Saving Seafood

JOHN VIRDIN: We can end illegal fishing in the ocean

August 31, 2015 — The killing of Cecil the lion has thrust the issue of wildlife crime into the international spotlight. And for good reason: wildlife crime is a highly profitable form of global organized crime that imperils precious natural resources and, at a minimum, offends our sense of equity and fair play. Far less publicized is that some of the largest volume of such crime happens not on land but in the sea through illegal fishing.

Overfishing is a key environmental challenge of our time. Experts estimate that, globally, 29 percent of assessed fish stocks are biologically overfished—up from 10 percent in 1970. Illegal, unregulated, or unreported fishing is a large contributor to this problem.

I’ve been working with governments to improve fisheries management for more than 10 years and have seen the devastating effects of illegal fishing, particularly by large vessels, on fish stocks, the environment, and the economies of coastal communities in places like Sierra Leone. However, in the past six months, I’ve noticed a convergence of improved surveillance technology, public awareness, and government interest that has given me hope that we can turn the tide on illegal fishing.

Read the full opinion piece from John Virdin at The Hill

Justice Department Cracks Down on Fish Fraud

August 21, 2015 — WASHINGTON, DC – A North Carolina seafood processor and wholesale distributor faces a felony conviction, a $100,000 fine, forfeiture of more than 20,000 pounds of shrimp and three years’ probation after Federal prosecutors exposed the company’s shrimp mislabeling scheme.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina joined forces to investigate and prosecute Alphin Brothers Inc., in a case that saw the company admit to falsely labeling tens of thousands of pounds of shrimp.

Read the full story at PerishableNews.com

MSC piloting innovative seafood traceability tool

August 17, 2015 — The following has been released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The MSC is exploring new ways of providing additional protection from seafood fraud in its supply chain. Over the past two years we have been piloting a new traceability tool, the MSC Online Transaction Solution (MOTS), and are seeking feedback to shape its continued development.

Pioneering tool

To date there has been no online tool available that can securely handle and verify information about seafood supply chain transactions on a global scale.

The new tool cross-checks and verifies sales and purchases of seafood products made by processing, distribution and retail companies as they move through the complex global supply chain.

Since its development in 2012, the online verification tool has been trialled in seven European and fifteen Chinese companies. The current plan is to roll the tool out to over 3,000 supply chain companies handling certified products in over 34,000 sites around the world.

Invitation to help shape the tool

This is the second and final opportunity for industry partners to offer their expertise, and help shape an effective tool that meets current and future industry demands.

How to take part in consultation

The public consultation is open from 17 August to 18 September 2015.

If you are a seafood industry professional, you can:

Share your insights in our online consultation >

Join our online interactive MOTS workshop > (2 and 3 September)

The workshops are designed for supply chain companies to offer practical solutions on seafood transaction and verification. Spaces are limited, so please register your interest by email to standards@msc.org.

Meeting industry needs and global best-practice

“The MSC’s segregation and traceability program is widely recognised as one of the most effective systems for tracking seafood along the supply chain” said Titia Sjenitzer, Senior Product Integrity Manager at the MSC. “However, the seafood industry is dynamic. Demand for certified sustainable seafood continues to grow, and other certification schemes such as the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), are working with the MSC and using our Chain of Custody Standard. This means that more scalable monitoring mechanisms are required to ensure the MSC’s system remains efficient and effective”.

Over 3,000 organisations, operating from over 34,000 sites in more than 60 countries currently hold an MSC Chain of Custody certificate. These organisations are responsible for handling over 18,000 products that are sold with the MSC ecolabel in around 100 countries.

DNA testing shows that 99% of MSC labelled products are correctly labelled, demonstrating the integrity of the current system. However, the MSC is seeking to evolve its tools and systems in order to ensure that its Chain of Custody Standard continues to lead the industry in ensuring a traceable supply chain for seafood.

Using latest technologies, the tool will complement, but not replace, the existing MSC Chain of Custody system.

“We took part in trialling the MSC Online Transaction Solution and felt it is an important addition to our business. The tool provides us with added confidence that our brand and products are running through a secure and genuine supply chain handling only certified seafood” said Alex Olsen, A. Espersen A/S, MSC certified processing company in Denmark.

If the pilot proves successful, the new tool will be implemented across the full program by 2018. The tool will verify seafood sale and purchase transaction information (such as volume, species, invoice number and transaction date) to mitigate the risk of non-sustainable products being labelled and sold as certified.

Costco Sued for Selling Slave-Labor Shrimp

August 19, 2015 — A new lawsuit filed against Costco takes the retailer to task for selling shrimp farmed by sea slaves in Thailand. The first of its kind, the class-action suit was filed by California resident Monica Sud, who argues that the Washington-based warehouse club has helped sustain the farmed-prawn industry through its purchasing power and that, furthermore, it hasn’t been honest with consumers about where its shrimp comes from. If true, doing so would violate California law, which requires companies to be honest about illegal conduct in their supply chains.

Several reports over the last year have revealed that horrid conditions and abusive labor practices are rampant in the Thai fishing industry, and that many Americans have very likely unwittingly purchased fish and shrimp produced using slave labor at chains including Costco, Safeway, and Walmart.

Read the full story at Grub Street

Crossing Borders and Defying Policing, Abuses of Thailand’s Fishing Industry Challenge International System

August 18, 2015 — Somewhere off the coast of Thailand, “ghost ships” bump and crash along the choppy waves scrapping the sea floor with nets that spare nothing. Pulling up these illegal hauls in shifts that sometimes last 20 hours are thousands of migrant fishermen, many of whom have been forced into indentured servitude or kidnapped. Far from shore on unregistered boats, they have little hope of escape and face daily abuse and squalid conditions. More recently, some captains have turned to trafficking Rohingya fleeing persecution in Myanmar, pressing some into service, extorting others, and taking sex slaves.

As explored in an investigative series in The New York Times and reporting by The Guardian and AP, a cycle of human rights abuses, environmental destruction, and impunity revolves around the fishing industry in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. What’s more, it’s in part due to growing demand from consumers around the world, like you and me.

Catch rates for the region’s fish have been decimated in recent years. The Environmental Justice Foundation reports Thailand’s fish stocks are 85 percent depleted compared to levels 50 years ago. The Times series follows boats that are now catching “trash fish” – small herring and jack mackerel that are processed into dogfood, fish oil, or feed for factory-farmed shrimp sold to companies like Walmart and Cost Co. But to make decent profits on these small fish, and what’s left of the bigger species, fishing boats need to work longer hours and move further out to sea.

Meanwhile, Thailand faces a major labor deficit, particularly in the maritime industry, where conditions and pay are poor. The fishing fleet is annually short as many as 60,000 workers. Combined, these pressures are pushing some captains to resort to kidnapping crewmembers from shore, spending longer and longer periods at sea, and even participating in human trafficking.

Read the full story at NewSecurityBeat.com

Indonesia Navy Nabs Cargo Ship Loaded With Slave-Caught Fish

August 13, 2015 — JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A massive refrigerated cargo ship believed to be loaded with slave-caught fish was seized by Indonesia’s navy and brought to shore Thursday, after The Associated Press informed authorities it had entered the country’s waters.

The Thai-owned Silver Sea 2 was located late Wednesday and escorted about 80 miles (130 kilometers) to a naval base in Sabang on the Indonesian archipelago’s northwestern tip, said Col. Sujatmiko, the local naval chief.

The AP used a satellite beacon signal to trace its path from Papua New Guinea waters, where it was also being sought, into neighboring Indonesia. The navy then spent a week trying to catch it. The ship was close to leaving Indonesian waters by the time it was finally seized.

“I’m so overwhelmed with happiness,” said Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, adding it was difficult to find because the boat’s signal had a delay. “It was almost impossible, but we did it.”

The Silver Sea 2 is the same 2,285-ton vessel captured in a high-resolution satellite photo last month in Papua New Guinea showing its hold open and two fishing trawlers tethered to each side, loading fish. Analysts identified the smaller trawlers as among those that fled the remote Indonesian island village of Benjina earlier this year, crewed by enslaved men from poor Southeast Asian countries who are routinely beaten and forced to work nearly nonstop with little or no pay.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The New York Times 

Bering Sea Crabbers Issue White Paper on Measures to Deny IUU Crab Entry to US

The Bering Sea Crabbers along with Frequentz – a traceability company – have released a white paper on IUU crab.

The group has argued that large amounts of IUU crab entering the US have cut into the market value of Alaskan crab, although the amounts vary considerably from year to year.

The white paper supports three solutions that would cut back IUU crab even further.

The first is for the Senate, which has ratified the Port States Treaty, to pass the implementing legislation, which is necessary before the US ratification can be official. Ultimately, this would bring the policing practices of the rest of the world much closer to the standards that already exist in the U.S. and make it more difficult for illegal product to enter the supply chain and diminish the value of product caught by U. S. fishermen.

Secondly, the crabbers want to see country of origin labeling required on cooked king crab. Although many retailers disclose whether their king crab is a product of USA or Russia, because it is a cooked product normally sold unpackaged it does not fall under the same Country of Origin labeling rules as other seafood. Crabbers would like mandatory country of origin requirements on all forms of crab.

Read the full story at SeafoodNews.com

 

AP investigation tracked to Papua New Guinea; 8 enslaved fishermen rescued so far

July 31, 2015 — Authorities in Papua New Guinea have rescued eight fishermen held on board a Thai-owned refrigerated cargo ship, and dozens of other boats are still being sought in response to an Associated Press report that included satellite photos and locations of slave vessels at sea.

Two Burmese and six Cambodian men have been removed from the Blissful Reefer, a massive quarter-acre transport ship now impounded in Daru, Papua New Guinea, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Australia. Officials said the fishermen appeared to be part of a larger group of forced laborers being transported from Thailand to be distributed onto various fishing boats, said George Gigauri, head of the International Organization for Migration in Port Moresby, which has assisted with the operation. He added that nearly 20 other crewmembers from the Blissful Reefer have not yet been questioned, and that if victims of trafficking are found, “there are lives at risk.”

The men are part of a seemingly inexhaustible supply of poor migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos who are forced to fish for the Thai seafood industry. When workers run away, become sick or even die, they are easily replaced by new recruits who are tricked or coerced by false promises of jobs in Thailand.

The story of Aung San Win, 19, who was among the rescued men, started the same way as with hundreds of other enslaved fishermen interviewed in person or in writing by AP during a year-long investigation into slavery at sea. He said a broker came to his home in Myanmar and convinced him and several other young men to go to Thailand where they could find good work in factories. But when they arrived, their passports and identification cards were taken. They were then pushed onto boats and told they would have to fish for three years and owed nearly $600 for their documents, he said.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at U.S. News and World Report

 

Do Fish Names Encourage Fishy Business?

July 29, 2015 — Order a rockfish at a restaurant in Maryland, and you’ll likely get a striped bass. Place the same order in California, and you could end up with a vermilion rockfish, a Pacific Ocean perch or one of dozens of other fish species on your plate.

This jumble of names is perfectly legal. But it’s confusing to diners — and it can hamper efforts to combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud, says the ocean conservation group Oceana.

Under current Food and Drug Administration rules, a single fish species can go by multiple names from the time it’s caught to the time it ends up on your plate. Conversely, lots of different fish legally can be sold under a single name.

For example, that “grouper” on a menu could be one of 64 different species. It could be a fish known by the common name sand perch (scientific name: Diplectrum formosum), which is plentiful. Or it could be a goliath grouper, a critically endangered species. The FDA says all can be sold under the acceptable market name “grouper.”

Oceana wants the entire supply chain — from boat to plate — to ditch the FDA’s list of “acceptable market names” for seafood. Instead, it wants the FDA to require that a species’ Latin scientific name or common name be used in all cases.

Oceana says more precise labeling of seafood — the kind it calls for in its One Name, One Fish report — will go a long way toward protecting vulnerable or endangered species and deterring illegal fishing. And it says it will help to put a stop to seafood fraud — an issue the nonprofit group has been working on since 2011.

“It’s another tool to help with enforcement,” says Oceana senior campaign director Beth Lowell. “People have a right to know about the food they eat. It shouldn’t be that hard to find out what fish I’m eating without having to do a DNA test or ask the server, who has to ask the manager, who has to ask the distributor.”

Read the full story at NPR

CAMPAIGNERS AIM TO NET ILLEGAL FISHING VESSELS WITH NEW ONLINE DATABASE

July 30, 2015 — Efforts to crackdown on illegal fishing received a boost this week with the launch of a new transparency initiative designed to make it easier to identify vessels guilty of landing catches unlawfully.

Who Fishes Far, which has been developed by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana and WWF, features a database of more than 15,000 EU vessels which were authorised to fish outside of the EU between 2010 and 2014.

The information was compiled after a successful access-to-information request to the European Commission and users can search the website by vessel, flag state, year and type of agreement issued under the EU’s Fishing Authorising Regulation (FAR).

María José Cormax, fisheries campaign director of Oceana, said that greater transparency is crucial if the fishing industry is to deliver sustainable European fisheries.

Read the full story at BusinessGreen