Saving Seafood

How Scottish salmon exports its way around the world and maintains its reputation

June 20, 2019 — Three days, that’s all it takes. That’s the maximum time needed to get salmon from the cold waters of a pristine sea loch in the far north-west of Scotland to an upmarket restaurant in Beijing, Sydney or Cape Town. Often it’s quicker than that. Salmon harvested just after midnight in Mallaig are in the main transport hub at Larkhall, just off the M74 south of Glasgow, by lunchtime that day, often arriving at Heathrow the same evening.

Sent out in the bellies of passenger aircraft, the fish can then be presented on dinner plates in New York the following day.

Salmon is Scotland’s biggest food export and in the top-three of UK food exports too.

It is, quite clearly, a hugely successful product. It is renowned globally for its quality and regularly comes top of surveys rating the best salmon in the world.

But, because it is a perishable product, the routes to market have to be swift. That is why so much effort goes into getting from the sea to the customer as quickly as possible.

That is also why the harvesting often begins at midnight. That way, the normally quiet hours of the night are utilised to transport the fish and get them to the processors by the morning.

There they will be packed in ice boxes and sent to Larkhall.

Read the full story at The Scotsman

Iceland to vote on changes to aquaculture policy

June 19, 2019 — The Icelandic parliament is set to vote on proposed amendments to the country’s aquaculture act, coinciding with a major public effort to curb the use of open cages in salmon farming nations, reports Visir.

The US outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, in collaboration with the wild salmon stocks fund and the North Atlantic Salmon Fund, has received 140,000 signatures for its challenge to open pen salmon farming in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, and Ireland.

The signatures are set to be handed to parliament ahead of the vote on the bill proposed by the minister of fisheries and aquaculture. A second debate on the bill was postponed on June 13.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

As right whales surge north, one death too many

June 17, 2019 — Before the leviathan was dragged to shore, before it was found floating at sea trailing a slick of blood, the massive creature had had its run-ins with its greatest nemesis: human beings.

This North Atlantic right whale — among the most endangered species on the planet — was known by researchers as Wolverine, for three propeller cuts on its tailstock that reminded them of the trio of blades used by the comic book character of the same name. In its short life of nine years, journeying through thousands of miles of dense fishing grounds, the whale had endured at least one vessel strike and three entanglements in fishing gear.

Now, Wolverine was decomposing on a grassy beach at the northernmost tip of New Brunswick’s Acadian peninsula, its large, black fins inert in the salty air, its wide fluke tangled in red rope that the Canadian Coast Guard used to haul its carcass in from the frigid waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The death of even one of the mammals poses a grave threat to the species, given how few remain. But almost as notable is that Wolverine was here at all.

Until recently, right whales were seldom seen this far north. Now about a third of the species regularly comes to feed in these frigid waters. It has proved to be a very dangerous migration.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

New aquaculture regulations for Scotland; Salmon farms could get bigger

June 7, 2019 — A new, evidence-based regulatory framework has been introduced for Scotland’s finfish aquaculture sector by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Launched following 22 months of work by SEPA, the framework implements proposals announced in November 2018, which were subject to a country-wide consultation. According to the public body, it takes advantage of more accurate computer-modeling approaches that will improve understanding of the risks to the local environment and allow assessment of the larger-scale impacts including interactions with other farms.

SEPA acknowledged that the science about fish-farming is “very complex” and said that the new approach would bring the sector up to date with the modeling practices used for other industrial sectors where there is a longer history of operation and analysis.

SEPA Chief Executive Terry A’Hearn said the new framework was an “important milestone” for the sector.

“It makes powerfully clear our aspirations and requirement that the industry reach and maintain full compliance with Scotland’s environmental protection laws, where SEPA will help those investing in innovation and moving beyond compliance,” he said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

First dead endangered right whale of 2019 spotted in Canada waters

June 6, 2019 — The first dead critically endangered North Atlantic right whale of 2019 has been spotted in Canada’s Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the fisheries and oceans department said Wednesday.

The ministry said in a release that the animal carcass had been spotted drifting in the channel during an aerial surveillance flight on June 4.

“We are currently assessing the recovery and necropsy options,” it said.

The Canadian government stepped up tracking of right whales after more than a dozen were found dead in 2017 in the busy seaway and off the coast of New England in the United States, which had prompted concern from marine biologists.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Norway’s deadly algae bloom may be waning, government says

June 3, 2019 — A deadly algae bloom that has killed nearly eight million Atlantic salmon being farmed in northern Norway appears to be dispersing, according to the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries.

The bloom, first reported in mid-May, has killed 3.8 million farmed salmon in the Nordland area, the equivalent of 6,400 metric tons, and four million salmon in Troms, or 6,820 metric tons, according to Norway’s Fiskeridirektoratet. Affected companies include Ballangen Sjøfarm, Ellingsen Seafood, Mortenlaks, and Nordlaks in Nordland and South Rollerfish, Northern Lights Salmon, Kleiva Fish Farm, Gratanglaks, Nordlaks, and Salaks in Troms.

“It may seem that blooming is on the way down. Generally lower numbers of algae are recorded, the cells are smaller in size and there are observations suggesting that the bloom/species is less harmful,” the directorate wrote in a 2 June update. “As reported in recent days, there have been high concentrations of algae without causing fish to die. It may happen that the algae bloom up again in smaller areas.”

