Saving Seafood

MSC gives Gulf of Mexico menhaden fishery six more months to deliver report

November 29, 2018 — The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has granted independent auditor SAI Global an extra six months — until June 6 — to finish its final report on whether to grant certification to the menhaden fishery in the US’ Gulf of Mexico.

The report was due Dec. 6, in a little more than a week. However, in requesting more time, SAI Global had noted unforeseen delays that included “a new benchmark stock assessment”, “additional consultation”, “substantial stakeholder submittals” and the “development and revision of the client action plan”, reveals MSC’s letter approving the delay, sent Monday to lead auditor Ivan Mateo.

If the new June 6 deadline is not met, the MSC warns, the application must be withdrawn.

The note about receiving a “substantial” number of stakeholder comments is interesting as several groups, including the Gulf Restoration Network (GRN) and Recirculating Farms Coalition (RFC), have let their opposition to MSC certification of the Gulf menhaden fishery be known. The fishery currently maintains no limits on its harvest of menhaden, which is a forage fish relied upon heavily by numerous other fish and bird species.

“Notably, the MSC label has become a well-known marker for fisheries that strive for sustainability,” said Marianne Cufone, RFC’s executive director, and Cynthia Sartou, GRN’s executive director, in a jointly signed letter sent earlier to the accrediting organization. “To certify gulf menhaden, with its lack of transparency and information, would most certainly tarnish MSC’s reputation and weaken public confidence in the label.”

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Research shows inefficient fishing costs global companies over $51bn annually

November 28, 2018 — An international research initiative has calculated that fishing companies worldwide are losing between $51-$83 billion in unrealized economic benefits every year due to overexploitation and underperforming fish stocks.

According to research undertaken by experts at the organization Sea Around Us, companies are spending too much for the fish, revenue and profits that they ultimately generate.

The organization’s latest report studied menhaden fisheries off the coast of the US and anchovies off the west shores of Peru. In both cases, Sea Around Us believes that profits could be substantially increased if stocks had been fished more intelligently.

“We found that Atlantic and Gulf menhaden stocks were in a healthy state and were being exploited below sustainable levels. By not augmenting their catches the two largest companies targeting them were losing $50 million in additional revenues and $12 million in profits,” lead author Tim Cashion said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sea Around Us identified that Peru could also have increased its annual revenues by $3m – $9.1m from 2011 to 2015 if anchovy stocks had been allowed to recover in that time.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

MSC grants more time to menhaden fishery audit, but might not be needed

November 20, 2018 — The Marine Stewardship Council has granted auditors an extra three months – until March 6 — to finish their final report on whether to grant certification to the menhaden fishery on the Atlantic coast of the United States.

However, Ben Landry, public affairs specialist for Houston, Texas-based Omega Protein, the US’ largest harvester of menhaden and a division of the Cooke group of seafood companies, said he doesn’t think the extra cushion will be needed as the audit is expected to be wrapped up within weeks.

By certifying both the menhaden fisheries on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, MSC looks to bolster its presence in the US significantly. Combined, the two fisheries account for nearly 800,000 metric ton of fish — about 11% of all of the wild-caught fish in the US – second only to the already MSC-certified Alaskan pollock fishery, responsible for 1.5 billion metric tons, or 30%, based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

According to assessment reports by third-party assessors and NOAA data, roughly 70% of US landings by volume have been certified by MSC, including Alaskan pollock, and another 16% are currently under review, including the two menhaden fisheries, an MSC official told Undercurrent.

The menhaden fisheries are also North America’s largest source of fish for meal and oil, providing Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada-based Cooke with a large source of omega-3-enriched feed for its considerable salmon aquaculture operations. Cooke completed its acquisition of Omega Protein almost exactly one year ago.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

 

Fish-oil drugs protect heart health, two studies say

November 12, 2018 — Two major studies released Saturday provide evidence that medications derived from fish oil are effective in protecting people from fatal heart attacks, strokes and other forms of cardiovascular disease.

The large, multiyear research efforts tested different formulations and quantities of drugs made with Omega-3 fatty acids on two groups of people: one that suffered from cardiovascular disease or diabetes and another that represented the general population. Both studies found that people who took the drugs every day enjoyed protection against some heart and circulatory problems compared with those given a placebo.

In a look at another commonly consumed supplement, vitamin D, researchers found no effect on heart disease but saw a link to a decline in cancer deaths over time.

The research was released Saturday at the American Heart Association’s 2018 Scientific Sessions in Chicago and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

About 43 million people in the United States take statins to lower LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, and the drugs are credited with reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes. But heart disease remains the leading killer of Americans. In recent years, a long, steady decrease in heart disease deaths has slowed. So researchers are seeking other ways to combat cardiovascular disease beyond known protective factors such as changes in diet, exercise and smoking habits.

One of the studies unveiled Saturday, named by the acronym REDUCE-IT, determined that people with cardiovascular disease who were already taking statins stood less chance of serious heart issues when they were also given two grams of the drug Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) twice a day.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Menhaden Fishing Operations Sustainable, Says Menhaden Fisheries Coalition

October 29, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is maintaining that their members’ fishing operations are sustainable and in compliance with menhaden regulations. The statement from MFC comes ahead of the annual Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

“The recent misleading attacks on menhaden fishermen have claimed that the fishery threatens the food supply of marine mammals and other predator species, despite there being no evidence to support this allegation,” the MFC states. “Instead, the best available science points to a thriving menhaden population that is successfully meeting its ecological roles.”

According to MFC, the ASMFC has delivered “good news” for the Atlantic menhaden stock over the past three years. An analysis conducted by MFC also found that 92% of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water “to serve as food for predators and to meet other environmental functions.”

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

Menhaden Fisheries Coalition: Menhaden Fishing in New York, New Jersey is Sustainable, Infrequent

October 25, 2018 — The following was released by the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition:

The past few months have seen an unnecessary controversy over legal and routine menhaden fishing in the federal waters off the coasts of New York and New Jersey. With the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) having met this week for its annual meeting, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) would, once again, like to unequivocally state that our members’ fishing operations in both the reduction and the bait fisheries are sustainable, and in compliance with all menhaden regulations.

The recent misleading attacks on menhaden fishermen have claimed that the fishery threatens the food supply of marine mammals and other predator species, despite there being no evidence to support this allegation. Instead, the best available science points to a thriving menhaden population that is successfully meeting its ecological roles.

Over the last three years, the ASMFC, which manages Atlantic menhaden, has repeatedly delivered good news for the stock, confirming in a stock assessment last year that the species is neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing. As a direct result of this news, the Commission voted to once again raise the quota, which they determined could be implemented withno risk of overfishing the resource.

Looking at the Commission’s stock assessment data, there is no evidence suggesting that menhaden fisheries are negatively impacting predator species. A MFC analysis of that data published last year found that 92 percent of Atlantic menhaden are left in the water to serve as food for predators and to meet other environmental functions.

As part of the coastwide menhaden fishery, New York’s and New Jersey’s menhaden quotas are conservatively set by the ASMFC to ensure sustainability. Most of the recent criticism of the fishery has focused on two individual days of fishing: one in late August and another in early September. Since then, activist groups have continued to push a misleading narrative to the public, ignoring the ample evidence that points to there being more than enough menhaden to support whales, fish, fishermen and fishing communities.

Members of the MFC who support a healthy menhaden fishery off New York and New Jersey include Lund’s Fisheries in Cape May, New Jersey; the Garden State Seafood Association in Trenton, New Jersey; the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association in Montauk, New York; and Omega Protein in Reedville, Virginia.

About the MFC
The Menhaden Fisheries Coalition (MFC) is a collective of menhaden fishermen, related businesses, and supporting industries. Comprised of businesses along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Menhaden Fisheries Coalition conducts media and public outreach on behalf of the menhaden industry to ensure that members of the public, media, and government are informed of important issues, events, and facts about the fishery.

Omega Protein disputes article ‘attacking’ menhaden fishing

October 22, 2018 — US menhaden harvester Omega Protein has disputed the accuracy of recent statements made by a conservation group that wants to end commercial fishing of the species.

