Saving Seafood

Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna earns MSC certification

September 7, 2017 — The following was released by the Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna

After an in-depth assessment by independent auditors, the Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna (PAST) –  comprised of four leaders in the Mexican tuna industry Grupomar, Herdez del Fuerte, Pesca Azteca, and Procesa – has achieved Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. The assessment, which included detailed stakeholder consultation and independent adjudication, concluded that the fleet of 36 purse seine vessels meets the high bar of sustainability set by the MSC Fisheries Standard.

Widely recognized as the world’s most rigorous and credible assessment of wild fishing sustainability, the MSC Fishery Standard is founded on three principles: healthy fish stocks, minimizing impact on the wider marine environment, and effective fishery management.

The detailed sustainability assessment of the Northeastern Tropical Pacific purse seine yellowfin and skipjack tuna fishery was carried out by the accredited third-party certification body, SCS Global Services, and included extensive review by scientists, peer review, and stakeholder consultation.

Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas, said: “Nearly 30 years of actions to minimize impacts on the oceans by the Northeastern Tropical Pacific purse seine yellowfin and skipjack tuna fishery have been recognised through the MSC assessment process. PAST’s bold actions to address tough environmental challenges have been transformative. We believe this is the kind of progress that MSC was designed to inspire.”

Sustainable fishing practices

The fishery operates in compliance with all requirements of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the Regional Fishery Management Organization. Importantly, the fishing fleet adheres to the Agreement on International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP), a legally binding multilateral agreement between fishing nations within the IATTC with conservation objectives.  All of PAST’s fishing vessels have an independent observer on board to ensure continued compliance. Additionally, in June 2015 PAST withdrew voluntarily from fishing Pacific Bluefin tuna, a species that is overfished, for a seven-year period.

Each team of fishermen works proactively to minimize impact on the ocean ecosystem including aiming for 100% live release of all non-target species. Their efforts include using a specially designed net that incorporates a fine mesh safety panel, known as the “Medina Panel,” which allows non-tuna species to swim clear of the net. The industry also employs highly specialized and trained divers to assist any remaining dolphins with escaping the net prior to lifting the net.

Mariana Ramos, Executive Director of the Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna said: “Our members – Grupomar, Herdez del Fuerte, Pesca Azteca, and Procesa – are driven by sustainability and dedicated to providing ocean-safe tuna to their customers and to continuing to make a difference for oceans. The MSC certification is one more way we can demonstrate to our customers that our tuna is fished in a highly sustainable manner.”

Commitments to safeguard the environment and livelihoods

As part of achieving MSC certification, PAST has committed to a comprehensive sustainability action plan, which includes: further dolphin protection measures including investments in regular net alignment practices as a means to reduce the risk of dolphins becoming entangled, and other training in best practices across the fleet; significant financial investment in an international research program to assess dolphin populations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean; zero retention and maximum live release program for all sharks and rays; and active stakeholder engagement in building more transparency in fisheries across Mexico.

The fishery provides over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and economic opportunities in many communities in the Americas and US$ 750 million in productivity to the Mexican economy.

30 years of actions

Since the 1980s, concern for the impacts of purse seine fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (EPO) drove international governments and NGOs to sign a series of transformative conservation agreements focused on sustainability. One of the most significant of these is the 1999 Agreement on the AIDCP, focused on the sustainability of fishing in the EPO and the protection of dolphin populations through science-based regulation, concerted improvement of fishing practice, and independent monitoring by onboard scientific observers.

The AIDCP was awarded the Margarita Lizárraga Medal by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2005 for its “unqualified success” in protecting dolphins and ensuring the sustainability of fishing in the EPO. Under this agreement, which requires 100% coverage by onboard scientific observers to monitor compliance, fishers work proactively to ensure the live release of non-tuna species including dolphins. Data shows that between 1985 and 1997 dolphin mortalities as a result of purse seine fishing in the EPO fell by 99%.

Objections process

In the final stage of this assessment an independent adjudicator (IA) reviewed the certifier’s determination in light of concerns raised by World Wildlife Fund Germany (WWF). The IA upheld the certifier’s determination that the fishery met the MSC Fisheries Standard.

Download factsheet and timeline

Download assessment documents from msc.org

Video about the AIDCP

 

Nonprofits ramp up campaign to increase protections for Pacific bluefin tuna

August 25, 2017 — Ahead of an international conference scheduled next week to discuss rebuilding the Pacific bluefin tuna population, several organizations and influential leaders have urged countries to act quickly to stop what they claim is a steep decline in the species’ numbers.

For years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch initiative has urged people to avoid the fish because of its low numbers, but the campaign has picked up steam in advance of Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s Northern Committee 13th Regular Session in Busan, South Korea, scheduled to begin on Monday, 28 August. Those involved in the week-long talks centered on conservation measures for the Pacific bluefin tuna include the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Japan, with the latter country being the most dominant market for the species.

