Saving Seafood

U.S. At-sea Processors Association fleet wins global labor certification

August 30, 2022 — Afleet of American fishing vessels has become the second ever to earn the Fairness, Integrity, Safety, and Health (FISH) Standard for Crew certification, a move deemed to be a major advance for the recognition of the importance of labor standards in the seafood industry.

The 14 Alaska pollock and Pacific whiting catcher-processors are operated by the U.S.-based firms American Seafoods, Arctic Storm, Coastal Villages, Glacier Fish, and Trident Seafoods, collectively operating as the At-sea Processors Association (APA). It is the second group to earn FISH Standard for Crew certification, after Nueva Pescanova’s Namibian subsidiary, NovaNam, received certification for its 11 fishing vessels in July 2022.

“Our employees are at the core of our operations,” Glacier Fish Company President and CEO Jim Johnson said. “It is incumbent on all of us to ensure that crew members are treated with the utmost fairness at every stage of the recruitment and employment process. We are proud to have voluntarily committed to this additional layer of scrutiny, which should give buyers and consumers continued confidence that we are doing right by the men and women who produce our seafood.”

FISH Standard for Crew is an accredited, global, third-party certification program launched in 2021 providing assurances that labor practices on vessels in certified wild-capture fisheries are using ethical labor practices and provide proper treatment of crews. The highest level of the standard includes adherence to four major principles: socially responsible labor practices and ethical behaviors, establishment of fair conditions of service for all fishers, assurances of the safety and health of all fishers, and the provision of decent accommodations, water, and food.

The FISH audit process includes vessel inspections; private interviews with crews; a review of company recruitment practices, pay records, and grievance logs; an examination of company safety protocols; and a review of company operations relating to crew welfare.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Pacific Whiting Fishery Opens Today to Same Harvest Levels as in 2017

May 16, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Pacific whiting fishery opens today and the National Marine Fisheries Service has released the final harvest specifications and tribal allocatons.

Based on the most recent stock assessment and negotiations with Canada, the U.S, total allowable catch (TAC) for this year is 441,433 mt. The harvest specifications are identical to 2017.

Tribal allocation, 77,251 mt; research and bycatch set-aside, 1,500 mt; harvest guideline, 362,682 mt.

The HG s further allocated to the trawl sectors as: catcher-processors, 34 percent, 123,312 mt; motherships, 24 percent, 87,044 mt; and shoreside, 42 percent,152,327 mt.

NMFS said it will add Pacific whiting to shoreside quota share accounts this week.

U.S. and Canadian scientists and fishery managers met earlier this year to discuss the stock assessment and joint TAC. Last year, Canada caught more than 50 percent of its quota. The U.S. had a productive year as well, catching more than 80 percent of its quota. Bycatch was not as much of a problem in 2017 as it had been in 2016, they said.

Year classes from 2010 and 2014 continue to contribute to the high TACs and success of the fisheries.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, it is republished here with permission.

 

Call for Nominations to U.S. Advisory Panel on Pacific Whiting Treaty

July 14, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The National Marine Fisheries Service is soliciting nominations for appointments to the United States Advisory Panel (AP) to the Pacific Hake/Whiting Treaty. The position is for a four year term beginning in 2018.

Nominations must be received by August 11, 2017.

The Pacific Whiting Act implements the 2003 agreement between the U.S. and Canada that provides for the establishment of an Advisory Panel (AP). The AP makes recommendations to the Joint Management Committee on bilateral Pacific whiting management issues.

AP members must be knowledgeable or experienced in the harvesting, processing, marketing, management, conservation, or research of the offshore Pacific whiting resource. Eight individuals represent the United States on the AP, and nominations for one of those positions are being solicited through this notice.

Nomination packages for appointments should include:

1. The name of the applicant or nominee, position they are being nominated for and a description of his/her interest in Pacific whiting; and

2. A statement of background and/or description of how the nominee is knowledgeable or experienced in the harvesting, processing, marketing, management, conservation, or research of the offshore Pacific whiting resource. Letters of support for nominees will also be considered.

Candidates may submit nominations by any of the following methods:

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

West Coast Whiting Stock Assessment Shows Population Highest Since 1980s

February 1, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The draft stock assessment for the Pacific whiting (hake) stock off the west coast of North America was released yesterday with higher estimates of spawning biomass than last year, which could result in an estimated median catch limit for 2017 of 969,840 tons.

In the past, Canada and the U.S. have agreed to a much lower catch limit due to the abundance of smaller fish, but this year the incidence of smaller size fish was only about 15% of the catch. However, uncertainty in abundance, recruitment, and future performance in the stock is high due in part to natural forces, so a precautionary approach is traditionally taken when setting the TAC.

Coastwide catch in 2016 was 329,427 tons, out of a TAC of 497,500 tons. The U.S. landed 70.7% of its quota; the Canadian fleets landed 53.7% of their quota. Both countries had a variety of constraints that prohibited full attainment.

The new estimate for catch is based on the whiting default harvest rule. That rule allows a level of removals that, according to the model, may result in lower spawning biomass as soon as the next two years. For that and other reasons, harvest levels have always been less. Last year’s TAC was the highest set in recent history, which shows a gradual increase since 2012. 

This year’s estimate of spawning biomass at 2.129 million tons compares to last year’s estimate of 1.993 million tons, which is slightly higher than the 1.885 million tons estimated in an earlier assessment.

“The stock is estimated to be at its highest biomass level since the 1980s as a result of es­timated large 2010 and 2014 cohorts. The 2014 cohort has not yet been observed by the survey and only twice by the commercial fishery, thus its absolute size is highly uncertain,” reads the report.

The draft was posted on the Pacific Whiting Treaty website by the Joint Technical Committee (JTC) of the Pacific Hake/Whiting Agreement Between the Governments of the United States and Canada. The Joint Management Committee (JMC) is planning a teleconference to discuss this document, during which the JTC will brief the JMC on the preliminary draft 2017 stock assessment on February 9, 2017.

The stock assessment model for 2017 is similar in structure to the 2016 model. It is fit to an acoustic survey index of abundance and annual commercial catch, as well as age compositions from the survey and commercial fisheries.

The spawning biomass in 2017 is estimated to have increased from 2016 due to the 2014 year-class likely being above average size.

This story originally appeared on Seafood News, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission. 

U.S. appeals court upholds Pacific whiting fishing quotas

August 8, 2016 — A federal appeals court upheld the government’s annual fishing quotas Thursday for the Pacific whiting, which dwells near the ocean floor off the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.

A vessel owner and a fish processor, both from Washington state, filed suit in San Francisco challenging the National Marine Fisheries Service’s limits on harvesting the whiting, which took effect in 2011. The rules, aimed at preserving the fish supply and discouraging frenzied activity at the outset of the fishing season, assigned each permit-holder a share of the overall catch based on their shares in past years — 2003 for fish harvesters, and 2004 for processors. Those years coincided with the start of the government’s rule-making process.

Other fishing companies and the Environmental Defense Fund supported the quotas. Their opponents argued that the selection of past years was arbitrary and violated a law requiring federal officials to take into account “present participation in the fishery” and “dependence on the fishery” when setting limits.

Read the full story at the San Francisco Chronicle