Saving Seafood

Slavery and overfishing on the high seas can’t hide from these researchers

December 22, 2020 — A tracking system designed to help ships avoid crashing into each other has become an important tool for spotting bad behavior on the high seas. Researchers can now put a spotlight on corporations that dominate fishing in unregulated international waters where it’s easier to get away with overfishing. And it’s giving us a better idea of how widespread slave labor could be on fishing vessels.

Two recently published papers use this technology, the maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS), to make high-seas fishing a little less mysterious. The first study, published in the journal One Earth on December 18th, traces the origins of thousands of high-seas fishing vessels back to big-time corporations that keep store shelves stocked with seafood. Other researchers use AIS to reveal telltale markers of forced labor on fishing boats, which were published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). That all makes it easier to make companies answer for any abuses they commit at sea.

The technology, the maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS), has actually been around for about two decades. Basically, vessels carry around a box that sends out radio signals that anyone else can pick up on. Those radio signals share information about the ship, an identifying number, and other things like its size, course, and speed. That’s supposed to help vessels spot each other so they don’t get in each other’s way.

Read the full story at The Verge

Big Brother Is Watching: Satellites Used to Survey Fishing in High Seas

December 21, 2020 — New research revealed Friday has shed new light on the companies around the world that carry out fishing operations in Earth’s most unregulated waters, as satellite data revealed their activities amid concerns of violations of labor and environmental laws and overfishing.

To help address these concerns, researchers published a study in the journal One Earth that brings to light a number of international companies that operate on the high seas, an effort that researchers say provides a new resource with which to gauge what exactly is happening in such unmonitored environments.

Jennifer Jacquet, associate professor at NYU’s Department of Environmental Studies and lead author of the study, said that the research is the first of its kind to promote this much-needed transparency in these critical areas.

“There is a lot of concern about companies that operate on the high seas, simply because there they are beyond the reach of any nation’s laws and regulations,” Jacquet said in a statement. “By connecting those boats with specific companies, this study takes a first step in enhancing transparency — we now know a lot more about who is profiting from fish catches in the global commons.”

Despite the strict control that numerous nations exercise over much of the world’s seas and oceans, there are nonetheless great stretches of waters around the globe that remain ownerless. These waters, commonly referred to as high seas or international waters, are in fact so vast that they make up nearly two-thirds of Earth’s oceans and have become notorious throughout the years for their lack of oversight and regulations.

Read the full story at Courthouse News Service

Octopus Farms Could Become a Reality. Scientists Warn This Isn’t a Good Idea

October 8, 2020 — Some researchers have wanted to commercially farm octopus for decades. From trying to raise hatchlings themselves to storing the wild invertebrates in submerged cages, scientists have tried a range of techniques to cultivate watery fields with on-demand access to the elusive creatures.

The closest researchers have gotten is catching wild octopus for a few months of captive rearing before harvest. Today, there are still no functional octopus farms raising the sea creatures from hatchlings in operation — and that’s how some researchers argue things should stay.

In 2019, a handful of scientists started to raise questions about the ethical and ecological issues that might come from farming these remarkably intelligent animals. Speaking up about these concerns before octopus farming becomes a reality was part of the point, says Jennifer Jacquet, an interdisciplinary scientist at New York University. “Our goal was to create that dialogue before [octopus farming] becomes embedded in our society,” she says.

Read the full story at Discover Magazine

Oversight of fishing vessels lacking, new analysis shows

February 19, 2020 — Policies regulating fishing in international waters do not sufficiently protect officials who monitor illegal fishing, the prohibited dumping of equipment, or human trafficking or other human rights abuses, finds a new analysis by a team of environmental researchers.

“These fisheries observers risk their lives to watch over industrial fishing activities, and yet they are often not afforded sufficient legal safeguards,” says Jennifer Jacquet, an associate professor in New York University’s Department of Environmental Studies and a co-author of the study. “If we are serious about protecting ocean life, we must first put policies in place to protect fisheries observers.”

The analysis, co-authored with the nonprofit Greenpeace and the Association of Professional Observers, appears in the journal Marine Policy.

There are an estimated 2,500 observers globally, and in recent years many have been subject to human rights and safety violations, including intimidation, assault, and even murder or disappearance under suspicious circumstances. The researchers add that since 2010, at least seven fisheries observers have disappeared while monitoring fisheries under the authority of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). Notably, very little information is available regarding the circumstances.

Read the full story at Science Daily