Saving Seafood

To protect coral, bottom fishing gear banned near Delaware’s coast

December 16th, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency is banning commercial fishing gear that could drag along the seafloor in part of the Atlantic Ocean – including a portion 66 miles off the Delaware coast.

Deep-sea coral can live for hundreds to thousands of years, but once they are damaged, they can take decades or even centuries to re-grow.

To ensure these corals can live undisturbed, a section of the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Virginia – about the size of Virginia – has been designated as “protected”. The protected area is about 66 miles from Delaware’s shore and covers a portion of the Baltimore Canyon. Joseph Gordon, Pew Charitable Trust’s manager of U.S. northeast oceans, said that means fishing gear that reaches down to the depths that deep-sea coral inhabit would not be allowed to operate there.

“They’ve lived a long time but they live in an environment that is cold, with huge pressure, without light,” Gordon said, about the coral. “And so fishing technology could damage them in a way that could take centuries to recover from.”

Some bottom-fishing technologies include rockhoppers and canyon-busters. They are designed to roll over boulders and canyons, and according to Oceana, they can weigh at least several hundred pounds. NOAA authorizes the gear that fishermen can use for commercial fishing, and documented almost 1,000 bottom-fishing technologies in use in the Mid-Atlantic region in 2016. That is up from 630 documented in 2013.

Read the full story at Delaware Public Media 

The White House Just Made It Easier To Know The Fish You’re Eating Is Actually Fish

December 9, 2016 — The Obama administration took a massive step in the fight against seafood fraud and illegal fishing on Thursday, introducing a rule that will help Americans know the fish they’re eating is truly what they paid for.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will oversee the Seafood Import Monitoring Program, which will require about 25 percent of imported seafood to be traced from the boat or farm it comes from to the U.S. border. The rule is meant to curb the mislabeling of fish before it enters the U.S. (about 90 percent of fish we consume is imported) and cut down on overfishing. Businesses will have until the beginning of 2018 to comply.

“Today’s announcement is a groundbreaking step towards more transparency and traceability in the seafood supply chain,”said Beth Lowell, a senior campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, in a statement. “For the first time ever, some imported seafood will now be held to the same standards as domestically caught fish, helping to level the playing field for American fishermen and reducing the risk facing U.S. consumers.”

Read the full story at the Huffington Post

Obama finalizes stricter monitoring of seafood imports

December 9th, 2016 — The administration U.S. President Barack Obama has announced the implementation of the Seafood Import Monitoring Program to qualified enthusiasm from environmental groups.

The fruits of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud, authorized by Obama in June 2014, the program will require “at-risk” seafood that is imported into the United States to be tracked to its source and properly labeled.

Studies by ocean conservation watchdog Oceana found that around one-third of market and restaurant seafood products were mislabeled, while the organization estimates that up to one-third of the wild-caught seafood being imported into the United States is the result of IUU fishing.

Oceana’s senior campaign director Beth Lowell released a statement today saying the program should help protect U.S. fisherman from being undermined by illegally caught imports.

“For the first time ever, some imported seafood will now be held to the same standards as domestically caught fish, helping to level the playing field for American fishermen and reducing the risk facing U.S. consumers,” Lowell’s statement said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

MEPs support further control of fleet operating outside the EU

December 7th, 2016 — The European Parliament’s Fisheries Committee on Monday approved the European Commission’s proposal to regulate the activities of the EU fleet operating outside European Union waters.

MEPs have recognized the need to take steps towards greater transparency and sustainability of fisheries. One of the measures proposed is the creation of the first public register on fleet activities in third countries, international waters and Regional Fisheries Organizations (RFOs).

Several environmental organizations welcomed the decision taken by the Committee on Fisheries of the European Parliament.

Oceana, in particular, congratulates MEPs on their support for the creation of the first public database of fishing authorizations (including IMO numbers, owners and potential catches).

“The European Parliament has today taken a significant step towards raising standards and providing pioneering rules for fishing activities outside EU waters, which accounts for 28 per cent of total EU catches. The vote of the Committee on Fisheries is a great step forward in making the European fleet to consolidate as an international model of transparency, accountability and sustainability,” explains Maria Jose Cornax, Campaign Director for Oceana in Europe.

