Saving Seafood

First vessel attains GSA’s Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard

January 14, 2021 — The Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Global Seafood Assurances (GSA) venture – launched in 2018 – has had its first vessel reach its Responsible Fishing Vessel Standard (RFVS).

The Antarctic Discovery, which belongs to Australian Longline Fishing, is a longliner operating in a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified fishery for Patagonian and Antarctic toothfish. The vessel, which is 56-meters long and carries a crew of between 20 to 25 people – plus two observers – was awarded the RFVS certificate by Lloyds Register, the GSA announced.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Lund’s Fisheries Announces New Hires as Part of New Investments in Consumer Brands

January 12, 2021 — The following was released by Lund’s Fisheries:

Lund’s Fisheries is excited to announce the hiring of four new senior executives and two additional sales and marketing staff.  The hires are the company’s latest investment in sustainable seafood production and marketing through its Lund’s Fisheries and Sea Legend brands.

“These new hires, in our sales, cold storage/logistics and quality assurance departments, are key to the company’s focus on continued growth of its production capacity and sales of innovative seafood products in the retail and food service sectors,” said Wayne Reichle, President of Lund’s Fisheries.

Joining the company are Mark Fratiello as its new Director of Sales and Marketing, Mike Wallace and John Fee as National Business Development Managers, Federico Sehringer as Compliance Officer and Quality Assurance Director, Joshua Farinella as Director of Compliance and Quality Assurance, and Gene Taormina as General Manager at Shoreline Freezers, located in Bridgeton, New Jersey.

Mark comes to Lund’s with an extensive sales background, including 10 years of experience in seafood sales and marketing.  In his role at Lund’s, Mark will lead the company’s seasoned sales team, comprised of Jeff Miller, Mike Wallace, Rick Marino and John Fee, to grow their fresh and frozen scallop, calamari, shrimp, finfish and value-added lines, working with a national broker to drive national sales to broadline distributors, restaurants, wholesale distributors, and retail.

“I’m excited to be with a company that’s looking to expand its reach in volume, sales channels, and infrastructure,” said Mark Fratiello. “It’s great to get in on the ground floor to help build the brands, and create new opportunities for the company to grow.  Lund’s investments in vessels and shoreside infrastructure provide an incredible foundation to build successful national seafood programs and bring consumers direct to the source.”

With its Lund’s Fisheries, Seafood Market and Sea Legend brands, Lund’s Fisheries is already a leading provider of sustainable, wild-caught sea scallops, calamari and finfish; the company harvested over 75 million pounds of seafood last year alone. Atlantic sea scallops and East Coast squid fisheries are certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, which is an important selling point for consumers in a market increasingly interested in sustainability.  Additionally Lund’s is one of just a few domestic processors that clean calamari domestically, and offers customers products that have been both caught and processed in the U.S.

“Onboarding a national broker with a company that has more than 65 years of vertically integrated seafood experience is an exciting time in my career and a great opportunity to achieve Lund’s Fisheries strategic goals,” said Mike Wallace.

“I am happy to be associated with Lund’s, a company focused on sustainable fishing practices and centrally located in the Mid Atlantic, and geared towards producing the highest quality seafood for the food service industry,” said John Fee.

Federico and Joshua will be part of an expanded quality assurance team, where they will ensure that the products processed at our SQF-certified facilities continue to meet all regulations and standards, and that the high quality of our consumer products are maintained. Both bring years of experience in quality control to Lund’s. Federico has 18 years of food safety and quality control, both in the U.S. and Argentina. Joshua has 14 years of experience in several quality assurance roles.

“I’ve worked in retail, storage and distribution, and production. I’m glad to have the opportunity to work with a company that is able to do all of these things under one roof,” said Federico Sehringer.

“I’m ready to help the company take things to the next level,” said Joshua Farinella. “We have a strong foundation and reputation for quality to build on, and the right building blocks for continued success.”

