Saving Seafood

Cameras Pitched As On-Board Fishing Monitors

May 10, 2016 — As the struggling New England groundfish industry takes up the cost of federally required, on-board fishing monitors, federal regulators are considering allowing 14 boats from Maine to Cape Cod to use cameras to record their catches instead. It’s part of a pilot program to test out if cameras can replace humans and do it for less money.

Watching For When They Discard Fish

Located near fishing vessels moored in Portland’s harbor, the Gulf of Maine Research Institute is a nonprofit that’s trying to modernize the oversight of commercial fishing for cod, haddock and other groundfish.

In the “gear lab,” Mark Hager demonstrates the equipment used to set up an electronic monitoring system: a computer, a GPS tracker, a hydraulic sensor and four weatherproof cameras.

“If you’ve ever been to McDonald’s and you go to the drive-through and you pull up? They are actually using almost the same cameras we’re using,” Hager says.

Hager plays footage of an actual fishing trip from a vessel that’s already been equipped with cameras. The captain and crew divide the haul into the adult groundfish they keep, and the juveniles they’re required to put back into the ocean.

Read the full story at WBUR

NOAA reduces monitoring requirements, sets groundfish catch limits in Northeast US

May 4, 2016 — At-sea monitoring requirements for Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels have been lowered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), bringing relief to fishermen who have been forced to absorb its cost due to a recent policy change.

In the same ruling, NOAA also set quotas for 2016 to 2018 covering 20 groundfish stocks, including decreasing the quota for Georges Bank cod to a level that will be “devastating” to the Northeast groundfishing fleet, according to one fisherman.

NOAA’s final rules, known as Framework 55, were filed Monday, 2 May and went into immediate effect to coincide with the beginning of the 2016 fishing season. Commercial groundfish operators will only be required to pay for monitors on 10 percent of their trips, whereas previously they had been expected to pay for them on 20 percent of their trips. The Northeast Fisheries Observer Program will pay for an additional four percent of the monitoring, pushing monitoring requirements to 14 percent of groundfish fishing trips taken by commercial vessels.

NOAA cited standards that required it to minimize costs and adverse economic impacts, while maintaining sound scientific practices to ensure sustainable fishing levels, as a reason for the lowering of the requirements.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com 

NOAA to reduce monitoring in new season

May 2, 2016 — In a victory for groundfishermen, NOAA will significantly reduce at-sea monitoring coverage for Northeast multispecies groundfish vessels in the season that begins Sunday.

NOAA, according to the final rule filed Friday in the Federal Register, will cut monitoring to 14 percent of all vessel trips in 2016, down from about 24 percent in 2015.

The reduction was welcomed by fishermen, particularly following recent federal policy changes leaving permit holders on the hook for the cost of at-sea monitoring. It was a disappointment for conservationists and environmental groups, who were seeking more coverage, not less.

The new rule, known as Framework 55, is expected to be formally published Monday, but will go into effect at the start of the 2016 fishing season on May 1.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Canada and the European Union Work Together to Fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing

April 29, 2016 — BRUSSELS, Belgium — Canada and the European Union signed a joint statement today to work together more closely to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the world’s oceans.

Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and Karmenu Vella, European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, signed the statement after their meeting during Seafood Expo Global in Brussels, Belgium.

“The world has to step up and join together to protect our oceans and our fisheries,” said Minister Tootoo. “We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, nor can we try to address it on our own. It is a global problem and it needs global solutions. We look forward to working with the European Union and our other world partners to solve this problem.”

Read the full story at Yahoo! Finance

Coalition of Thai Seafood Companies Agree to Use Electronic Catch Reporting System

April 28, 2016 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The European Union’s threat to maintain its yellow card on Thai seafood imports over illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing has not dented the private sector’s hopes for a positive ruling from the bloc next month.

The sector cited its partnership with the government in taking action to tackle the issues, including the use of an electronic marine catch purchasing document from this coming Sunday.

The new system will also control the trade of aquatic products and aquaculture development including sanitation. This will help to accurately trace the sources of Thailand’s aquatic species according to the Fisheries Act.

The Department of Fisheries, Fish Marketing Organization, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Command Center for Combating Illegal Fishing, Board of Trade and the Thai Fishery Producers Coalition (TFPC) signed a letter of cooperation Wednesday to set up the marine catch purchasing document.

The TFPC comprises the Thai Frozen Food Association, Thai Food Processors’ Association, Thai Shrimp Association, Thai Tuna Industry Association, National Fishery Association of Thailand, Thai Overseas Fishery Association, Thai Fishmeal Association and the Thai Fishmeal Producer Association.

Poj Aramwattananont, president of the TFPC and vice-chairman the Board of Trade, said the problems of the fishing industry and related industries had accumulated over many years.

The government and private sector are committed to tackling fishery issues and view the issue as a national agenda, he said.

The government released Fisheries Decree 2558 on Nov 13 last year with the aim of preventing fishing by unlawful methods. This also included the welfare of workers on fishing boats and management of fisheries so that they can be sustainable, Mr Poj said.

“From now on, it’s the government’s duty to explain in a written statement to the EU about Thailand’s intentions and efforts,” he said.

“We admit that to tackle the accumulated problems about fishing practices and to amend existing laws could not be achieved in the short term. But if the EU rules to maintain the yellow card or even to issue a red card, it would need to have a very clear explanation for the action in a written statement.”

He also said the upcoming EU ruling on the IUU issue should not be politically motivated.

Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was gravely concerned about the IUU issue and had tried its best to promote cooperation with private counterparts in the fishing industry to create a traceability system for products.

Mr Poj insisted that, whatever the EU’s ruling, it was unlikely to greatly affect overall fishery product exports but would damage the country’s image.

Despite the termination of Generalised System of Preferences tariff privileges in European countries and IUU pressure, Thailand’s frozen seafood shipments are expected to grow this year, he said.

Tuna exports are expected to fetch about 90 billion baht, up from 80 billion baht last year, with shrimp shipments increasing to about 70 billion baht from 58 billion baht in 2015 as production improves to 300,000 tonnes this year from 230,000 tonnes last year.

Associated Press news agency reported last week that the EU was maintaining its threat of a seafood import ban on Thailand because the country was not doing enough to improve fishery and labour practices.

The 28-nation bloc is keeping up the pressure after Thai legislation enacted last year to curb illegal practices yielded insufficient follow-up in subsequent months, said two EU officials.

Seafood exports make up 40% of Thai food exports, worth 1 trillion baht annually.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

AP Explore: Seafood from slaves

April 21, 2016 — Over the course of 18 months, Associated Press journalists located men held in cages, tracked ships and stalked refrigerated trucks to expose the abusive practices of the fishing industry in Southeast Asia. The reporters’ dogged effort led to the release of more than 2,000 slaves and traced the seafood they caught to supermarkets and pet food providers across the U.S. For this investigation, AP has won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

Read the articles at the Associated Press

Hardships await fishermen lured to Indonesia

April 21, 2016 — “I would never recommend anyone to work at sea,” says a fisherman from Myanmar who lost four fingers in an accident while on a fishing trawler.

Despite a difficult life as a fisherman, Tunlin knew he had to be patient if he wanted to survive. “I couldn’t give up my life at sea,” said the 34-year-old who returned from Ambon Island in Indonesia last year.

Tunlin is among some 2,900 fishermen who have been rescued and repatriated by the Labour Rights Promotion Network Foundation (LPN). The operation, started in 2014, continues to help both Thais and migrants, mostly from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, stranded in Indonesia.

Recalling his life before Indonesia, Tunlin said he had worked at a shrimp-peeling shed from the age of 16 in Samut Sakhon province, home to a large Myanmar migrant community. But the meagre earnings –100 baht per day — hardly sufficed.

Read the full story at the Bangkok Post

New ways to fight human-rights abuses in the global seafood industry

April 14, 2016 — When Bayani secured an overseas job in the fishing industry from a broker in his home country of the Philippines, it was about finding work that he was skilled at and enjoyed and that could support his family. He didn’t expect to be forced to fish illegally, to be imprisoned on a fishing boat, or to have his passport and other documents withheld by his employer. Even so, had his family back home been receiving his salary, as he thought was happening, he said he might have kept quiet. But when Bayani learned a third-party was skimming his pay for an alleged debt owed by his employer, he decided to break his silence regardless of the consequences.

Bayani’s ordeal lasted for months during which he feared for his own wellbeing and that of his family. But because he had access to a mobile phone and a former employer who had leverage with his current employer, he eventually escaped his ordeal. Many other fishers in the global fishing industry aren’t so lucky. Bayani was not kidnapped and enslaved. He did not witness murder, child labor, or sexual abuse — all well documented occurrences in seafood supply chains.

Human-rights abuses in the seafood industry have grabbed headlines, causing governments, NGOs, businesses, and individual consumers to consider a more holistic view of sustainability — one that incorporates social as well as environmental responsibility. Recently, new approaches to improving the industry’s human-rights record have emerged. These often involve adding a social dimension to sustainable-seafood certification schemes or improving oversight via technological fixes. However, experts have yet to agree on which approaches are likely to work or which to embrace, given how bad the situation is.

See the full story at Mongabay

US: Forced labor continues on Thai fishing vessels

April 14, 2016 — WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that forced labor on Thai fishing vessels has continued in the past year despite legal reforms and arrests following an Associated Press investigation into the country’s seafood industry.

The department made the assessment in its annual global review of human rights practices, released in Washington by Secretary of State John Kerry. The report covers the 2015 calendar year.

The report finds that the Thai government has reaffirmed its “zero tolerance” policy for human trafficking and updated many laws that enhance regulatory powers and increase punishment for violations. An amended anti-trafficking law provides protection to whistleblowers and gives authorities the power to halt operations temporarily or suspend licenses of businesses and vehicles involved in human trafficking.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New Jersey Herald

Maine Marine Patrol Arrest Gardiner Man for Illegal Possession of Elvers

April 7, 2016 — The following was released by the Maine Department of Marine Resources:

The Maine Marine Patrol arrested Dana Wayne-Holmes, 61 of Gardiner on Saturday April 2 for illegal possession of elvers. Illegal possession of elvers is a criminal offense and is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2000 fine.

Holmes was arrested in Waldoboro after an investigation by the Marine Patrol revealed that he was attempting to purchase and sell elvers without a license. Holmes held an elver dealer license in 2015, however he does not hold a current dealers license.

Also charged in the investigation was licensed harvester Irving Banks, 47 of Jefferson. Banks was charged with exceeding his individual elver quota, also a Class D crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2000 fine.

In addition to fines and jail time, Banks faces possible one-year administrative suspension of his current license while Holmes faces possible one-year suspension of his right to obtain a dealer license in the future.

“It is a privilege to have an elver license in Maine,” said Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner. “This is one of the most lucrative fisheries we have, and one that has required a great deal of work by the Maine DMR and law abiding members of industry to sustain and manage. I will use the full extent of my authority to investigate and bring to justice anyone who violates laws that help us protect this valuable fishery.”

The Marine Patrol investigation involved eight Marine Patrol Officers including Lieutenant Jay Carroll, Sergeant Russell Wright, Sergeant Rob Beal, Sergeant Matt Talbot, Specialist Matt Sinclair, Officer Brian Brodie, Officer Jon Luellen, and Officer Chris Hilton.  The Marine Patrol seized thirteen and half pounds of elvers from Holmes worth an estimated value of more than $18,000 based on per pound value at the time of the violation.

Dana Wayne-Holmes (Two Bridges Regional Jail)

Dana Wayne-Holmes (Two Bridges Regional Jail)