Saving Seafood

What is seafood fraud? Dangerous and running rampant, report finds

March 7, 2019 — If you order a filet of snapper at a restaurant, you probably expect to be served snapper. But a new report suggests there’s a strong chance you’ll be getting something else.

Oceana, a marine conservation nonprofit with a recent history of studying seafood mislabeling, today published a new report on the state of seafood fraud in the U.S.

They found that 20 percent of the 449 fish they tested were incorrectly labeled. Orders of sea bass were often replaced by giant perch, Alaskan halibut by Greenland turbot, and Florida snapper by lavender jobfish, to name a few.

Oceana made headlines in 2016 by publishing a report finding massive seafood fraud on a global scale. Since then, NOAA created the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), to track 13 species deemed at high risk of being fraudulently sold or sourced illegally.

None of the 13 SIMP monitored species were sampled.

“We wanted to highlight that there are other species other than the high-risk species,” says Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana and one of the report’s authors.

Read the full story at National Geographic

UN, Oceana, insurer issue guidelines to stop IUU fishing

February 28, 2019 — Several environmental advocacy groups including UN Environment and Oceana have partnered with major insurer Allianz to write guidelines that could help the marine insurance industry better detect and prevent instances of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The newly issued risk assessment guidelines to marine insurers include a checklist of 18 warning signs to detect higher risk vessels and contracts, Oceana said in a press release.

In 2017, the UN Environment’s Principles for Sustainable Insurance initiative recruited several major insurers including Allianz, AXA, Generali, Hanseatic Underwriters and The Shipowners’ Club to join a statement to combat IUU.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Stand-off mounts in Russia between crab sector and government

February 21, 2019 — A fight between Russia’s crab fishing sector at the Russian government has escalated after two damaging reports aired on national television and the government initiated a public investigation into crab magnate Oleg Khan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed reallocating 50 percent of Russia’s crab quota via an auction system. The proposal has generated an uproar in Russia’s seafood industry, with some industry representatives calling the proposal potentially disastrous.

In December, separate reports by television stations Russia and NTV aired investigative reports alleging serious issues related to illegal, underreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Russia’s crab fisheries. Both stations editorialized that only a shift to auctions would stifle the illegal activity that they said had become rampant in the industry.

In its report, NTV, a private channel owned by Gazprom Media holding, the media body of the mainly state-owned conglomerate Gazprom, accused the Russian crab industry of fishing beyond its quotas, and of illegally exporting the illegally-caught crab to South Korea and Japan. They criticized authorities in South Korean and Japanese ports for not doing their best to prevent illegal import of Russian crab, alleging they often turn a blind eye on improperly filed papers.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Group detects illegal-fishing activities during Visayan Sea’s closed season

February 19, 2019 — Oceana Philippines expressed alarm over probable illegal-fishing activities in the Visayan Sea during the enforcement of the three-month closed fishing season.

The international organization made the pronouncement after analyzing data from satellite sensor called Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to detect by satellites, in a supposedly dark environment such as large bodies of water, artificial light sources like superlights.

Ocena said these are likely used by fishing boats, such as purse seiners and ring netters, and were found inside the prohibited area and in this case, the Visayan Sea covered by the closed fishing season order.

According to the VIIRS data during the three-month period prior to the Visayan Sea closed season, from August 16 to November 14, 2018, the monthly average of lights detected in the delineated area was 142.  Oceana said during the three-month closed season from November 15, 2018 to February 14, the monthly average was 48.

Oceana said these were detected in the Visayan Sea off Iloilo, in the municipalities of Carles, Concepcion, Barotac Viejo and Aruy; Cadiz City, Negros Occidental; and in Madridejos and Bantayan in Cebu.

Read the full story at the Business Mirror

GFW’s new data cell to combat illegal fishing with $5.9m gift from Bloomberg

February 15, 2019 — Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has taken another step in its effort to detect and prevent illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, launching a new data and analysis unit with the help of a $5.9 million, four-year commitment from the charity started by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Tong Long, GFW’s CEO, announced the new operation at the Seafood and Fisheries Emerging Technologies conference, in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.

“The next five years will bring an inflection point for ocean data thanks to dramatically increased opportunities for satellite tracking, more public tracking, information sharing, processing power and advances in machine learning,” he said. “Our analytical cell will translate this flow of data and technology into insights and evidence that can help coastal and under-resourced states better understand fishing activity, improve governance and aid monitoring of marine protected areas.”

Founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth and Google, GFW has been using a combination of satellite and radar technology and vessel monitoring system data to support the enforcement of laws that prohibit fishing out of season or in protected areas. The group now reports maintaining about 20 staff distributed globally, with individuals and small teams spread across the US, Asia, Europe, Central and South America.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

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

China tackling tax evasion in seafood sector on many fronts

February 15, 2019 — Chinese authorities are touting their latest prize in an intensification of their ongoing crackdown in illegal seafood-related operations.

The arrest of a smuggling gang accused of bringing CNY 2.6 billion (USD 385.5 million, EUR 340.3 million) worth of frozen seafood clandestinely across the border from Vietnam over a three-year period was announced in prime-time coverage across regional and national television channels in January.

Customs and police forces from across southern China collaborated on the prosecution of the gang. The investigators hailed the operation as a triumph in protecting food safety and fair tax collection for the Chinese people. Those arrested include the CEO of a major processing and distribution firm in Dalian, who could face a trial that will set an example for the industry.

In another high-profile bust, a gang of 55 suspects were arrested in August 2018 for allegedly controlling the marine fishing sector in the port city of Weifang. The gang “occupied by force” the sea space in the outlying Shouguang and Changyi counties and forced fishing and aquaculture companies to pay for access to the water, according to an indictment published by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB), China’s police force. The gang also “taxed” the vessels according to the volume of their catch.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New index ranks China as most vulnerable to IUU

February 11, 2019 — A new index ranking vulnerability to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) by country has listed China as having the highest IUU potential.

The index, created by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, ranks countries on a number of metrics, with a higher score meaning a higher likelihood that a country’s policies are contributing to IUU fishing. The metrics have four main categories – coastal, flag, port, and general – which include subcategories like the size of the country’s exclusive economic zone, or the number of distant-water vessels under regional fishery management organizations (RFMO).

China was by far the worst-ranked country, with a total “IUU score” of 3.93 out of 5. China ranked the worst possible on a number of categories, including the number of vessels on the IUU list and the number of distant-water vessels that are under multiple RFMOs.

China also scored poorly in terms of its number of fishing ports, and how those ports allow foreign vessels and imports.

According to the initiative that started the index, it’s intended to be a tool to better understand illegal fishing worldwide.

“The IUU Fishing Index has been designed to meet the need for a detailed analysis of fishery countries’ vulnerability, exposure and responses to IUU fishing,” the organization stated in a release. “It fills a key gap by analyzing and evaluating, state by state, the global implications of IUU fishing, thereby helping policymakers identify where interventions are most needed.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

World’s Largest Fish Factory Vessel Stays on IUU List

February 6, 2019 — Following an investigation by Oceana, the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) has decided to keep the fish factory vessel Damanzaihao (now named Vladivostok 2000) on its list of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels. The organization has also issued warnings to China, Panama and Cook Islands for providing assistance to the vessel.

The Commission has currently 15 members: Australia, Chile, China, Cook Islands, Cuba, Ecuador, E.U., Denmark, South Korea, New Zealand, Peru, Russia, Chinese Taipei, the U.S. and Vanuatu.

Oceana investigated the Damanzaihao’s movements using Global Fishing Watch’s mapping platform. “Oceana applauds SPRFMO’s decision and views this as an important example of how transparency at sea can help enforce rules that combat IUU fishing,” said Beth Lowell, deputy vice president of U.S. campaigns at Oceana. “With the help of technology, we can see what vessels are doing beyond the horizon and take steps, like Oceana did, to hold the responsible parties accountable.”

The Vladivostok 2000, currently flagged to Moldova, is one of the world’s largest vessels with a history of changing names and reflagging to different countries. Originally designed as an oil tanker measuring 228 meters, the vessel was rebuilt to function as a one-stop-shop fish processor, with the ability to store, freeze, process and transfer fish. According to a New York Times article, the vessel (named Lafayette and flying a Russian flag when the article was published in 2012) can process up to 547,000 metric tons of fish each year.

Read the full story at Maritime Executive

 

US Coast Guard cutter assisting in South Pacific IUU fight

January 30, 2019 — The US Coast Guard has sent a Seattle, Washington-based high-endurance cutter to the South Pacific to join in the fight against illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.

The cutter Mellon and its crew of 150 left Seattle shortly after Christmas and stopped in Hawaii before venturing on to patrol the waters of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the Coast Guard said in a press release.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News