Among those speaking out included former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who said the current situation not only threatens the ecology but the economy as well.

“Unsustainable fishing isn’t just the enemy of conservation, it’s the enemy of fishermen everywhere,” said Kerry in a statement on the aquarium’s blog. “We know we can do better. That is why we should all be invested in the difficult task of turning things around and getting Pacific bluefin tuna on a path to recovery.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NOAA: Determination that bluefin aren’t ‘endangered’ unlikely to affect quota setting

August 15, 2017 — US regulators’ recent decision to reject a petition from environmental groups to list Pacific bluefin tuna as an endangered species is unlikely to affect quota levels, which are set by international bodies.

“I don’t envision this domestic Endangered Species Act determination directly implicating the international management of this species,” Chris Yates, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s west coast assistant regional administrator for protected resources said, in response to a question from Undercurrent News.

The US government doesn’t directly determine bluefin fishing rules in the Pacific, having ceded that authority by treaty to Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), of which major bluefin catchers Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan are also members. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) also manages bluefin stocks in those areas of the ocean.

IATTC, which is under strong pressure from environmental groups to conserve declining bluefin stocks, recently failed to agree to new measures at a meeting earlier this month in Mexico City. But members have agreed to revisit the issue at a future meeting in Busan, South Korea.

NOAA assessment

After a recent review of the stock, NOAA scientists struck a mostly positive tone about the stock’s prospects to recover.

Yates, and Matthew Craig, who recently chaired a NOAA review into the health of bluefin stocks, said that there are roughly 1.6 million individual bluefin in the North Pacific Ocean, with 140,000 bluefin being of reproductive age and size.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Final determination on assessment of the Northeastern Tropical Pacific tuna fishery

August 7, 2017 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

Following the decision of an independent adjudicator, the third party assessment of the Northeastern Tropical Pacific purse seine yellowfin & skipjack tuna fishery has been upheld, confirming the certifier’s determination that the fishery meets the MSC Fisheries Standard.

The fishery, operated by the Pacific Alliance of Sustainable Tuna (PAST), includes 36 purse seine vessels fishing for yellowfin and skipjack with both free-school and dolphin associated sets.

The certifier will now need to review the independent adjudicator’s decision and update its final report to include the revised scoring requested by the IA. This content must be approved by the IA before the certifier can move forward to issue the public certification report for the fishery, at which point the fishery would be certified.

The MSC Standard is widely recognized as the world’s most credible and robust standard for sustainable, well-managed fisheries. Only fisheries that demonstrably meet the MSC’s rigorous, scientific requirements for sustainability achieve MSC certification.

Since entering the assessment process in 2014, the fishery has undergone detailed review and assessment by an independent team of experts headed up by MSC-accredited certifier, SCS Global Services. As part of this process the MSC requires certifiers to seek and consider formal input from all interested stakeholders. In this case, it conducted numerous rounds of stakeholder input, and reviewed and responded to nearly 300 pages of stakeholder comments. This is an essential part of a thorough and credible assessment of a fishery’s practices. The findings were also peer reviewed by two independent experts, subject to MSC technical oversight, and reviewed by the scheme’s accreditation body, Accreditation Services International.

Consideration of objections

Following the assessment team’s final determination that the fishery should be certified, the MSC received an objection to certification from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). These concerns were reviewed and considered in detail in an orderly and transparent process by an independent adjudicator.

The independent adjudicator, Melanie Carter is a legal expert with extensive fisheries, law, and mediation experience, as well as an understanding of the MSC Fisheries Standard and assessment methodology.  She published her decision today to uphold the determination of SCS Global Services. Her decision, including the supporting reasoning, is available on msc.org.

Recognising improvements

Since the 1980s, concern for the impacts of purse seine fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean (EPO) drove international governments and NGOs to sign a series of transformative conservation agreements focused on ensuring the sustainability purse seine fishing in the EPO. One of the most significant of these is the 1999 Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP), focused on ensuring the sustainability of fishing in the EPO and the protection of dolphin populations through science-based regulation, concerted improvement of fishing practice, and independent monitoring by onboard scientific observers. The AIDCP was awarded the Margarita Lizárraga Medal by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 2005 for its “unqualified success” in protecting dolphin and ensuring the sustainability of fishing in the EPO. Under this agreement, which requires 100% coverage by onboard scientific observers to monitor compliance, fishers work proactively to ensure the live release of all non-tuna species including dolphin. Data show that between 1985 and 1997 dolphin mortalities as a result of purse seine fishing in the Eastern Tropical Pacific fell by 99%. Since then, dolphin populations have been increasing, according to the international regulator in the ocean the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas, said: “A MSC assessment is a highly transparent and meticulous process and I applaud any fishery that puts themselves under the microscope and scrutiny of this assessment. Decisions are made based on science and evidence, and in a highly consultative manner. In reaching its conclusion that this fishery should be certified, the assessment team took full consideration of the impacts this fishery has on the entire ecosystem, including dolphin populations.”