Read the full story at FIS

California wildlife agency backs deep sea protections

December 5th, 2016 — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has given preliminary support to a plan to protect more than 16,000 square miles of deep ocean habitat off of Southern California, while reopening nearly 3,000 square miles of rockfish conservation area to fishing.

The plan, proposed by the marine nonprofit Oceana, was one of the alternatives that the Pacific Fishery Management Council considered as it reviewed West Coast groundfish management plans in late November.

“With the inclusion of the proposed modifications, CDFW tentatively supports Oceana’s proposal south of Point Conception,” the fish and wildlife department wrote in its comment letter to the council.

It noted, however, that the plan requires more review and input from fishermen, scientists and other interested people, and suggested minor revisions to the closure map.

“We were pretty thrilled to hear that the state of California identified that proposal that we submitted as their preferred option,” said Geoff Shester, California campaign director for Oceana. “The idea is that we’re trying to freeze the footprint, and protect areas that are not yet developed.”

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which manages U.S. fisheries from the edge of state waters to 200 nautical miles offshore, is updating its essential fish habitat for West Coast groundfish, including rockfish and other species.

Read the full story at The San Diego Union Tribune 

Oceana Files Legal Challenge to Northern Anchovy Catch Limit

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — November 29, 2016 — Last week, environmental group Oceana filed a lawsuit alleging that a recent National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) specification rule allows commercial fishing for northern anchovy at levels that threaten the anchovy population and the marine ecosystem. The complaint was filed against the NMFS, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the District Court of Northern California.

The specification rule in question, announced October 26, 2016 under the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management Plan, set an annual catch limit (ACL) of 25,000 metric tons for the central subpopulation of anchovy. In its lawsuit, Oceana claims that the NMFS did not articulate the scientific basis for this ACL, did not base the ACL and related management measures on best available science, and did not explain how it would prevent overfishing and protect the West Coast marine ecosystem’s food web.

In doing so, Oceana claims that the rule violates the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. The complaint claims that the northern anchovy population has severely declined since 2009, and that northern anchovy are “one of the most important forage species” in the California marine ecosystem.

“The Fisheries Service’s actions and failures to act have harmed Oceana’s members’ interest in rebuilding and maintaining a healthy and sustainable population of northern anchovy and a healthy ocean ecosystem,” said the lawsuit, which was filed by lawyers from Earthjustice on Oceana’s behalf. “This harm will continue in the absence of action by the Court.”

Read the full legal complaint as a PDF

Catch quota implemented to protect swordfish

November 23, 2016 — A world body of fishing and shipping nations approved a catch quota yesterday to protect the overharvested Mediterranean swordfish, the EU and conservation group Oceana said.

The limit was set at 10,500 tonnes for 2017 at a meeting of the 51-member International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in Vilamoura, Portugal.

It will be reduced by three per cent per year between 2018 and 2022.

“It’s done. Finally, ICCAT on its 50th anniversary moved a step forward on this too long-neglected stock,” Oceana’s Ilaria Vielmini said in the coastal town where the commission held its annual meeting.

Read the full story from AFP at NT News

Satellite, cellular technology starting to catch up to IUU scofflaws

November 10, 2016 — Technological advancements in satellite and cellular technology are being brought to bear in the international fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, enabling greater levels of surveillance and policing in the vast – and previously mostly lawless – open ocean.

An article in Business Insider details the story of how the tiny island nation of Kiribati successfully used satellite imaging provided by Global Fishing Watch, a partnership between Google, Oceana and SkyTruth, to catch a commercial fishing vessel fishing illegally in a no-catch zone. Central Pacific Fishing Company, the owner of the vessel, Marshalls 203, was fined USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million) as a result of the investigation.

Another group that is pushing the envelope when it comes to using tracking technology onboard fishing vessels is Pelagic Data Systems. The company, based in San Francisco, California, has developed a cellular vessel tracking system specifically designed for small-scale fisheries and small-boats, which compose as much as 95 percent of the world’s fishing fleet.

