Saving Seafood

84% of Global Tuna Catch Comes from Stocks at Healthy Levels, While 15% Require Stronger Management

April 2, 2020 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

Of the total commercial tuna catch worldwide, 84% came from stocks at “healthy” levels of abundance, according to the March 2020 International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) Status of the Stocks report. In addition, 15% of the total tuna catch was from overfished stocks, and 1% was from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance. The previous version of this report was released by ISSF in October 2019.

Several tuna stocks worldwide are considered overfished and/or subject to overfishing:

  • The Atlantic Ocean bigeye, Eastern Pacific yellowfin, Indian Ocean yellowfin and Pacific bluefin tuna stocks are currently overfished and subject to overfishing.
  • Overfishing is occurring as well on three other stocks: Eastern Pacific bigeye, Indian Ocean bigeye and Indian Ocean albacore.
  • All skipjack and most albacore stocks are healthy.

Ratings for the following species have changed since last reported in October: 

  • The Spawning Biomass (SSB) ratio for Atlantic Ocean yellowfin has improved from yellow to green.
  • The fishing mortality rate ratio for Indian Ocean bigeye has downgraded from green to orange.
  • The fishing mortality ratio for Indian Ocean albacore has downgraded from green to orange.

ISSF publishes its signature Status of the Stocks report twice each year using the most current scientific data on 23 major commercial tuna stocks.

Key Statistics in the Report

  • ​​Abundance or “spawning biomass” levels: Globally, 65% of the 23 stocks are at healthy levels of abundance, 17.5% are overfished and 17.5% are at an intermediate level.
  • Fishing mortality levels: 70% of the 23 stocks are experiencing a well-managed fishing mortality rate, and 30% are experiencing overfishing.
  • Total catch: In 2018, the catch of major commercial tuna stocks was 5.1 million tonnes. 58% was skipjack tuna, followed by yellowfin (29%), bigeye (8%) and albacore (4%). Bluefin tunas accounted for 1% of the global catch.
  • Largest tuna catches by stock: The five largest catches in tonnes, unchanged since the previous report, are Western Pacific Ocean skipjack, Western Pacific Ocean yellowfin, Indian Ocean skipjack, Indian Ocean yellowfin and Eastern Pacific Ocean skipjack.
  • Tuna production by fishing gear: 66% of the catch is made by purse seining, followed by longline (10%), pole-and-line (8%), gillnets (4%) and miscellaneous gears (12%).  These percentages changed minimally since the previous report.

The Status of the Stocks report is reviewed by the ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee, which provides advice on its content. The report does not advocate any particular seafood purchase decisions.

Study: Ocean fish farming in tropics and sub-tropics most impacted by climate change

February 13, 2020 — Diners may soon find more farmed oysters and fewer Atlantic salmon on their plates as climate change warms Canada’s Pacific coast.

In a study published in Global Change Biology, researchers at the University of British Columbia looked at how  could impact 85  of fish and mollusks that are most commonly farmed in seawater. They found that certain species like Atlantic salmon, European seabass and cobia, and certain areas like the tropics and the Arctic, could be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

Take Canada’s Pacific coast: by the mid-21st century, the region is projected to lose between 60 to 84 percent of area currently suitable for Atlantic salmon farming under a strong mitigation, low greenhouse gas emissions, and no mitigation, high emissions scenarios, respectively.

In contrast, the region would gain 46 percent more area for Pacific cupped oyster farming under the high emissions scenario by the 2050s, while Norway and Sweden could respectively see gains between 48 and 100 percent in areas suitable for Atlantic salmon farming.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Bumble Bee Launches New Project to Improve Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

February 11, 2020 — The following was released by Ocean Outcomes & Bumble Bee Foods:

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, FCF Co, Ltd. and Ocean Outcomes have launched an initiative to improve the sustainability of Bumble Bee source fisheries in the Indian Ocean. The project is the first of its kind in the region for longline vessels catching albacore tuna. To date, no albacore tuna or longline fisheries in the Indian Ocean are certified as sustainable.

The project team hopes to change this in the coming years by improving fishery data collection, reporting mechanisms, monitoring tools and management strategies through a newly launched fishery improvement project (FIP). The objective of the FIP is to improve practices on Chinese Taipei longline tuna fishing vessels so that the fishery is able to achieve a certifiable status within five years.

“We are very excited to formally launch our FIP in the Indian Ocean, expanding the work we have initiated in the Pacific,” said Mike Kraft, VP Global Sustainability and Social Responsibility for The Bumble Bee Seafood Company. “This Indian Ocean FIP will work to improve the sustainability of yet another major source of the albacore used in Bumble Bee’s products.”

Participating FIP vessels catch approximately 6,000 metric tons of albacore tuna from the Indian Ocean annually, much of which is loined in Mauritius and exported to North American markets for canning. Project team members believe this FIP – along with other new and emerging initiatives in the Indian Ocean – can be a catalyst for tuna fisheries in the region to support development of precautionary science-based management strategies, which can help ensure the abundance of albacore species.

“Projects such as this offer a transparent, stepwise approach for fishers to move towards sustainability, which is sorely needed in the Indian Ocean. We’re proud to work with the industry to reduce the negative impacts of fishing and to address the challenges of longline fisheries,” said Daniel Suddaby, VP Strategy and Impact at Ocean Outcomes.

As a first phase of the project, the project team will work to generate better fishery data, which will be used to inform science-based management at the regional level for the target albacore stock and any fishery bycatch species. A key component of this effort will be to increase electronic observer coverage on the fishing vessels, with a long-term goal of 100 percent coverage. Currently, observer coverage is occurring in a small subset of longliners.

This FIP is one of two projects between Bumble Bee, FCF and O2 focused on ensuring sustainable Chinese Taipei longline fisheries; the other is for longline vessels in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. Coordination with – and support from – other organizations working on sustainable tuna, such as International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) will be core to the projects’ success. The goal of both FIPs is to achieve a certifiable status by 2024.

To learn more about the Indian Ocean tuna FIP and track its progress, visit www.FisheryProgress.org.

IOTC adopts 10 percent catch reduction for yellowfin tuna

June 25, 2019 — The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission adopted an overall catch reduction of around 10 percent on yellowfin tuna at its annual meeting in Hyderabad, India, last week.

The environmental non-governmental organization Blue Marine Foundation was one of several NGOs to criticize the move as not going far enough to prevent a collapse of yellowfin stocks in the Indian Ocean.

“By ignoring the advice of their own scientists, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission has once again demonstrated that it is one of the most dysfunctional [United Nations] institutions and desperately in need of reform. The member nations should be sharing the pain of catch reductions made necessary by their incompetent management, rather than avoiding it and making stock collapse more likely,” Blue Marine Foundation Executive Director Charles Clover said. “The [European Union] continues to help itself to a share of the catch that is against its own regulations and the U.N. Law of the Sea. Retailers now need to step up and ask questions about the adverse influence of processors such as Princes and John West and nations guilty of illegal and excessive fishing such as Spain.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

At IOTC meeting, calls made to save yellowfin tuna stocks from potential collapse

June 19, 2019 — Yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean is being overfished and if unsustainable harvesting continues, it will bring the stocks to near-collapse, according to press statement from the environmental non-governmental organization Blue Marine Foundation deployed ahead of the ongoing 23rd Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission.

The London, United Kingdon-based NGO is calling on the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to take “decisive action to rebuild yellowfin tuna stocks in line with its own scientific advice.” It is also calling on consumers in the European Union to stop buying yellowfin until the European Commission adequately penalizes those who break the rules placing limits on yellowfin tuna fishing.

In a new report, “A case study on the management of yellowfin tuna by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission,” the group said the Indian Ocean yellowfin is currently “the worst-managed yellowfin stock in the world, by the industry’s own admission.”

“Consumers have been misled by misreporting, greenwash[ing], and so-called improvement projects into believing that yellowfin tuna from the Indian Ocean is sustainably caught. This report shows that it is not,” Blue Marine Foundation Executive Director Charles Clover said. “It has been disgracefully overfished for some time and we now hear that some of what has been on sale may have been illegally caught by E.U. fleets.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF to IOTC: Listen to your scientists, take immediate steps to protect Yellowfin

June 13, 2019 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) published its position statement in advance of the 23rd Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC)in Hyderabad, India, June 17-21.

ISSF’s highest priority item for IOTC is the adoption of an effective rebuilding plan for yellowfin tuna, one that gives full effect to the recommendations from IOTC’s Scientific Committee. In 2018, the Scientific Committee reported that catches of yellowfin tuna exceeded by 3% the management measures previously agreed by the Commission that called for reductions in catches; reductions that did not even meet the scientific advice.

“Fisheries managers must act to protect Indian Ocean yellowfin,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “The scientific evidence regarding the status of Indian Ocean yellowfin is well-documented and concerning, and the IOTC has the power to adopt management measures that will rebuild this stock. The IOTC must heed the advice of its Scientific Committee and adopt effective management measures to reverse the decline of this critical resource.”

For yellowfin tuna, a species that is subject to overfishing, an over-catch of 3% places further stress on this resource. According to ISSF, IOTC should adopt an effective rebuilding plan for yellowfin tuna that: gives full effect to the advice of the IOTC Scientific Committee and achieves a healthy spawning biomass for the species by 2024 with at least 50% probability.

ISSF also advocates that IOTC:

  1. Adopt species-specific harvest strategies as soon as possible, particularly for yellowfin tuna, and conduct a review of the limit reference points (LRPs) in Resolution 15/10 to allow for the adoption of harvest control rules by 2020.
  2. Urgently address data gaps in artisanal fisheries, especially for gillnets.
  3. Strengthen monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) measures, such as vessel monitoring systems (VMS) and the regional observer scheme (ROS), to support data collection, monitoring and the implementation of harvest strategies.
  4. Strengthen fish aggregating device (FAD) management, including of supply and tender vessels; ensure full implementation of non-entangling FADs; and support testing of biodegradable FADs.
  5. Amend Res. 11/04 to require 100% observer coverage on large-scale purse seine vessels; adopt the ROS Standards for national programs; and develop electronic monitoring/electronic reporting(EM/ER) standards so that EM can be used to ultimately achieve 100% observer coverage in purse seine and longline fisheries.
  6. Continue to strengthen the IOTC compliance assessment process.

Read the full IOTC Position Statement, available in English or French, on the ISSF website.

Tuna investigation slams use of FADs in Indian Ocean

February 15, 2019 — An investigation by French state television broadcaster France 2 into the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) to catch juvenile yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean, aimed to highlight the dark side of the industry to consumers.

Use of FADs has been widespread since the 1980s, but their use now sits at the center of global discussions on the long-term sustainability of tuna stocks and the ecological impact of tuna fisheries. An addition to being associated with the catch of juvenile tuna, FADs are linked to bycatch of vulnerable non-target species such as barracudas, sharks, and turtles, the modification of tuna habitat, damage to coastal habitats from lost and broken-up structures that end up on beaches, and interference with other maritime activities, France 2 reported.

FADs can be natural or artificial floating objects or rafts, which are often made from local materials such as wood, bamboo, pieces of net, twisted rope and floats. They can either be anchored in place or left untethered to drift on the ocean surface. GPS tags are used to facilitate location, and fishers use them as a highly-effective method of improving catch rates and reducing operating costs, as tuna are attracted to the debris.

According to the FAO, in spite of intensive research, the reason why fish are attracted to FADs remains a mystery, but it is possible that they are attracted to floating objects that provide a refuge from predators.

In the two-hour long documentary, entitled “Peche industrielle: gros poissons en eaux troubles,” (Industrial fishing: big fish in troubled waters), which was broadcast on Tuesday, 6 February, presenter Sophie le Gall told viewers that the long-term future of the fishery was under threat because many of the fish being caught are immature and have therefore not had the chance to reproduce.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As pressure from WTO mounts, China faces decision on fishing subsidies

January 25, 2019 — Negotiations amongst World Trade Organization member nations over the elimination of fisheries subsidies have intensified, according to a WTO announcement made at the tail end of 2018. WTO member states face a mandate of achieving an agreement by the end of 2019, in time to announce the agreement at the 2020 Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan.

One of the linchpins of any deal will be China, the world’s biggest fishing country by volume. Thus far, China has shown a willingness to negotiate, even making concessions to limit the country’s international fishing fleet to its 2016 level and to reduce fuel subsidies for its trawlers by 40 percent on 2015 levels.

But China’s cut to trawler subsidies only applies only to those vessels engaged in fishing within China’s own waters – not abroad. And broadly, China’s general alignment with the agreement stands in stark contrast to its continued efforts to build giant processing and distribution hubs for its distant-water catches.

Chinese Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dong Yu, who was in Argentina for the last WTO Ministerial Conference in 2017, appears to be straddling both sides of the issue. While he negotiated the concessions on fishery subsidies (though a larger agreement was not reached due to objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts), he also appears to support China’s distant-water fishing efforts. While he was in Argentina, he showed support for the industry by touring vessels owned by Shanghai Fisheries Group, Dalian Hua Feng and the well-known fishing and seafood distribution conglomerate Zhejiang Da Yang Shi Jia (Ocean Family). The vessels included red shrimp catch-processors and squid liners.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Global shrimp supply will remain high for foreseeable future

January 18, 2019 — The glut in the global supply of shrimp that persisted throughout 2018 will remain in 2019, as cold storage facilities in the United States continue to have supplies lasting months in storage.

A panel of experts at the Global Seafood Market Conference in Coronado, California on 17 January said cold storage facilities in the U.S. had, at times, 30 percent more shrimp in storage in 2018 than they did in 2017.

In addition, the panel predicted that the reserves will not be drawn down significantly in 2019. The primary reason for that is production of shrimp in India, which panelists said will remain close to its record high of 740,000 metric tons (MT), with production in other countries starting to increase as well.

“It all comes back to, ‘What are we going to do with all this shrimp?’” said Jeff Goldberg, president of Fortune Imports.

Estimates indicate that there’s 290 million pounds of shrimp currently in cold storage facilities in the U.S., representing a supply that, with no further production or imports, could last more than three months.

That high amount of supply in storage is coupled with increasing supply coming from countries like Ecuador. Between 2013 and 2018, production of shrimp in Ecuador more than doubled, going from 219,412 MT to 471,026 MT.

Ecuador and India aren’t the only countries with increasing supply. Indonesia, Vietnam, and Mexico also saw growth. The most dramatic growth occurred in Guatemala, which has consistently increased between 30 to 40 percent year-over-year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source