Ongoing conditions of certification

As part of its commitment to achieve MSC certification, PAST has committed to a comprehensive sustainability action plan, which includes: further dolphin protection measures including investments in net alignment and training in best practices across the fleet; significant financial investment in an international research program to assess dolphin populations in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean; zero retention and maximum live release program for all sharks and rays; and active stakeholder engagement in building more transparency in fisheries in Mexico.

The IA’s final decision is available on msc.org

Mexico bans drift gillnets in Gulf of California in last-ditch effort to save vaquita

July 7, 2017 –Mexico’s government and American aid groups are taking drastic actions to preserve the vaquita, a critically endangered species of porpoise endemic to the northern Gulf of California.

Scientists estimate there are only 30 individual vaquita remaining, all residing in the upper area of what is also known as the Sea of Cortez. The primary threat facing the vaquita are driftnets used by fishermen fishing illegally for totoaba, another endangered species highly valued in China for its supposed medicinal properties.

On 30 June, in response to the vaquita’s dwindling numbers, the Mexican government instituted a permanent ban on drift gillnets in the Gulf of California (previous versions of the ban had been temporary measures). In addition, the government established more stringent monitoring measures and made it mandatory for fishermen to report all fishing gear they lose in the area, according to the Associated Press.

Mexico had been facing mounting pressure to take more comprehensive action to save the vaquita, including from actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, as well as from international non-governmental organizations. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto posted several times on Twitter in June signaling he would enact more stringent measures to protect the vaquita, and shared a statement on the social media network after signing a memorandum of understanding committing to the gillnet ban.

“We have implemented a historic effort to avoid the extinction of a unique species, the vaquita marina, and to protect our ecosystem,” he wrote.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Ramped-Up Efforts to Protect Mexican Fisheries Netting Results

June 2, 2017 — Criminal charges filed against a father-son duo accused of illegally importing sea cucumbers from Mexico for huge profit by selling the seafood delicacy for $17.5 million in Asia have highlighted the tension between keeping fishing sustainable and ensuring fishermen can maintain their livelihood off the ocean. Courthouse News took a deep dive into the current state of Mexican fisheries and found while some depleted fisheries have been restored in recent years, the stakes have been raised for those who make their living selling the prized delicacies.

Last week David Mayorquin and Ramon Torres Mayorquin were arraigned in San Diego’s federal court on charges related to the illegal trafficking of sea cucumbers through San Diego’s port of entry. The two owned and operated Arizona-based seafood company Blessings Inc. and had a legal permit to import the sea creatures – which are related to sea urchins and starfish.

But the Mayorquins skirted international rules on importing sea cucumbers, which allow them to be fished only in season. The animals must also be a certain size and caught in limited quantities to maintain the population in Mexican fisheries like the one in Yucatan where the sea cucumbers purchased by the family were allegedly poached from.

Since the U.S. Attorney’s Office began investigating illegal quantities of sea cucumbers coming through San Diego’s port of entry, the border city has seen a stark drop in imports of the sea creature: over 90 percent in the past three years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Science and Technology.

In 2013, more than 2.4 million pounds of sea cucumbers worth over $27 million crossed San Diego’s border from Mexico. By 2016, only 155,000 pounds of imported sea cucumbers worth $1.1 million was declared at San Diego’s port of entry, according to NOAA.

While enforcement efforts on both sides of the border appear to be deterring illegal poaching and overfishing of protected species such as sea cucumbers, the stakes are higher for those who stand to make millions off delicacies prized in Asian markets.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

Mexico extends gillnet ban to help save endangered porpoise

June 1, 2017 — Mexico’s agriculture and fisheries department says it is extending a ban on gillnets in much of the upper Gulf of California as part of an effort to save the endangered vaquita porpoise.

A Wednesday statement from the department says it will continue to provide monetary and other support for fishermen affected by the measure.

Despite Mexico’s campaign to help the porpoise species, estimates of remaining vaquitas have dropped below 30.

Vaquitas are often caught in nets illegally set to catch totoaba fish, whose swim bladder is prized in China.

The World Wildlife Fund says the measure won’t be enough to save the vaquita. It says a permanent ban and recovery efforts are needed.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Southern Illinoisan

Senators still wary of Coast Guard budget cuts

March 24, 2017 — Senators who pushed back against an early Trump administration idea for cutting the Coast Guard are still on guard for what the budget process may bring.

Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft testified Wednesday before the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, stressing again the Coast Guard’s far-forward strategy for protecting the nation’s sea frontier.

“We push our maritime borders thousands of miles beyond Mexico,” Zukunft said, recounting a past year that brought in a record 201 metric tons of cocaine intercepted at sea. It was more than the total of all seizures on land by law enforcement combined, but admittedly a fraction of what gets through.

A deficit in surveillance, ships and aircraft assets resulted in just 30% of smuggling operations being pursued, while another 580 suspected operations could not be challenged, Zukunft said.

The commandant was talking to a friendly audience, lawmakers who beat back an early trial balloon from the Office of Management and Budget that sought a $1.3 billion cut in Coast Guard spending, including maritime security teams and axing the ninth National Security Cutter.

Read the full story at WorkBoat

What seafood consumption can tell us about environmental sustainability

January 30, 2017 — Along the arid coastline of northwestern Mexico, indigenous Seri communities, who first resisted Spanish rule and then Mexican extermination efforts, eventually gained formal titles over a small part of their ancestral coastal and marine territories. The ocean has always sustained their livelihood, but now they must contend with outside competition over declining fish resources.

This is a familiar story for almost 30 million coastal indigenous peoples around the world from the Arctic to the South Pacific. But until recently no one had ever quantified how intensively they relied on seafood, or its importance for their existence as distinct peoples. To fill this gap, we developed a global database of more than 1,900 indigenous communities, including 600 unique groups.

Our study found that coastal indigenous peoples eat nearly four times more seafood per capita than the global average, and about 15 times more per capita than nonindigenous peoples in their countries. Seafood is crucially important to these communities – but it provides them with more than vital protein and nutrients. It also plays a role in ceremonial traditions, creating important ties between families and individuals and embodying their symbolic ties to the environment. The practice of catching fish affirms their worldviews and puts them into action in nature. These relationships and values cannot be reflected in a number, but quantifying the dietary importance of seafood for these communities can help us understand the importance of indigenous fisheries and relationships to the oceans on a global scale.

Who is an indigenous person?

One major challenge in our study was the fact that there isn’t, and arguably shouldn’t be, a universal definition of what makes a person indigenous. According to the most widely used working definition, which has been adopted by the United Nations, indigenous peoples have a unique ethnic identity and a historical record that predates the colonial societies that exist now on their ancestral territories.

Read the full story and watch the video at Newsweek

Fishing Rule Aims To Do For All Marine Mammals What It Did For The Dolphin

January 6, 2017 — The vaquita is a small porpoise found only in the northern Gulf of California, in Mexico. Today, the species is critically endangered, with less than 60 animals left in the wild, thanks to fishing nets to catch fish and shrimp for sale in Mexico and America. The animal is an accidental victim of the fishing industry, as are many other marine mammals.

But a new rule that takes effect this week seeks to protect marine mammals from becoming bycatch. The rule requires foreign fisheries exporting seafood to the U.S. to ensure that they don’t hurt or kill marine mammals.

If U.S. authorities determine that a certain foreign fishery is harming these mammals, the fishery will be required to take stock of the marine mammal populations in places where they fish, and find ways to reduce their bycatch. That could involve not fishing in areas with high numbers of marine mammals. Fisheries will also have to report cases when they do end up hurting mammals. This is what American fisheries are already required to do under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).

Up to 90 percent of seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported, most of it shrimp, freshwater fish, tuna, and salmon. The goal of the new rule is to ensure that seafood coming into the country didn’t harm or kill marine mammals.

But can this new rule protect the vaquita?

Zak Smith, a senior attorney with the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council, thinks so. The vaquita is kind of a poster child for what happens when you don’t have this law in place,” he says.

To understand the potential impact of the rule, Smith says, we should consider the laws that saved dolphins from tuna fisheries. For decades, dolphins – which swim with schools of tuna – were accidentally (and sometimes deliberately) killed by tuna fisheries. According to NOAA, over six million dolphins have been killed since the beginning of tuna fishery. Enacted in 1972, the MMPA required tuna fisheries to take measures to stop harming dolphins. Then, in the 1980s, the act was amended to ban the import of tuna from foreign fisheries that harmed dolphins. In 1990, the U.S. passed another legislation – the Dolphin Protection Consumer Information Act – that spelled out requirements for “dolphin-safe” labeling on all tuna sold in America.

Smith says these laws have helped reduce dolphin deaths. But the new rule goes even further, he says, because it applies to all kinds of seafood and all marine mammals, not just tuna and dolphins.

As an American consumer, “I’ll know that anything I purchase in the U.S. met U.S. standards,” he says.

Read the full story at NPR