Saving Seafood

RFM Certification Underway for Five Alaska Crab Fisheries, ASMI Calls for Stakeholders Input

May 23, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — It’s been five years since the Bering Sea king and snow crab fisheries were certified as responsibly managed against the FAO-based standards under the Alaska Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) Certification Program.

Today, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute announced that stakeholders who want to review the draft re-assessment reports for Bristol Bay Red King crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus), St. Matthew Island Blue King crab (Paralithodes platypus) and Eastern Bering Sea Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) and new assessments for Eastern Bering Sea Tanner Crab (Chionoecetes bairdi), Aleutian Islands Golden King Crab (Lithodes aequispinus) can register their interest to:

Jean Ragg Alaska RFM Scheme Administrator,
Global Trust Certification Ltd.
Quayside Business Park,
Mill Street, Dundalk,
County Louth,
Ireland
T: +353 (0) 42 9320912
F: +353 (0) 42 9386864
E: jean.ragg@saiglobal.com

Stakeholders should register their interest with name, organization and e-mail contact details to Global Trust Certification at the above address, preferably by e-mail.

“Once available, the Draft Assessment Reports will then be sent directly to the registered stakeholders’ e-mail address,” said a spokesperson for the Certification Body (CB) Global Trust Certification.  The reports will also be available via http://www.gtcert.com/ alaskarfm/.

The assessments will be using the latest version of the standard. The new version 1.3 (V1.3) was adopted by the ASMI board of directors in November 2015 for use in all new fisheries that wish to be certified and for fisheries seeking re-certification to the Alaska RFM program from January 1, 2016.

A separate web-announcement will be made notifying stakeholders of the commencement of the 30-day Stakeholder Comment Period for the above mentioned Alaska crab fisheries Draft Assessment Reports.

For information on the history of crab certifications under the Alaska standard click here.

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

China’s Appetite Pushes Fisheries to the Brink

May 1, 2017 — Once upon a time, the seas teemed with mackerel, squid and sardines, and life was good. But now, on opposite sides of the globe, sun-creased fishermen lament as they reel in their nearly empty nets.

“Your net would be so full of fish, you could barely heave it onto the boat,” said Mamadou So, 52, a fisherman in Senegal, gesturing to the meager assortment of tiny fish flapping in his wooden canoe.

A world away in eastern China, Zhu Delong, 75, also shook his head as his net dredged up a disappointing array of pinkie-size shrimp and fledgling yellow croakers. “When I was a kid, you could cast a line out your back door and hook huge yellow croakers,” he said. “Now the sea is empty.”

Overfishing is depleting oceans across the globe, with 90 percent of the world’s fisheries fully exploited or facing collapse, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. From Russian king crab fishermen in the west Bering Sea to Mexican ships that poach red snapper off the coast of Florida, unsustainable fishing practices threaten the well-being of millions of people in the developing world who depend on the sea for income and food, experts say.

But China, with its enormous population, growing wealth to buy seafood and the world’s largest fleet of deep-sea fishing vessels, is having an outsize impact on the globe’s oceans.

Having depleted the seas close to home, Chinese fishermen are sailing farther to exploit the waters of other countries, their journeys often subsidized by a government more concerned with domestic unemployment and food security than the health of the world’s oceans and the countries that depend on them.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Climate change a character in Discovery’s ‘Deadliest Catch’

April 12, 2017 — Climate change is one of the main characters in the new season of “Deadliest Catch,” with the crab fishermen in one of Discovery’s most enduring and popular shows forced to deal with a sudden warming of the Bering Sea that chases their prey into deeper, more dangerous water.

That leads the adventure series into its own uncharted waters. The show’s 13th season debuts Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.

“It’s a big risk for us to discuss climate change because so many people can think that it’s a political issue when really it isn’t, particularly in the context of the fishing fleet,” said R. Decker Watson, Jr., one of the show’s executive producers.

The waters off Alaska that provide the livelihood for the show’s real-life stars warmed by a dramatic 4 degrees in one year. The cold water-loving crab is depleted in the traditional fishing areas, so some of the boats strike out for new territory that is more dangerous because of fiercer storms and is further from rescue workers if something goes wrong, he said.

In fact, the new season documents one vessel lost at sea. It was not one of the crews regularly featured in the series, but all of the regulars knew who was involved, he said.

The developments offer an opportunity to educate an audience that might be less familiar about climate change. The median age of a “Deadliest Catch” viewer is 50 and the show skews 60 percent male which, judging by the results of the last election, might include its share of climate change skeptics. Yet Discovery isn’t interested in preaching; the series is more interested in documenting what is happening, not in explaining why.

There are no scientists aboard the fishing boats, and the show’s main purpose is to follow the lives of the crew, said Rich Ross, Discovery president.

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

Reduced catch brings record prices for crab

March 10, 2017 — Alaska crabbers are hauling back pots from the Panhandle to the Bering Sea, and reduced catches are resulting in record prices for their efforts.

The year’s first red king crab fishery at Norton Sound has yielded 17,000 pounds so far of its nearly 40,000 pound winter quota for more than 50 local fishermen. The crab, which are taken through the ice near Nome, are paying out at a record $7.75 a pound. A summer opener will produce a combined catch of nearly half a million pounds for the region.

Red king crab from Bristol Bay also yielded the highest price ever for fishermen, averaging $10.89 per pound. That catch quota of eight million pounds was down 15 percent from the previous season.

The Bering Sea snow crab fleet has taken 80 percent of its 19 million pound quota, down by nearly half from last year. That’s pushed market prices through the roof, topping $8.30 a pound at wholesale in both the US and Japan, compared to over $5.50 per pound a year ago.

Alaska produces only about 10 percent of the world’s snow crab, with most of the pack by far coming from Eastern Canada, followed by Russia.  On the snow crab menu front – McDonald’s has begun testing a new snow crab sandwich in several San Francisco Bay locations. If it’s a hit, the sandwich could advance to nearly 250 outlets this year.

Read the full story at The Cordova Times

ALASKA: OVER HALF OF WINTER COMMERCIAL RED KING CRAB GHL HARVESTED

February 28, 2017 — The following has been released by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Commercial Fisheries: 

Approximately 17,000 pounds (43%) remain of the winter red king crab open access commercial guideline harvest. Based on current catch rates, the open access guideline harvest level (GHL) should be entirely caught by sometime in early March. The red king crab GHL for the Norton Sound winter through the ice commercial fishery is 39,744 pounds.

Following the conclusion of the open access winter commercial fishery, the department will open a commercial fishery by emergency order (EO) to harvest the CDQ allocation of the 2017 GHL of 496,800 pounds of red king crab. By regulation, the CDQ is allocated 7.5% of the allowable commercial harvest. In 2017, this equates to 37,260 additional pounds that could be harvested this winter. The winter CDQ season will close when the CDQ allocation is harvested. However, it could also close earlier at the discretion of CDQ management by NSEDC, by EO by ADF&G, or as required by regulation on April 30. Any CDQ quota not taken during the winter can be taken during the summer red king crab commercial fishery.

Commercial fishing for CDQ crab is open to all residents 18 years or older of NSEDC’s fifteen member communities who qualify to obtain a CDQ gear permit card and who sign the 2017 NSEDC Norton Sound Red King Crab Fisherman’s Agreement and NSEDC Residency Verification forms. Interested fishermen should contact NSEDC at 443–2477 if they have questions about the process of becoming eligible to fish for CDQ red king crab.

To date, 55 commercial permit holders have registered with the department for the open access fishery. Permit holders are reminded that they need to register at the ADF&G office in Nome before crabbing. Crabbers fishing both open access and CDQ fisheries do not need to obtain separate pot tags for the CDQ fishery; however, they DO need to register with ADF&G for BOTH fisheries. Village residents can call the ADF&G office to register. Catcher-sellers must also register with the department before selling crab and must turn in any fish tickets every week to ADF&G.

Each permit holder is allowed to fish a total of 20 pots. If any pots are lost, permit holders can get replacement tags by filling out an affidavit at the Nome ADF&G office and reporting the lost tag numbers. No replacement tags will be issued without this information.

Permit holders must be present any time commercial pot gear is being operated, and can only be assisted by licensed crew members. Crewmembers cannot deploy or operate gear on their own. For further information please contact the Nome office at 907-443-5167 or 1-800-560-2271. Good Luck, Good Crabbing and Be Safe Out There!

Read the full release here

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Announce Updated Seafood Watch Recommendations for King and Snow Crab in Alaska

March 2, 2016 — The following was released by the Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers:

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program has just released new and updated assessments on King and Snow crab from Alaska. Bristol Bay Red King (Paralithoides camtschaticus) crab from the Eastern Bering Sea has been elevated to a “Best Choice” by Seafood Watch. With this updated recommendation, all of the major crab fisheries in the Eastern Bering Sea, including two species of Snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio and C. bairdi) and Blue King crab from St. Matthews Island (P. platypus) meet Seafood Watch’s “Best Choice” standard.

The updated Seafood Watch recommendations maintain the “Avoid” status for all crab fisheries in the Russian portion of the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Northern Sea of Japan. These “Avoid” listings reflect the fact that stocks are at critically low levels as a result of rampant illegal fishing and highly ineffective management.

“With these updated recommendations the Seafood Watch program is just confirming what we have known for years. King and Snow crab from Alaska is clearly the ‘Best Choice’ if you care about the health of the oceans and wish to support sustainable fisheries. We hope that consumers, retailers, and those in the food service industry will use these recommendations to make informed purchasing decisions and demand King and Snow crab from Alaska,” said Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Science & Policy Analyst Ruth Christiansen.

View a PDF of the release

Voices of Alaska: Unified effort in Congress protects Alaska’s seafood powerhouse

November 20, 2015 — Alaska is our nation’s seafood powerhouse. With nine of our country’s top twenty fishing ports by volume, we understand the vital role our seafood industry has played in our communities in the past, how important it is now, and how central the industry will be in the future. Protecting and enhancing Alaska’s fisheries is one of the top priorities of our delegation.

That’s why we were particularly pleased to have passed bipartisan legislation to help protect and enhance our fishing industry. H.R. 477, the Illegal, Unregulated and Underreported (IUU) Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015, increases enforcement capabilities for U.S. authorities to combat illegal fishing and protect fisheries off the coast of Alaska, and around the world. It was signed into law on November 5, 2015.

At issue is how illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, or “pirate” fishing, is hurting our economy, our fishing communities, our healthy seafood stocks, and our sustainable oceans.

Our country’s fishermen have long been subject to sustainable management-based rules and regulations to ensure the long-term vitality of our species; pirate fishermen are not. These rogue vessels raid our oceans wherever, whenever, and however they please. Globally, legal fishing operations lose an estimated $10 to $23 billion a year to pirate fishing. Here at home, the Alaska King Crab fishery alone is estimated to have lost more than $550 million in the past 14 years.

Read the full opinion piece at Peninsula Clarion

 

Congressman Young Takes Up Misleading Pollock and Crab Labeling Fight in U.S. House

October 22, 2015 — WASHINGTON – The following was released by the Office of Congressman Don Young:

Alaska Congressman Don Young and Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) today introduced bipartisan legislation to change the market name of “Alaska pollock” to “pollock.” The bill would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to eliminate confusion for consumers, and stem the flood of mislabeled fish from less sustainable fisheries that harms U.S. pollock fishermen and the businesses they support.

Under current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeling standards, pollock caught in any part of the world can label be labeled as “Alaskan pollock.” Approximately 40% of the fish labeled “Alaskan pollock” available to American consumers is caught in the Russian pollock fishery.

“The U.S. fishing industry and the American consumer deserve this commonsense change to the pollock name,” said Congressman Don Young. “There’s no reason why foreign caught pollock should be disguised as Alaskan, especially given the significant management efforts we’ve taken in the North Pacific to create the most sustainable fishery in the world. No other nation can replicate the quality and care we put into Alaskan seafood and the FDA’s labeling standards should reflect that. Unfortunately, an Act of Congress is the only immediate way to keep foreign caught pollock from degrading our U.S. seafood markets.”

