Saving Seafood

Global Labor Justice launching “Freedom for Fishers” campaign against unnamed US seafood brand

September 3, 2026 — Washington D.C., U.S.A.-based advocacy organization Global Labor Justice (GLJ) recently launched a campaign called “Freedom For Fishers” targeting an unnamed U.S. seafood brand with multiple documented allegations of labor violations.

GLJ has been working with Forum Silaturahmi Pelaut Indonesia – Pingtung Migrant Fishers Union (FOSPI-PMFU) for the past three years on the campaign to collect evidence of the alleged labor violations the two organizations say involve fishers working for the U.S. seafood company’s supply chain.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Section 301 tariffs leave US seafood importers with few avenues to avoid rising costs

August 10, 2026 — The latest round of tariffs implemented by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) targeted several countries that heavily produce salmon and shrimp with duty rates between 10 percent and 12.5 percent, leaving U.S. seafood importers with few options for relief from rising costs.

The 60 global economies hit with Section 301 tariffs include top salmon-producing countries such as Norway, Chile, and the U.K., as well as shrimp-producing nations like Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MARYLAND: Can Maryland remain the “crab capital” if consumers can’t buy crabmeat?

June 1, 2026 — Maryland diners love to eat blue crabs, crustaceans native to the Chesapeake Bay that have been a culinary favorite in the region for centuries. But a federal effort to restrict imported crabmeat has sparked a legal fight that could disrupt supply, drive up prices and reshape the seafood industry.

The fight has also exposed a little-known fact to anyone outside of the seafood industry: Almost all “pasteurized” crabmeat purchased in grocery stores and consumed in restaurants in Maryland and beyond is imported from Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and other countries in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

Pasteurized crabmeat refers to crab that has been cooked to a specific temperature to extend its shelf life, allowing it to be shipped long distances and stored for longer periods. It’s typically sold in cans and used in products like crab cakes.

Read the full article at the Sentinel 

The hidden cost of fisheries subsidies

March 17, 2026 — In public finance, some costs are politely kept off the books. The ocean has long been one of them. Governments often speak of “blue growth” and “sustainable use,” yet many policies still treat marine ecosystems as a kind of free input: available, resilient, and cheap to replace. The result is ecological decline. It is also a fiscal problem. States end up assuming risks they would not tolerate on land.

Fishing provides a clear example. For decades, a large share of industrial effort has been propped up by public money. One influential analysis of high-seas fishing found that governments subsidized high-seas fleets by about $4.2 billion in 2014—more than the estimated net economic benefit of that fishing—and that without subsidies, as much as 54% of the high-seas fishing grounds currently exploited would have been unprofitable at the prices and costs prevailing at the time.

Read the full article at Mongabay

Indonesia clears contamination at shrimp plant, reaches deal with FDA to resume US imports

October 21, 2025 — Indonesian officials said they have reached a deal with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that will allow containers of shrimp from the country to enter the U.S. following a prolonged stretch of recalls.

Indonesian shrimp from PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati began being recalled in August after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detected traces of Cesium-137 (Cs-137), a radioactive material, in a container containing shrimp from the company. That recall expanded later that same month, affecting major U.S. retailers like Walmart and Kroger and leading to an import alert for frozen breaded shrimp from Indonesia.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Greenpeace criticizes US government’s ranking of Taiwan, Indonesia in recent trafficking report

October 10, 2025 — Environmental nonprofit Greenpeace has alleged that the U.S. government is too lenient on cracking down on trafficking, especially as it relates to major seafood supplying nations.

The organization made the claim in response to the U.S. government’s ranking of Taiwan and Indonesia in its yearly Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, the most recent edition of which included Taiwan achieving a Tier 1 ranking for the 16th time and Indonesia achieving a Tier 2 ranking.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Indonesia confirms radioactive shrimp linked to contamination at steel plant, assures exports safe

October 3, 2025 — The Indonesian government has confirmed traces of radioactive Cesium-137 (Cs-137) detected in shrimp products were linked to a steel factory in an industrial zone in Banten province, but said the incident has not affected the integrity of the country’s seafood supply chain or exports.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration first issued an advisory that it detected Cs-137 in a shipping container at the ports of Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami in August. Imported shrimp, processed by Indonesia-based PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, was inside the containers, leading to initial recalls as radiation was detected in both the shrimp packaging, and in the shipping containers.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US FDA recalls more shrimp after discovering radioactive contaminant

August 22, 2025 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced a voluntary recall of frozen shrimp products due to possible contamination with Cesium-137 (Cs-137), a man-made radioisotope that can elevate cancer risks through longer term, repeated low dose exposure.

The announcement comes shortly after U.S. Customs and Border Control (CBP) detected Cs-137 in shipping containers at the Ports of Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami, with agents finding evidence of the radioisotope in a single shipment of frozen bread shrimp. The discovery led the FDA to issue an alert for frozen shrimp supplied by Indonesia-based PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati to Walmart and sold under the “Great Value” brand name.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource