Saving Seafood

US Coast Guard opens IUU Fisheries Center covering Indo-Pacific, ups patrols off Peru

November 13, 2023 — The U.S. Coast Guard is taking more aggressive action to police the Pacific Ocean in an effort to curb illegal fishing conducted by China’s distant-water fleet.

The USCG has opened the Illegal Unreported Unregulated Fisheries Center of Expertise (IUUF COE) in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., to serve as the center for U.S. efforts to combat illegal fishing activity in the Indo-Pacific region. It also created a specialized environmental response unit, the Marine Environmental Response Regional Activities Center (MER RAC), to advise partner nations in preventing and countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their home waters. And it recently completed an operation to counter IUU fishing off the coast of Peru.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Joint US-Canada IUU surveillance operation uncovers more than 3,000 illegal shark fins

October 17, 2023 — A joint operation between the U.S. and Canada recently completed a high seas patrol to detect illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the North Pacific, and discovered more than 3,000 illegally possessed or stored shark fins.

The joint operation, dubbed Operation North Pacific Guard, ran earlier this year. It was the first time that Canada took the lead in the mission, which has taken place each year since 2019.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Statement from Lund’s Fisheries Condemning IUU Fishing and Human Rights Violations

October 15, 2023 — The following was released by Lund’s Fisheries:

Lund’s Fisheries takes allegations of this type seriously, which is why we engaged in numerous productive discussions with Ian Urbina and the staff of the Outlaw Ocean Project beginning in January 2023. In good faith, we conscientiously shared documentation, procedures, policies and industry knowledge surrounding domestic and international fishing, foreign processing and imports. We will continue to address Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, and forced labor allegations with industry members, NGOs, and our government to strengthen the seafood supply chain and provide consumers with the utmost confidence.

Upon hearing questions and criticisms raised about Rongcheng Haibo, we initiated an internal investigation, and resolved not to renew existing contracts with Rongcheng Haibo until that work was complete. Although our investigation did not find any evidence of illegal activity or forced labor in the operations of Roncheng Haibo Seafood, we are maintaining our cessation of new business pending further investigation.

Lund’s Fisheries requires a Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) from all of our foreign suppliers. SMETA is the world’s most widely used audit in assessing standards of labor, health and safety, environmental performance, and ethics. The SMETA audit is designed to help protect workers from unsafe conditions, overwork, discrimination, low pay, and forced labor. The SMETA process is what companies use to evaluate their suppliers, specifically when referring to forced labor risks. In addition, we also engage with each supplier, requiring that they sign a supplier declaration agreement, wherein they must agree to not employ forced labor. We analyze and evaluate all the documentation they provide to us, including their SMETA audit reports, annually, to verify the results.

As a proud member of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable, Lund’s Fisheries is committed to working towards sustainable fisheries and combatting IUU fishing and human rights violations globally.

Lund’s Fisheries is a family owned and operated, vertically integrated seafood harvester and processor which operates 19 fishing vessels on the East and West Coast of the United States and 5 seafood processing facilities in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California. Our US plants produce a variety of Marine Stewardship Council-certified whole and cleaned calamari products, sea scallops, and multiple species of finfish.

Lund’s Fisheries will celebrate our 70th anniversary next year. Our relationships with our customers, employees, consumers and partners are our first priority, and we take great pride in maintaining the integrity of what we do each day.

China responds to IUU claims by taking diplomats on tour of fishery facilities

September 28, 2023 — Soon after NOAA released a report identifying China as one of several nations it alleges have habitually engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Chinese officials pushed back on such claims by bringing Beijing-based diplomats on a guided tour of fishery facilities in the southeastern province of Fujian.