While 2020 has been challenging for many, Lund’s Fisheries has continued investing in growing shoreside infrastructure to support sustainable fisheries, fishing vessels, and generational relationships with fishing families home-ported in Cape May, New Jersey. In mid-2021, Lund’s looks to break ground on a new 90,000 square foot cold and dry storage addition to its Shoreline Freezers facility. This investment will include additional processing space as well, which will help facilitate growth in sales.

“Lund’s methodical approach, vision and investment in state of the art equipment and facilities will advance the company’s distribution of sustainable seafood,” said Gene Taormina.

With production facilities in New Jersey, Massachusetts and California, 19 fishing vessels owned directly by the principals of the company, as well as the many independent owner/operated vessels the company works with, Lund’s welcomes its new team members and looks forward to continued growth in the harvest, production and marketing of sustainable seafood.

MarinTrust launches new verification tool for fishmeal plants

January 7, 2021 — A new verification tool from MarinTrust, the global marine ingredient standard for responsible supply (formerly IFFO RS), aims to help ensure value chain traceability via enhancing the recognition between Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and MarinTrust standards.

The tool offers clarity regarding the “requirements for all fishmeal plants claiming to be receiving MSC certified materials with the intention of using this for MarinTrust recognition,” the organization said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Russian Fishery Company regains MSC certification, begins construction of supertrawler

January 5, 2021 — The Russian Fishery Company (RFC) has announced that the company has been reinstated on the list of Marine Stewardship Council-certified pollock catchers, allowing it to produce and sell MSC-certified products once more.

RFC was ousted from Russia’s MSC client group, the Pollock Catchers Association (PCA), in the wake of the company proposing radical changes to the country’s fishery policies. Soon after, RFC sought remedy in court and had its ouster from the PCA suspended before regaining its membership in the PCA through court action.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MSC calls for sustainable management of tropical tuna in Eastern Pacific

December 16, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

From 1 January there could be no restrictions for tropical tuna fishing in nearly half of the Pacific Ocean, increasing the risk of overfishing of commercially important skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tunas, the Marine Stewardship Council warns, unless all the member governments reach an agreement on how to manage these stocks in 2021.

The MSC standard requires fisheries certified to its globally recognised standard to limit their catch within sustainable limits. Robust management is one of the fundamental principles of sustainable fisheries, especially for those catching highly migratory species such as tuna, as it prevents overfishing.

However, the body responsible in international law[i] for agreeing how much tuna is safe to catch is yet to reach a consensus on important measures to restrict tuna catch in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in 2021. Scientific advice recommended to carry over the rules set for 2020 into 2021.

After the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) failed to reach an agreement at their meeting earlier this month, the Chair of IATTC has called an extraordinary meeting of the delegations on 22 December, recommending carrying over the 2020 management measures into 2021 and holding a series of further meetings in 2021 to develop the way tuna stocks are managed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

IATTC had previously agreed management measures for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Having such measures in place even when stocks are perceived as healthy enables fisheries to act quickly when needed.

With increased demand for tuna globally comes increased pressure on tuna stocks and associated ecosystems. At present 17.5 % of the world’s tuna fisheries are overfished.

The Marine Stewardship Council’s Chief Science and Standards Officer, Dr Rohan Currey, said:

“We welcome IATTC’s decision to convene an extraordinary meeting, reflecting the critical importance of maintaining the conservation measures for tropical tuna stocks.  The nations involved must find a way to reach a consensus that will protect the future health of these economically important stocks, that reflects scientific advice and is grounded in a robust long-term management plan.

“Nations have a duty to come together to manage fisheries and their impact on the oceans. If the IATTC cannot agree on how to manage this tropical tuna fishery, it will have effectively abandoned this duty, putting the future of the stocks at risk. We join with others in expressing deep concern about this and urge the delegates to reach a speedy decision on this at their extraordinary meeting on 22 December.”

PETTER JOHANNESSEN: The blue whiting and herring fisheries didn’t have to lose their MSC certification. Here’s what should happen next.

