Saving Seafood

Biden elects not to enact vaquita-related trade embargo on Mexico

July 19, 2023 — U.S. President Joe Biden will not issue an embargo on Mexican wildlife products, which he was entitled to do after Mexico was found in breach of a U.S. law requiring federal action against countries found to be violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior’s Department of Fish and Wildlife found Mexico in breach of the Pelly Amendment in May 2023, requiring Biden to decide whether to take punitive trade action against Mexico or explain his reason for not doing so. Mexico has not adequately protected the critically endangered totoaba from fishing or trading, which has “diminished the effectiveness” of CITES, according to the declaration. Illegal fishing for the totoaba has also resulted in the deaths of numerous critically endangered vaquita porpoises.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Study finds creation of marine protected area in Mexico did not reduce commercial catches

May 31, 2023 — A study recently published in Science Advances providing before and after assessment of the impacts of Mexico’s Revillagigedo National Park claims there have been no negative consequences for the fishing industry.

The study, performed by a team of U.S. and Mexican researchers, found evidence that Mexico’s industrial fishing sector had no economic losses five years after the creation of the national park. Revillagigedo National Park was created in 2017 and protects 148,087 square kilometers of ocean south of the Baja California peninsula in the Pacific Ocean.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

US government settles vaquita, totoaba suit with pledge to make decision on Mexico import ban

April 10, 2023 — The U.S. Department of the Interior has arrived at a settlement of a lawsuit demanding it certify Mexico as not adequately protecting the critically endangered totoaba and vaquita porpoise.

The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020 in the U.S. Court of International Trade by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Animal Welfare Institute, demands the U.S. government certify Mexico under a U.S. law called the Pelly Amendment, which would allow the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden to embargo the import of wildlife products from Mexico, including shrimp and fish. The U.S. imported around USD 745 million (EUR 687 million) of seafood from Mexico in 2022.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Coast Guard Searches for Poachers From Mexico Stealing Fish From U.S.

May 24, 2022 — At Hooked on Seafood, red snapper fetches a premium price. For fishermen, the tasty fruit of the Gulf of Mexico is like striking gold.

“Red snapper is the hottest commodity in the U.S., here in this border,” Hooked on Seafood owner Chris Johnson said.

But its high demand attracts schools of poachers from across the border.

“They’re taking our money out of our waters and selling it right back to us, and we’re paying to do it every day,” Johnson continued.

He’s a fishmonger and fisherman on Texas’ South Padre Island. He bellows a decades-long lament — illegal fishing operations from Mexico zip through the boundary waters poaching red snapper, shark, and shrimp by the thousands.

Read the full story at Seafood News

How marine heat waves in Hawaii have ripple effects all the way to Arizona

May 12, 2022 — In 2019, about 4,600 miles from Arizona, a marine heat wave cranked up the temperature in the waters around Hawaii. For several sweltering summer months, a low pressure system sat over the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California and led to decreased cooling winds and sea surface temperatures 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.

Scientists called it “The Blob 2.0.” The original “Blob” developed in 2013 as a strange pool of warm water off the coast of Alaska, then quickly expanded all the way to Mexico in a meteorological phenomenon that lingered until early 2016 and “was so persistent and unusual that it initially defied explanation,” according to NASA.

Marine life suffered in both “Blob” events. In the mid-2010s heat wave, higher ocean temperatures fueled the growth of less-nutritious types of algae. Populations of salmon and other important fish species plummeted, straining the Pacific fishing industry. Fin whales and sea otters started washing up dead while baby seals starved on shore for all to see. And nobody quite knew what was going on.

Read the full story at AZCentral

 

Gulf of Mexico commercial fishing groups sue US government over red grouper reallocation

May 11, 2022 — Gulf of Mexico commercial-fishing groups have filed suit against the U.S. government, alleging a reallocation of red grouper catch shares illegally favors the recreational-fishing sector.

The lawsuit, filed Friday, 6 May, challenges the National Marine Fisheries Service’s implementation of Amendment 53, which was announced on Monday, 2 May and which is set to come into effect 1 June, 2022. The new rule amends the fishery management plan for reef fish resources in the Gulf of Mexico so that the allocation of the red grouper catch to the commercial sector is lowered from 76 percent to 59.3 percent, while increasing the recreational catch-share from 24 percent to 40.7 percent.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

US requests discussions with Mexico over vaquita protections

February 15, 2022 — The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden has asked the Mexican government to provide environmental consultations regarding its efforts to protect the critically endangered vaquita.

U.S. Trade Representatives Katherine Tai said in a press release on Thursday, 10 February, the request is tied to making sure Mexico “lives up to” the environmental commitments laid out in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

US files 1st USMCA environment case on Mexico over porpoise

February 11, 2022 — The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office filed the first environmental complaint against Mexico Thursday for failing to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise.

The office said it had asked for “environment consultations” with Mexico, the first such case it has filed under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact. Consultations are the first step in the dispute resolution process under the trade agreement, which entered into force in 2020. If not resolved, it could eventually lead to trade sanctions.

Mexico’s government has largely abandoned attempts to enforce a fishing-free zone around an area where the last few vaquitas are believed to live. Nets set illegally for another fish, the totoaba, drown vaquitas.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that “USTR is committed to protecting the environment and is requesting this consultation to ensure Mexico lives up to its USMCA environment commitments,” adding “We look forward to working with Mexico to address these issues.”

Read the full story at AP News

U.S. blocks Mexican fishermen from ports, cites years of illegal fishing in U.S. waters

February 9, 2022 — Along the U.S.-Mexico maritime border, the incursions occur almost daily. The boats are outfitted with small outboard motors, powerful enough to flee pursuing Border Patrol and Coast Guard vessels.

The Mexican skiffs are loaded not with drugs or migrants, but with red snapper, sea turtles and sharks.

U.S. officials say the threat posed by Mexican fishermen casting their nets illegally in U.S. waters has grown so acute that for the first time in years, they’ve banned Mexican fishing vessels from entering U.S. ports.

“These vessels … will be denied port access and services,” said Lauren Gaches, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She said the sanction was being applied in response to Mexico’s “continued failure to combat unauthorized fishing activities by small hulled vessels in U.S. waters.” It took effect Monday.

Read the full story at the Washington Post

US to ban port access to Mexican boats fishing in the Gulf of Mexico

January 18, 2022 — Starting in February, NOAA Fisheries will enact a ban prohibiting port access for all Mexican fishing boats that operate in the Gulf of Mexico.

The federal agency said in a statement that the move, which will become effective Monday, 7 February, comes as the U.S. issued a “negative certification” against its southern neighbor for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in a report to Congress last August. American officials noted that they made the determination in 2019 after making similar determinations in 2015 and 2017.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource