April 12, 2021 — Ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on a deal to curtail harmful fishing subsidies are stumbling over the issue of carve-outs for the artisanal fisheries of developing nations.
Exemptions for small, coastal fishing operations have been a thorny issue impeding progress on a deal over the last several months.
April 7, 2021 — Seafood caught via illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and fishing involving forced labor amounting to USD 2.4 billion (EUR 2 billion) was imported into the United States in 2019, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
The 18 March report, “Seafood Obtained via Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing: U.S. Imports and Economic Impact on U.S. Commercial Fisheries,” suggests the U.S. government does not have effective controls in place to limit IUU-sourced product from entering the country.
April 2, 2021 — Taiwan’s fisheries regulator has answered NGO claims of forced labor in its fishing fleet through a statement issued to SeafoodSource.
Noting the attention NGOs have brought to the abuse of foreign workers aboard Taiwanese fishing vessels, the Taiwan Fisheries Agency said in its statement it has “endeavored to improve the protection of the rights and benefits of the crew members through institutional guarantees.”
April 1, 2021 — The Thailand Department of Labor Protection and Welfare is partnering with seafood industry groups on an effort to eliminate the use of forced labor in the sector.
On 29 March, the Thai government signed non-binding memoranda of understanding with several industry associations, under which the companies will make public their policies to combat forced and child labor, establish mechanisms to deal with complaints, and undergo audits on the quality and effectiveness of their labor standards.
April 1, 2021 — A leaked document originating from the Office of Intelligence and Analysis – part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – has recommended the creation of a multilateral coalition with South American nations led by the U.S. to challenge China’s illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and trade practices.
The document was obtained by news service Axios and revealed in an article published 23 March.
March 31, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:
In the United States, sustainable seafood is not only a possibility, it’s our priority. Fish, shellfish, and marine algae are renewable resources—they can reproduce and replenish their populations naturally. That means we can sustainably harvest fish within certain limits without depleting their populations. Fishery management is the process of using science to determine these limits—catching some fish while leaving some to reproduce and replace the fish that are caught. The United States is a global leader in seafood sustainability.
Our global population is rising, but our global abundance of wild fish is not. Aquaculture, or farming in water, plays a critical role in ensuring that our need for seafood is met sustainably. It is a resource-efficient way of increasing and diversifying U.S. seafood production. The future of sustainable seafood must include both farm-raised and wild-capture seafood. Seafood farming, if done responsibly as it is in the United States, is increasingly recognized as one of the most environmentally sustainable ways to produce food and protein.
Read on to learn more about what sustainable seafood means in the United States and how we are working to support healthy fisheries and provide safe sources of seafood.
1. U.S. fishermen abide by some of the most rigorous environmental measures in the world.
The United States has a well-earned reputation as a global leader in sustainability. U.S. fisheries management is guided by several laws, including the Magnuson-Stevens Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, and Endangered Species Act.
Learn more about the laws and policies that keep our ocean resources productive and sustainable
2. U.S. fisheries are managed under 10 national standards of sustainability.
These standards aim to prevent overfishing, protect other species and habitat, and minimize bycatch on non-target species. They ensure sustainable and responsible fishery management in the United States.
Learn more about the National Standards
3. Managing wild fish populations sustainably and keeping fishermen on the job is a dynamic process.
U.S. fisheries management is a transparent and robust process, based on strong science, responsive management, and enforced compliance. NOAA Fisheries works closely with eight regional fishery management councils, whose members represent commercial and recreational fishing, environmental, academic, and government interests.
Learn more about how we manage fisheries in the United States
4. Expanding aquaculture can stabilize and diversify seafood supply.
Aquaculture is a sustainable way to produce food, using fewer resources than other protein sources. This is especially important when considering the impacts of climate change on land-based farming and wild-capture fisheries.
Learn more about how aquaculture supports a sustainable Earth
5. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing leads to unsafe and unsustainable practices and harms law-abiding fishermen around the world.
Combating IUU fishing is a top priority for the United States. NOAA Fisheries is proud to be a leader in the nation’s comprehensive approach to this battle. We work with U.S. and state agencies to promote compliance with import requirements that help prevent IUU fish and fish products from entering our markets. We also work with foreign governments and regional fisheries management organizations to promote international cooperation to achieve effective, responsible marine stewardship and ensure sustainable fisheries management.
Learn more about how NOAA is working to combat illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing globally
Sustainable seafood is a continuous journey and science is a big part of our success. Effective management for both wild-caught and farmed species starts with accurate scientific information about fish and fisheries. Be sure to visit our site regularly to learn even more about how we support safe sources of seafood by ensuring our fisheries are productive and sustainable.
March 30, 2021 — Vastly increased offshore patrols, aerial surveillance, and monitoring have ensured that illegal fishing has been kept at bay in England’s seas since the U.K. became an independent coastal state on 1 January this year, according to the country’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
With additional government investment of GBP 32 million (USD 44 million, EUR 37.5 million), the MMO has enhanced its surveillance and fisheries control capacity. It has also put more marine officers on shore, more patrol ships at sea, and increased aerial and radar surveillance to complement existing electronic monitoring systems.
March 26, 2021 — The global fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated tuna-fishing activities has been slowed by significant gaps in the implementation of proposed counter-measures by five tuna regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs), according to a new report by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation.
The report found the implementation of key elements, such as the requirement for advance notice of port entry, denial of port entry or use, minimum inspections levels, and minimum standards for training of inspectors, has been inadequate.
March 25, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:
The concern with some slickly produced propaganda pieces, masquerading as “documentaries,” is that audiences will not recognize the film’s true agenda. Despite the artistic aerial shots, exciting albeit hyperbolic cloak-and-dagger scenes and stirring action-movie like sound track, there is little concern Seaspiracy will be mistaken for anything but a vegan indoctrination movie.
The film begins by suggesting, without evidence, that fisheries bycatch is an issue “governments [have] practically given up on enforcing.” Then touts a narrative that an “internationally recognized seafood label [is] a complete fabrication.” All this before whipsawing viewers from the argument that getting rid of plastic straws was once considered a pollution fix but that now the only real solution is getting rid of the entire commercial fishing sector.
Before long the producers describe a fishing vessel with the caveat that, “what it really is, is a death machine.” They then dive headlong into an embrace of the idea that the oceans will be empty by 2048, which is based on a completely debunked 2006 statistic, refuted by none other than the author of the original study. The 2048 statistic was put to rest by a follow-up report in the Journal Science released in 2009 under the title New hope for fisheries.
Gravitating towards the popular call to ban fishing in 30% of the oceans by 2030, the film turns to an author, who owns a vegan food company, an animal rescue sanctuary and is also apparently a dentist. His endorsement of the 30 by 30 slogan/policy is based on his calculation that, “in reality, less than 1% of our oceans are being regulated.” This is of course not only inaccurate it’s nonsensical. But it doesn’t end there. He goes on to compare choosing fish based on some eco labels to, “essentially saying it’s more sustainable to shoot a polar bear than shooting a panda.”
During a segment on Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing in Africa director Ali Tabrizi claims, “In the United States up to 1 in every 3 wild caught fish imported have been caught illegally and therefor sold illegally. Stolen, often from countries in most need.” The methodology behind this wildly inflated statistic has been picked apart in the very Journal where it first appeared; “Methods to estimate IUU are not credible.” Meanwhile, papers using the same approach have been retracted. While IUU is a serious issue and unacceptable at any level, Tabrizi’s calculated film making seeks to conflate over estimated IUU numbers with U.S. seafood imports from Africa. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports less than 2% of U.S. seafood imports come from Africa.
Before setting their sites on aquaculture, the filmmakers can’t help but slip in a vegan dog whistle in describing fishing boats they say “…It became clear these vessels were more like floating slaughter houses.”
Adeptly leading viewers down the primrose path, fish farming is lauded as a potential “method that could provide some kind of solution” before it is eviscerated with out of date tropes like the lie that farmed salmon is died pink. The film later digs up another classic in complaining about PCB’s in fish but never (ironically) mentions that Harvard University research finds seafood broadly, not just farmed salmon, makes up only 9% of the PCBs in the average American diet, while products like vegetables make up 20%. Yes, vegetables.
As the film begins its expected arch into unabashed vegan rhetoric about fish feeling pain and how, “animals… use democratic decision making,” it logs a chapter about labor abuses in the seafood space. This is a serious and concerning topic that the filmmakers bring nothing new to. While their interviews with silhouetted victims are heartbreaking, what is really on display here is, as the New York Times put it, a “cheap imitation of hard-hitting investigative journalism.”
In the end the film sputters to a close with what is essentially a predictable commercial for highly processed plant-based alternative products.
The following are excerpts from the New York Times Review of Seaspiracy:
“The film’s rhetorical style often feels like a cheap imitation of hard-hitting investigative journalism.”
“Even the film’s notable points seem to emerge only briefly before sinking beneath the surface, lost in a sea of murky conspiratorial thinking.”
March 24, 2021 — Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has announced the launch of a new CAD 7 million (USD 5.5 million, EUR 4.7 million) program designed to track vessels deliberately avoiding automatic location devices.
The program, called the Dark Vessel Detection Program, is being launched in collaboration with Canada’s Department of National Defence, Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science, Global Affairs Canada, and MDA, DFO announced. The goal is to reduce illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing by tracking around the world by identifying vessels that are deliberately turning off automatic tracking devices.