In combination with the report, NOAA handed China – alongside Mexico and Russia – a negative certification for failing to properly combat IUU fishing activities. The certification could lead to import bans, as well as the U.S. denying the countries’ vessels access to American ports.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA Calls Out Seven Nations for IUU Fishing

September 5, 2023 — Last week, NOAA Fisheries (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) released its regular report on international fisheries management, citing several nations for IUU fishing and bycatch of protected living marine resources. For the first time, the report also included forced labor and shark catch in its IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing identifications.

The biennial report is part of the NOAA’s statutory requirement to the U.S Congress under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. Countries negatively certified for IUU fishing under the report could be denied U.S port privileges. The report also helps the U.S government to collaborate with identified countries in dealing with their problematic fisheries issues.

In this year’s report, seven nations were identified for IUU fishing and two nations for shark catch without having a regulatory program comparable to that of the U.S.

Read the full article at the full The Maritime Executive

Global Fishing Watch gets USD 60 million to apply AI towards ending IUU

July 23, 2023 — Global Fishing Watch has received a USD 60 million (EUR 53 million) commitment through “The Audacious Project” which it says will help it use AI to map more than one million ocean-going vessels and all fixed infrastructure at sea over the next five years.

The Audacious Project is housed within TED, a nonprofit best known for “TED Talks” devoted to “ideas worth spreading.” Each year the project selects a cohort of projects that represent solutions to critical challenges facing the world.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

EU tightens the net on illegal fishing with restructuring of fisheries control rules

July 12, 2023 — On 27 June, five years after the European Commission’s initial proposal to modernize the European Union fisheries control system, a preliminary agreement on new regulation received approval from the European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee.

The 20-8 vote advances a planned overhaul of E.U. fisheries control rules with the goal of strengthening measures to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, with compulsory measures introduced on electronic tracking and traceability that aim to boost supply chain transparency, which have been long-sought goals of marine-focused environmental NGOs.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Slow US Customs and Border Protection system blamed for missed IUU investigations

July 9, 2023 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection is too slow in passing on information about potential illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing imports, making it difficult for NOAA Fisheries to conduct inspections, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.

NOAA Fisheries manages four separate programs designed to stop the import of IUU products, but it cooperates regularly with CBP and other agencies to target potential IUU products being shipped into the United States. In 2019, for example, CBP, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and NOAA Fisheries worked together to discover that 32 Spanish companies were mislabeling albacore tuna as bonito to avoid higher tariffs. Through that investigation, CBP was able to recover USD 600,000 (EUR 550,110) in lost tariff revenue.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FACT SHEET: Marking the One Year Anniversary of the National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses

June 28, 2023 — The following was released by the White House:

One year ago, on June 27th, 2022, President Biden signed the historic National Security Memorandum on Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing and Associated Labor Abuses (NSM-11).

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is providing a status update on actions taken under National Security Memorandum-11 to address the problem of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including by distant water fishing vessels; protect ocean ecosystems; safeguard seafood supply chains; and combat forced labor abuses within the seafood industry.

NSM-11’s first year implementation has been strengthened by action through and coordination with the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing established pursuant to section 3551 of the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act (16 U.S.C. 8031), and chaired by the Department of State, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in collaboration with 21 other member agencies.

  • The U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing released the first National Five-Year Strategy for Combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing on October 19, 2022.  The Strategy details U.S. priorities and plans to combat IUU fishing, curtail trade in seafood and seafood products derived from IUU fishing, and promote global maritime security.  The Strategy lists five priority flag states and administrations (Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan, and Vietnam) in regions where the Working Group will focus its work with partners on combating IUU fishing and related threats.  Together with other governments and authorities, the seafood industry, academia, philanthropies, and nongovernmental stakeholders, the United States aims to use this strategy to make tangible progress in addressing IUU fishing and to execute a shared global vision for sustainable stewardship of marine resources.
  • The U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing created a new interagency task group on identifying and countering criminal networks and enterprises that support IUU fishing.  This task group will identify examples and recommendations for how agencies can use unique authorities and programs to better identify and target the individuals and entities behind many types of IUU fishing, using insight from the tools counter-narcotics and counter-wildlife trafficking communities have adopted in their work.
  • NOAA, State and DOL co-chair the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing sub-working group on Labor, taking action to understand the gaps in enforcement authorities to counter labor abuses, and to coordinate technical assistance in fishing across the interagency, while supporting standing reporting requirements.