The smaller, solar-powered units that Pelagic Data Systems has designed are much cheaper than an AIS system, and have been successfully implemented on a variety of vessel sizes and types. The units record a geolocation every few seconds, stores it on the vessel after compressing and encrypting it, and uploads data when it comes into contact with a cellular network, according to PDS chief scientific officer Melissa Garren, who presented as part of the SeafoodSource webinar “Small vessels, big data: Silicon Valley takes up the fight against IUU fishing” on Thursday, 20 October.

“The challenge is to put all vessels on the map using a combination of all different sorts of technology,” Garren said. “Whatever it takes to improve fisheries management, the livelihood of fishermen, and the environmental sustainability of our marine resources.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Satellite Tracking Spots Suspicious Activity from 12 Chinese Fishing Vessels in Peruvian Waters

October 17th, 2016 — At least a dozen Chinese vessels have illegally fished inside Peru’s national waters between January 2015 and September 2016, according to data analyzed by the satellite tracking platform Global Fishing Watch. This data suggests that over the course of the last year, Hong Pu5, Shung Feng 002 and several other vessels entered Peruvian waters at least once to fish in violation of international law.

Global Fishing Watch — a joint initiative of Oceana, SkyTruth and Google — uses navigation technology known as the Automatic Identification System (AIS) to track the movements of nearly 40,000 commercial fishing vessels around the world. AIS transmits a vessel’s identity, type, location, course and speed. Global Fishing Watch’s algorithm uses this information to identify fishing patterns, which helps fisheries officials and enforcement agencies spot potential criminal activity.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), illegal fishing in Peru is responsible for $360 million in losses each year. Peru is something of a “paradise” for pirate fishing, said Juan Carlos Sueiro, Oceana Peru’s fisheries director.

While neighbors Colombia, Chile and Ecuador have ratified a new FAO treaty aimed at curbing the trade in illegal fish in port cities, Peru has dragged its heels. As a result, Sueiro said, Chinese and other foreign vessels suspected of illegal fishing can freely dock, refuel, buy food and offload their catch in Peru.

Read the full story at Oceana 

Bait and Switch Still a Favorite Policy for Many Seafood Restaurants

October 6th, 2016 — Happy National Seafood Month!

But do you know what’s in your sushi or that basket of fish and chips? A recent report indicates you might not.

According to research compiled by ocean conservation group Oceana from 200 studies, 20 percent of seafood sold worldwide is mislabeled.

So that tuna you’re enjoying might actually be whale meat, and the “wild-caught salmon” commanding the high ticket price on the menu may actually be cheaper farmed salmon. In other egregious cases, fish containing high levels of mercury are being sold as safer alternatives, and some “caviar” contains no animal DNA whatsoever.

How can this happen? “Seafood fraud is one of those issues that isn’t always under one [government] agency,” Beth Lowell, senior campaign director at Oceana, explained to NBC. “There’s this patchwork of fish management laws, wildlife trafficking laws, food and drug laws.”

Oceana defines mislabeling as “species substitution where one fish was sold as another.” And, according to their research, it’s rampant.

Fishy methodology?

But not everyone agrees that the problem is as widespread as this report indicates. The National Fisheries Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to education about seafood safety, sustainability, and nutrition — and which promotes dietary guidelines recommending Americans include fish and shellfish in their diets twice per week — responded to the Oceana report criticizing their methods.

The NFI cited FDA research that shows the percentage of mislabeled (primarily domestic) seafood is 15 percent, focusing on the varieties at highest risk for mislabeling and/or substitution, including cod, snapper, and grouper.

Others in the industry think all of these numbers are overstated. “My belief is that it’s very, very small,” Wayne Samiere, a marine biologist and owner of Honolulu Fish Company, told NBC. “In seafood, reputation is everything. Who would risk their reputation?”

“You can always go to a restaurant and find something, always dig up some kind of thing going on, but is it going on on a large scale?” he said. “There’s simply no way. A high-end chef in a large restaurant group, these are the guys that will be the most afraid, they have the most to lose. The benefit is very small.”

Read the full story at NBC