Saving Seafood

NOAA proposes new steps to combat illegal fishing, counter forced labor in seafood supply chain

June 27, 2022 — The following was released by NOAA:

Today, NOAA proposed new measures to strengthen its ability to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities and counter forced labor in the seafood supply chain. As a global leader in combating IUU fishing, NOAA employs a suite of tools to deter these activities where they may occur. The proposed changes are part of a rulemaking process that is open for public comment.

NOAA’s proposal broadens the scope of activities that can be considered under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act when identifying nations for IUU fishing, including pervasive and persistent fishing activities in waters under the jurisdiction of a nation, without authorization or in violation of that nation’s laws. In addition, fishing activities in waters beyond any national jurisdiction that involve the use of forced labor may be considered by NOAA in identifying nations for IUU fishing under the Act.

“IUU fishing undermines sustainable fisheries and healthy ocean ecosystems, threatens economic security and natural resources critical to global food security, and puts law-abiding fishers and seafood producers in the U.S. and abroad at a disadvantage,” said Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, acting assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. “NOAA is committed to strengthening the suite of tools we use to combat all forms of IUU fishing and counter the use of forced labor in the seafood supply chain.”

Working with interagency partners, NOAA also seeks to expand the information foreign fishing vessels must submit when requesting entry into U.S. ports in order to fully implement the Port State Measures Agreement. The proposed rule enables a risk assessment of incoming vessels to determine if they have engaged in IUU fishing activities as defined under the Agreement, and to decide whether to deny a vessel entry to port.

“The efforts to combat IUU fishing activities and counter forced labor are complex and a broad range of governments and management organizations are involved,” said Kelly Kryc, deputy assistant secretary for International Fisheries, NOAA. “As a major consumer, producer, and importer of seafood, the U.S. takes many steps to combat IUU fishing as a flag state, port state, market state, and in partnership with other agencies and countries around the world.”

NOAA co-leads the U.S. Interagency Working Group on IUU Fishing under the Maritime SAFE Act, which supports a whole-of-government approach utilizing a range of regulatory and technological tools, to counter IUU fishing and related threats to maritime security, enabling federal agencies to focus their efforts and leverage interagency coordination to maximize impact.

IUU fishing encompasses a wide variety of fishing-related activities, occurring at points along the global seafood supply chain, which may violate both national laws or responsibilities under international instruments. Learn more about NOAA’s ongoing and robust efforts to combat IUU fishing and counter forced labor.

The New England Aquarium Wants To Monitor Whales From Space

October 28, 2019 — The New England Aquarium and Cambridge-based engineering company Draper have some big news: They’re working on technology that will allow them to monitor whales with satellites in space.

Leaving the planet to watch whales might sound a little silly, but the ability to do it could represent a giant leap forward in our ability to protect these animals and our oceans.

“Counting whales from space is really important to providing the scientific justification for [identifying] places in the ocean that are special and need protection,” says Kelly Kryc, director of conservation policy and leadership at the New England Aquarium. She adds that if we know where the whales are, and where they’re likely to go, we can try to limit human activity like fishing, shipping and energy exploration in those places.

Currently, when scientists look for whales and other large marine animals, they almost always do so from boats or planes. But these methods are weather-dependent, costly, sometimes dangerous, “and you can only go out infrequently, so you don’t get a very good sense of what’s happening at a high resolution in both time and space,” Kyrc says. If we could watch them from space, we could do a better job tracking them over longer periods of time, she adds.

Read the full story at New England Public Radio