IUU fishing can be associated with forced labor, a form of human trafficking, and other crimes and human rights abuses.  These abuses undermine the livelihoods and human rights of fishers globally, alongside U.S. economic competitiveness, national security, and fishery sustainability. Actions under NSM-11 to address forced labor in the seafood industry include:

  • Sanctioning perpetrators of IUU fishing and serious human rights abuse: On December 9, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two individuals, Li Zhenyu and Xinrong Zhuo, and the networks of entities they control, including Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., Ltd. and Pingtan Marine Enterprise, Ltd. along with eight other affiliated entities. Additionally, this action identified 157 People’s Republic of China (PRC) flagged fishing vessels in which these entities have an interest. These actions were taken pursuant to Executive Order 13818, which builds upon and implements the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act and targets perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption around the world. The designation of Pingtan Marine Enterprise was the first time Treasury has designated an entity listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The action demonstrates the U.S. government’s ongoing effort to impose tangible and significant consequences on those engaged in serious human rights abuse, including on those vessels engaged in IUU fishing.
  • Establishing the Collaborative Accelerator for Lawful Maritime Conditions in Seafood (CALM-CS). Developed, established and chaired by NOAA, with participation from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Department of Labor (DOL), U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Department of State (State), and representatives from all relevant sectors—workers, harvesters, processors, retailers, brokers, non-governmental organizations, and think tanks—this public-private partnership promotes legal and safe working conditions throughout the fishing and seafood industry. CALM-CS working groups are each co-chaired by one representative from the U.S. government and one from an external sector, helping to give workers a voice, support at-risk populations at sea, promote standards and due diligence, identify illegal labor practices, and enhance safety and labor conditions aboard U.S. vessels.
  • DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) has published research and created tools to raise public awareness of forced labor and child labor in seafood supply chains.
    • DOL’s List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor includes coverage of forced labor and child labor in seafood supply chains, as required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2005 and subsequent reauthorizations.
    • The Sweat and Toil App presents information on seafood and other products made with forced labor or child labor in an accessible, user-friendly format.
    • The Better Trade Tool provides data on goods imported into the United States which are at risk of being produced with forced or child labor.
    • DOL’s Comply Chain tool helps companies undertake effective due diligence to identify, address and mitigate child and forced labor in their global supply chains. The tool is broadly applicable to all global supply chains, and includes several seafood case studies.
    • DOL has also published a fishing fact sheet on strengthening labor conditions and promoting good jobs in the fishing sector.
    • DOL frequently engaged with fishers’ unions and industry, sharing tools to protect fishers from labor exploitation, including the union campaign for Wi-Fi aboard vessels, at venues such as the Seafood Expo North America, Seafood Expo Global, the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions Annual Meeting, and the Global Migration Film Festival.

Illuminating dark seas: Why fisheries management must be more transparent

June 13, 2023 — Fisheries management is complex, characterized by uncertainty, contest and compromise. It must balance scientific advice with myriad expectations from fishers, local communities, conservationists, corporations and consumers.

Fisheries also face the threat of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. This makes management a struggle, exacerbates overfishing, destroys marine habitats and threatens millions of livelihoods worldwide.

Transparency has emerged as an essential tool for clarifying management and shedding light on IUU. Louis Brandeis, an American lawyer and former United States Supreme Court justice, once wrote that sunlight is the best of disinfectants, meaning people perform better and more honestly if their actions are observed and they are held accountable.

As calls for greater fisheries transparency grow louder, let’s take a moment to reflect on the importance of context for understanding where transparency exists and where it’s needed most.

Read the full article at The Conversation