Many salmon-farming companies in northern Norway have transferred their fish to locations less likely to be affected by the algae bloom. Cermaq, Nordlaks, Ellingsen Seafood, and Nordnorsk Stamfisk have moved fish and broodstock out of Nordland, while Lerøy had issued a notice that it was considering moving fish out of Troms, but delayed its decision as local water conditions improved.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MICHAEL MOORE & HANNAH MYERS: High-tech fishing gear could save right whales

May 29, 2019 — Many fish, marine mammals and seabirds that inhabit the world’s oceans are critically endangered, but few are as close to the brink as the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis). Only about 411 of these whales exist today, and at their current rate of decline, they could become extinct within our lifetimes.

From 1980 through about 2010, conservation efforts focused mainly on protecting whales from being struck by ships. Federal regulations helped reduce vessel collisions and supported a slight rebound in right whale numbers.

But at the same time, growing numbers of right whales died after becoming entangled in lobster and crab fishing gear. This may have happened because fishing ropes became stronger, and both whales and fishermen shifted their ranges so that areas of overlap increased. Entanglement has caused 80% of diagnosed mortalities since 2010, and the population has taken a significant downward turn.

This comes after a millennium of whaling that decimated the right whale population, reducing it from perhaps between 10,000 to 20,000 to a few hundred animals today. And entanglement deaths are much more inhumane than harpoons. A whaler’s explosive harpoon kills quickly, compared to months of drawn-out pain and debilitation caused by seemingly harmless fishing lines. We believe these deaths can be prevented by working with the trap fishing industries to adopt ropeless fishing gear — but North Atlantic right whales are running out of time.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Daily Times

Tally of endangered right whale calves spotted so far this year increases to seven

May 28, 2019 — Seven North Atlantic right whale calves have been spotted off the coast of the United States so far in 2019 – a positive development for the critically endangered species, according to a recent report from CBC News.

Last year, no new North Atlantic right whale calves were born, and the overall population for the species was estimated to be just 411 individuals. The increased presence of calves this year is encouraging for research scientists like Garry Stenson, who heads the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) marine mammal division in Canada.

“It’s really nice to start seeing that we’re getting more calves,” Stenson told CBC News. “It’s gonna take a lot more before we’re gonna be feeling at all comfortable, but it does help to have some. It’s a much better view than what we had last year.”

Plane surveillance carried out this month revealed that North Atlantic right whales have returned to Canadian waters earlier than usual this year, arriving in late May instead of the typical June, the DFO said.

One of the world’s three right whale populations, North Atlantic right whales usually spend their winters in warmer waters nearby Florida and Georgia before migrating to New England and the Canadian Maritimes for the summer. In years past during this migration, entanglements in fishing lines deployed by lobster and crab fishing operations and ship strikes have resulted in several whale deaths. In 2017, 17 right whales died from ship strikes or entanglements in fishing gear, and in 2018, an additional three right whales died from similar causes.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Life in the North Atlantic depends on this floating seaweed

May 15, 2019 — ‘THERE’S NOTHING LIKE it in any other ocean,’ says marine biologist Brian Lapointe. ‘There’s nowhere else on our blue planet that supports such diversity in the middle of the ocean—and it’s because of the weed.’

Lapointe is talking about a floating seaweed known as sargassum in a region of the Atlantic called the Sargasso Sea. The boundaries of this sea are vague, defined not by landmasses but by five major currents that swirl in a clockwise embrace around Bermuda. Far from any mainland, its waters are nutrient poor and therefore exceptionally clear and stunningly blue.

The Sargasso Sea, part of the vast whirlpool known as the North Atlantic gyre, often has been described as an oceanic desert—and it would appear to be, if it weren’t for the floating mats of sargassum.

The seaweed may seem unremarkable at first glance—just bunches of drifting plant matter—but as Lapointe has helped illuminate through his work, sargassum is the basis of a complex ecosystem that nurtures a stunning array of marine life. It serves as a mobile shelter and a movable feast.

For 36 years Lapointe, a biologist with Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, has combed the Sargasso Sea, observing sargassum by satellite and experiencing it firsthand in scuba gear. He wanted to figure out where the weed comes from, how it moves, what it sustains, and what sustains it—and to unravel the complex relationship sargassum has with other forms of marine life, from seahorses to great white sharks. Only by learning about this vital resource, he says, can we protect it from potential threats, such as ocean acidification and pollution.

Read the full story at National Geographic

McDonald’s rolls out Canada-wide product featuring MSC-certified haddock

May 14, 2019 — After a successful pilot in Atlantic Canada last summer, McDonald’s Canada is rolling out a new Fish & Chips meal at its restaurants throughout the country.

The fish used in the meals is Marine Stewardship Council-certified haddock, supplied by High Liner Foods in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. McDonald’s restaurants expect to use around 260,000 pounds of Atlantic haddock for the Fish & Chips during the limited-time offer, McDonald’s Canada said in a press release.

The haddock is caught off of Nova Scotia and packed in Atlantic Canada.

The new limited-time meal includes two pieces of fish coated with a crunchy batter and served with French fries and tartar dipping sauce.

Read the full story at Seafood Source