“Americans want to know where their food is coming from. This bill will give American consumers more transparency by closing this FDA loophole that allows Russian pollock from Chinese processors to flood our markets under the label ‘Alaskan pollock,’” said Rep. Herrera Beutler. “If a mom in Vancouver wants to purchase fish caught sustainably and packaged truthfully, she should have that choice. With this legislative fix, we’re also ensuring that pollock fishing and processing businesses located in Southwest Washington and throughout the U.S. aren’t having to compete with deceptively labeled products from far less sustainable fisheries.”

A consumer survey conducted by GMA Research revealed that:

  • 77% of participants said that if they saw seafood labeled as “Alaska Pollock,” they would think the seafood is harvested in Alaska.
  • 81% of participants said they would feel misled if they purchased seafood labeled as “Alaska pollock” and found out it was harvested from somewhere else.

The Alaskan pollock fishery is the nation’s largest food fishery in the United States, producing 1.3 million tons annually and accounting for 11 percent of American fresh and frozen fish intake. The Alaskan pollock fishery is carefully managed for sustainability, safety and environmental impact.

The bipartisan legislation also works to resolve an outstanding nomenclature petition to the FDA, filed by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) and the Alaska Golden King Crab Coalition in 2014, to change the Brown King Crab name (considered obsolete and sometimes confusing in U.S. markets) to the acceptable market name of Golden King Crab.

Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

Read the release here

 

US, Russia Team Up To Nab Fish Pirates On The High Seas

October 16, 2015 — Fish pirates are coming under fire as more countries band together to stop them from pilfering the world’s oceans.

So called Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for a fifth of the global catch, according to the Global Ocean Commission, valued up to $25 billion a year.

Last month, at an Intergovernmental Consultative Committee meeting in Portland, Oregon, the U.S. and Russia signed a bilateral agreement to combat IUU fishing by coordinating multiple government agencies. The pact, years in the making, has strong support from the Pacific Northwest and Alaska regions as well as environmental groups.

That will mean a big break for Bering Sea king crab, a fishery being whacked by the pirates.

For decades, Alaska crabbers have competed against king crab illegally caught by Russian fleets. Direct losses are estimated at $600 million since 2000, according to an analysis by the Juneau-based McDowell Group. Pirated king crab totaled nearly 100 million pounds in 2013, or 40 percent of the world market.

Mark Gleason, executive director of the trade group Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers, was thrilled with the U.S.-Russia agreement.

“The fact that there has been a formal acknowledgement between the U.S. and Russia that illegal fishing is a problem, and it is an issue that is worthy of cooperation between our two countries — it is unprecedented and a very welcome change,” Gleason said.

“If we’ve lost $600 million because of decreased ex-vessel prices, then obviously the fishing-dependent communities have also lost millions in taxes and landing revenues. So it’s not just an issue that impacts crab harvesters. It hurts communities, the State of Alaska and frankly, it impacts the legal Russian producers because we all are competing in the same markets. There’s a lot of pain to go around.”

Read the full story at Alaska Dispatch News

 

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Applaud US and Russia for Historic Cooperation to Combat Illegal, Unregulated, & Unreported (IUU) Fishing

September 11, 2015 — PORTLAND, Ore. –– The following was released by Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers:

Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers (ABSC) is pleased to announce the signing of a bilateral agreement between the United States and Russia to combat Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. The agreement was signed earlier today as part of the 26th U.S.- Russia Intergovernmental Consultative Committee (ICC) on Fisheries meeting. This agreement has been several years in the making and signifies a new era of cooperation between the two nations in combating Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing.

ABSC President Edward Poulsen issued the following statement: “For far too many years the Alaskan crab industry has faced stiff market competition from illegally harvested Russian king crab. The blatant poaching on the Russian side has impacted not only Alaskan crab fishermen and Alaskan coastal communities, but also legitimate Russian producers and Russian citizens. We welcome this historic agreement and are hopeful that it will result in meaningful action being taken to halt this illegal activity.”

Today’s agreement includes provisions for increased coordination and cooperation between our two nations and should improve the ability for US customs agents to detect illegal crab shipments into the US as well as aid in the investigation and eventual prosecution of suspected criminals. The Alaskan crab industry has lost an estimated $600 million in revenue since 2000 due to illegally harvested Russian crab. In addition, Alaskan coastal communities have also lost millions more in tax revenue. As such, the agreement has broad support from within the industry.

View a PDF of the release here