December 15, 2020 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced in early December that it would suspend its certification of Atlanto-Scandic herring and blue whiting fisheries as of Dec. 30, affecting eight certificates across European fisheries. This follows the suspension of the MSC certificate on mackerel fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic in 2019.

This had been expected for quite some time and the action taken by all involved stakeholders, starting with the MSC certificate holders (i.e. the fishing industry), including other industry representatives, during the last years, was sadly not enough.

What does it mean, really?

Let us be clear: the MSC suspension does not reflect an issue related to illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing at an individual fishery level. No one has overfished their allocated quota.

Read the full opinion piece at IntraFish

MSC certificates to be suspended for all Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting fisheries

December 1, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The independent assesssors responsible for certifying fisheries to the MSC Fishery Standard have today annouced that Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting fisheries will be suspended from the program on 30 December 2020.

The suspension affects eight certificates covering fisheries from the European Union, Norway, Iceland, Russia, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and most recently the United Kingdom, which claimed independent Coastal State status in 2020.

Atlanto-Scandian herring and blue whiting caught on or after 30 December 2020 cannot be sold as ‘MSC certified’ or bear the blue MSC label.

The Atlanto-Scandian herring fisheries that will be suspended land between 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes per year, which is around 50% of the total MSC-certified herring catches landed annually. MSC labelled herring is sold to consumers via supermarkets and fishmongers throughout Europe.

The landings of the soon to be suspended blue whiting fisheries are predominantly used to produce fishmeal for farmed salmon, a small quantity is sold as surimi to consumers in Japan, Australia and France.

Lack of an international quota sharing agreement

The reason for the fisheries´ suspension is the lack of an international agreement on how to manage catch levels between different nations. The absence of an effective stock management – in particular, a quota sharing agreement between the involved nations in line with scientific advice – has led to the combined catch exceeding the recommended catch levels for a number of years.

In 2019, Atlanto-Scandian herring fisheries collectively caught 32% more than the scientific advice for the year. Following the catch quotas announced by the individual states, the same will happen in 2020 [1].

The annual meeting of the Northeast Atlantic Coastal States held in October 2020 did not reach a solution to this stock management problem.

The MSC’s Northern Europe Director, Erin Priddle, said:

“We urge nations to commit to a quota-sharing agreement in line with the scientific advice. Only through effective stock management can we ensure the health of the herring and blue whiting stocks in the short, medium and long term. While individual fisheries often make great efforts to improve their sustainability, ultimately, they cannot do it alone. Migratory species like Atlanto-Scandian Herring do not observe national boundaries, so we need international agreements to manage whole ecosystems in an adaptive, scientific way, rather than managing fish resources based on national interest.”

No sustainability without effective stock management

The MSC is focused on securing and maintaining the long-term health of fish stocks. Avoiding the boom-bust cycle of overfishing and recovery is a fundamental principle of the MSC’s Standard for sustainable fishing. This is even more important in the context of climate change which is already impacting on the productivity and distribution of fish stocks [2].

Independent assessors identified that the absence of a quota-sharing system could threaten the health of the stock and set a condition that nations must reach an agreement by 2020 for continued MSC certification. This was stipulated in 2015, giving fisheries a five-year time frame to work towards. Due to a lack of progress on this condition, the fisheries are now having their MSC certificates suspended.

For the same reason MSC certified mackerel fisheries in the Northeast Atlantic were suspended in 2019 and have not yet been reinstated due to ongoing concern about how catch is managed in response to scientific data on stock levels and inability to agree a quota share arrangement between the relevant fishing states.

Fisheries facing suspension from MSC certification

Atlanto-Scandian herring: 

Blue whiting:

Trans-Ocean Inc. Awarded MSC US Ocean Champion Award

November 24, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) awarded Lou Shaheen and the entire team at Trans-Ocean Products Inc. the 2020 US MSC Ocean Champion Award for their continued dedication to seafood sustainability and for going above and beyond the MSC standard to make MSC certified products available to consumers. Trans-Ocean Products Inc. is the maker of Crab Classic imitation crab, or surimi seafood, featuring MSC certified wild Alaska pollock. Lou Shaheen, VP of Sales & Marketing accepted the award on behalf of the whole Trans-Ocean Products Inc. team.

