by the fisheries enforcement experts at Trygg Mat Tracking, a nonprofit that provides fisheries enforcement support.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

How to spot the secretive activities of rogue fishing boats

June 7, 2018 — The vast majority of fishing vessels follow the rules governing fishing – but many are not, and these bad actors can cause a lot of damage.

Vessels may take too many fish ­– overfishing – which is causing our fisheries to collapse. Then there is the problem of illegal fishing, which can occur in protected areas, in other country’s waters or on the high seas. Many countries simply don’t have the capacity to enforce fishery management rules. As a result, illegal fishing has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, worth up to $23bn each year. Because of overfishing – both legal and illegal – one third of fisheries assessed in a study by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation were overfished and over half were fully fished. This threatens jobs and food security for millions of people, all around the world.

The trouble is, so much of this illegal activity is hidden – it happens out to sea, making it difficult to scrutinise what individual vessels are getting up to. To address the problems facing our oceans, we need to know what’s happening beyond the horizon.

Fortunately, we are now beginning to see what happens after commercial fishing vessels leave port. The data that underpins the map above is helping to make fishing activity at sea more transparent. In September 2016, my colleagues and I at Oceana – an advocacy organisation focused on ocean conservation – launched a mapping platform called Global Fishing Watch, along with Google and SkyTruth, a non-profit that uses satellite data to encourage environmental protection.

Read the full story at BBC

Oceana calls for IUU fishing to be made an environmental crime

June 5, 2018 — NGO Oceana has urged national governments to make illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing a punishable environmental crime.

The call for governments to establish measures to be able to take legal action against pirate fishing comes amid an international awareness campaign by the United Nations on June 5 – also World Environment Day – to tackle the magnitude of the problem.

“On World Environment Day and International Day for the Fight Against IUU Fishing, we’re sending out an SOS to call on governments around the world to make illegal fishing an environmental crime,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe.

“Countries need to recognize that large-scale illegal fishing is organized crime and should be dealt with as such. Pirates should be behind bars, not sailing free on the world’s oceans.”

Globally, IUU fishing is estimated to account for 20% of total fish catches, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. Conservative evaluations of illegal and unreported fishing put the annual cost in loses to the global economy at between €9 billion and €20bn, which in terms of fish, is 11 million-26m metric tons.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

World Tuna Conference: FAO providing powerful instruments to fight IUU fishing

June 5, 2018 — The 15th Infofish World Tuna Trade Conference and Exhibition opened on 28 May in Bangkok, Thailand. The three-day conference covered resources, fisheries management, markets, new technologies, food safety, sustainability, and environmental issues.

Among the sponsors was the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Jong-Jin Kim, FAO’s deputy regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, said during his opening address that the international community now has at its disposal a number of new and powerful instruments with the potential to drastically reduce and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Catch Documentation Schemes and the FAO Global Record of Fishing Vessels.

FAO Fishery Planning Analyst for Asia and the Pacific Cassandra De Young explained the various programs to SeafoodSource.

The 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) is the first binding international agreement to specifically target IUU fishing. Its objective is to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using ports and landing their catches. Entering into force in June 2016, 54 States and the European Union have joined forces by becoming Parties to the PSMA, as of May 2018.

FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Catch Documentation Schemes were officially adopted by the FAO Conference in July 2017 and, with seafood trade at record highs and consumer demand still rising, CDS are increasingly seen as an effective tool. For example, since 2010, the European Union has used a CDS that covers all fish shipments imported into the bloc from overseas; and in 2016, the United States announced its own scheme, the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). In 2017, ASEAN adopted the voluntary ASEAN Catch Documentation Scheme for Marine Capture Fisheries to enhance intra-regional and international trade of fish and fish products.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Protecting Alaska’s Fisheries

May 2, 2018 — Combating illegal fishing on the high seas, also known as international waters, which have no sovereignty, has been a thorn in the side of every nation that has a coastline. Relatively recent issues such as fishery sustainability, climate change, and deliberately mislabeling fish and fish products have prompted an effort to mount a worldwide coordinated response to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU).

This issue and others were addressed at the annual Seafood Expo North America in Boston in March. The expo attracted 1,341 exhibiting companies from 57 countries—including new attendees from Fiji, Oman, Ukraine, and Venezuela. The exhibitors included not only the fishing industry but companies that support it such as transportation companies, equipment suppliers, and other support organizations. All told the Seafood Expo attracted more than 22,600 attendees from more than 120 countries.

An international panel offered perspective on IUU fishing, which violates national laws and/or internationally agreed upon conservation and management measures in effect worldwide. The panel was titled, “Fighting IUU Fishing and Seafood Fraud: Enhancing Traceability and Transparency through Strengthened Governance Frameworks.”

Participants included Giuliana Torta, counselor for Environment, Climate Action, and Maritime Affairs with the EU delegation to the United States; Somboon Siriraksophon, Fishery Policy and Program coordinator at the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center; Rune Dragset, deputy head of unit in the Seafood Section of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Fisheries; and, Deirdre Warner-Kramer, acting deputy director of the Office of Marine Conservation, US Department of State. All panel members agreed that cooperation across the world and a strict set of controls on how fish get to market are vital to dampening the problem of international fishing and seafood fraud.

Read the full story at Alaska Business Magazine

 

U.S. fisheries’ leader Oliver asserts ‘business-minded’ stance at Boston 2018

March 13, 2018 — BOSTON — The US’ top regulatory authority on fishing used his first appearance ever at a Seafood Expo North America (SENA) conference on Sunday to describe how he was reshaping the mission at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to create more of a pro-business environment.

Commercial fishermen largely applauded the Donald Trump administration’s selection of Chris Oliver to serve as NOAA’s assistant administrator of fisheries in June 2017. But Oliver, who was confirmed in his new role in July, has maintained a relatively low profile since, his office not responding to requests for interviews.

In November, he told Alaska fishermen at a public meeting that he supported regulatory flexibility. The month before he had demanded the retraction of an article suggesting US seafood exported to Japan includes a high number of illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fish.

On Sunday, in Boston, he made it clear that he was using his leadership role to both follow the administration’s charge to combat excessive regulation and also looking out for harvesters.

“I’m a firm believer in a science-based approach to fisheries,” Oliver said. “… For 40 years, the North Pacific [Management] Council has been using annual catch limits, and I firmly believe those are the cornerstone to sustainable management. But I also believe that there is room for flexibility and a greater role for common sense frankly in our approach to fisheries management. And I want to bring a more business-minded approach to that process.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fishing Boats ‘Going Dark’ Raise Suspicion Of Illegal Catches, Report Says

March 12, 2018 — A new report raises concerns that when fishing vessels “go dark” by switching off electronic tracking devices, in many cases they are doing so to mask the taking of illegal catches in protected marine parks and restricted national waters.

In the report released Monday by Oceana, an international conservation group, authors Lacey Malarky and Beth Lowell document incidents of fishing vessels that disappear from computer screens as they shut off collision-avoidance beacons near restricted areas, only to have them reappear days or weeks later back in legal fishing grounds.

“This practice of vessels going dark is really widespread on a global scale,” Malarky tells NPR.

Malarky and Lowell used Global Fishing Watch, which aggregates automatic identification system, or AIS, signals to give an unprecedented view of global fishing activity. AIS signals can be viewed by the public through such websites as Vesselfinder.com.

Yet another system, known as Vessel Management System, or VMS, is not available to the public but is used by countries to monitor their fishing fleets. However, “some countries can’t afford it — developing countries like those in West Africa,” Malarky says. “So, a lot of developing countries rely on AIS to monitor their fishing fleet.”

Read the full story at NPR

 

New Zealand Moves to Compensate Slave-Like Fishermen

March 12, 2018 — New Zealand lawyer Karen Harding has secured the first stage of review of existing New Zealand legislation to improve the working conditions of fishermen.

In particular, the move has given a lifeline to a group of Indonesian fishermen seeking compensation against their former South Korean employers for unpaid wages and slave-like treatment. The men reportedly worked up to 24 hour shifts with few breaks. They were forced to live in cockroach-riddled spaces, sleep in wet bedding and eat flea-ridden food, reports Radio New Zealand.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the men can claim proceeds from the sale of vessels seized by the government. The issues of the case required the Supreme Court to consider the relationship between the provisions of two separate pieces of legislation, the Fisheries Act and the Admiralty Act.

Harding has worked on the men’s case for several years without payment. “They were promised what were said to be good jobs, to come to New Zealand on work permits to work on these Korean fishing vessels. They came and they got raped, they got abused, they got molested, they had insects in their food, their rooms were full of cockroaches and mice.

Read the full story at the Maritime Executive