Paul Eidman of the group Menhaden Defenders recently wrote an essay, “Trouble comes to town”,  describing a fishing trip that an Omega vessel recently took to New Jersey and New York waters. That trip, Eidman asserted, harvested menhaden that otherwise would have been consumed by whales.

“This event sparked an outpouring of renewed interest in menhaden, and now local folks want to stop the harvest completely since Omega Protein is removing all of the whales’ food from the area,” Eidman wrote.

The company wrote in a Oct. 18 press release that all of its fishing, including the recent trip up north from its usual more southerly fishing grounds, complies with state and federal regulations and that Eidman’s piece got “key facts wrong”.

A limit on menhaden fishing was established by the Atlantic States Fisheries Management Council and Omega is in compliance with this limit, the company, which is owned by Canada’s Cooke Aquaculture, said.

“This limit ensures that the menhaden fishery is not taking a harmful amount of fish from whales’ diets. Last year, an analysis  using data from the 2017 Atlantic menhaden stock assessment found that current management leaves 92% of menhaden in the water to fulfill their role in the ecosystem,” the company said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Drastic cut to herring quota puts Maine lobstermen over the bait barrel

October 22, 2018 — The threat of a huge cut in next year’s herring catch quota has Maine bait dealers scrambling to find alternative ways to satisfy the voracious appetite of the state’s $1.4 billion lobster industry.

The New England Fishery Management Council voted last month to set the 2019 herring quota at 3.2 million pounds – about 78 million pounds less than what the East Coast herring fleet is permitted to catch this year – to help the population recover from a record-low number of juvenile herring. To put the cut in context, that is about 2,000 tractor-trailer trucks of the industry’s favorite bait that won’t be showing up in New England lobster ports next year.

“We knew we’d be losing a lot of herring quota since we first heard about the bad stock assessment, so we’ve had some time to prepare,” said Mary Beth Tooley, who oversees government and regulatory affairs for O’Hara Corp. in Rockland, Maine’s largest bait dealer. “We have someone out on the West Coast right now looking for new sources of frozen bait. But I don’t think people understand how bad it’s going to be.”

Some fishermen have told Tooley they aren’t worried about the bait shortage because they don’t use herring. Some have switched to pogy or rockfish because it fishes better for them, while others have weaned themselves off herring, or found ways to conserve bait use, because they saw the collapse coming. But as more fishermen look to other bait species, the prices of those species are likely to rise and their availability shrink, Tooley predicted.

Read the full story at the Portland Press Herald

Omega-3s in Fish Oils Tied to Healthy Aging

October 19, 2018 — Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, the fats found in fish, are linked to a healthier old age, according to a new study.

Researchers tracked 2,622 adults, average age 74 and healthy at the start of the study, from 1992 to 2015, looking to see if they continued to live without chronic diseases and without mental or physical problems.

The investigators measured blood levels of four common types of omega-3s: EPA and DHA, found in seafood; ALA, derived from plants; and DPA, which the body produces in small amounts.

After adjusting for many medical, dietary and lifestyle factors, they found that compared with people in the lowest one-fifth for omega-3 levels, those in the highest one-fifth had an 18 percent lower risk of unhealthy aging. The study appeared in BMJ.

Considered separately, EPA and DPA were associated with lowered risk of unhealthy aging, but DHA and ALA were not.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Omega Protein close to netting MSC for menhaden

October 18, 2018 — The menhaden fisheries on both the Atlantic coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico — North America’s largest source of fish for meal and oil – are within months of gaining Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification, and Cooke Aquaculture is in a prime position to take advantage.

The Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick, Canada-based seafood giant recently acquired Omega Protein, the largest harvester of menhaden in both fisheries, and could, if it wanted, begin promoting at least some of its farmed salmon products as being fed a diet made from MSC-certified ingredients.

But it doesn’t, and it won’t.

“At this time, this is not our intention as we use other marine ingredients that come from various sustainably managed fisheries,” Joel Richardson, a Cooke spokesperson, told Undercurrent News in an email.

The Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) fishery — which landed 164,880 metric tons of fish in 2016, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data — has received the required set of scores from independent MSC auditor SAI Global and all of the necessary signatures by state authorities and others, Ben Landry, Omega Protein’s public affairs specialist, told Undercurrent News this week.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News