“Trans-Ocean was an early believer in the benefits of MSC certification. We proudly feature the MSC blue fish label on our packaging and in our marketing because it gives our products added credibility as high quality, sustainably-sourced seafood,” Shaheen commented.

“It is with great pleasure that the MSC US recognizes Trans-Ocean Products Inc. with the MSC US Ocean Champion award. Their diligent and persistent support of the MSC mission and vision has been and continues to be inspiring,” said Eric Critchlow, MSC’s program director, USA. “MSC’s recent consumer insights survey shows that high quality product coupled with third-party sustainability certification resonates with consumers – Trans-Ocean’s success demonstrates that it meets consumers’ preferences as demonstrated by their wallets and forks.”

The MSC US Ocean Champion Award was established in 2017 to reward fisheries and companies engaged in the MSC program who demonstrated continued leadership on sustainability above and beyond the MSC standard requirements. Each awardee includes an internal champion (person or team) who has been an internal catalyst for change demonstrating leadership and the ability to spark positive change within the industry. The glass award featuring a wave with the awardee’s name and company inscribed is handmade in downtown Seattle, WA.

According to a 2020 global study commissioned by MSC 55% of U.S. seafood consumers believe that we must consume seafood only from sustainable sources to protect the ocean. Furthermore, 64% of Americans want retailers’ and brands’ claims about sustainability and the environment to be clearly labeled by an independent organization, such as the MSC. Trans-Ocean Inc. is leading on third party labels with the complete product line MSC certified and carrying the MSC blue fish label on package.

Trans-Ocean Products Inc. was among the first US seafood brands to gain MSC Chain of Custody (CoC) certification and include the MSC blue fish label on product. Trans-Ocean Products Inc. has been at the forefront of promoting MSC as a mark of environmental responsibility to the consumer market, and has featured MSC message in consumer advertising and other promotional activities helping to encourage Americans to buy seafood that’s good for them and good for the ocean.

MSC urges WTO to end harmful fishing subsidies by end of 2020

November 23, 2020 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The Marine Stewardship Council – an environmental not-for-profit whose mission is to end overfishing – has joined calls for the World Trade Organisation to abolish harmful fishing subsidies and to deliver the UN target which calls for their elimination by 2020.

More than $22 billion of harmful ‘capacity building’ fishing subsidies contribute to overfishing, and lead to the loss of livelihoods and income for coastal communities. They have also been linked to Illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing activity. [1]

Harmful fishing subsidies are incompatible with and undermine the MSC’s vision of healthy and productive marine ecosystems with seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations on fishing subsidies began nearly two decades ago at the 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha. Since then overfished stocks have increased from 27% to 34%, in part enabled by harmful subsidies. [2]

In 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by 193 nations and the WTO was tasked with the implementation of SDG 14.6. This specific target calls for the establishment by 2020 of a mechanism to eliminate subsidies that contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, including illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.

As the end of 2020 approaches, the MSC adds its voice to calls made by Ambassador Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Oceans and Co-Chair of Friends for Ocean Action, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Environmental Justice Foundation, WWF International and more than 170 civil society organisations to urge WTO delegates to deliver on this mandate and not to postpone their decision.

The MSC’s Chief Executive, Rupert Howes said, “Humanity is at a crossroads. Urgent and ambitious action is required now. As the world emerges from the global Covid pandemic progress must be made to deliver the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  The ending of harmful fishing subsidies will benefit the oceans, fishers and their communities and consumers. It will also release much needed funding to support sustainable fishing and the delivery of the remaining ocean-related targets in the SDGs, if redirected appropriately. We hope that the WTO will seize this enormous opportunity before them.”