Saving Seafood

Peruvian giant squid, shrimp, hake, and more to be featured at Seafood Expo Global

May 3, 2019 — A collective of 23 Peruvian businesses will be exhibiting at this year’s upcoming Seafood Expo Global event, taking place from 7 to 9 May in Brussels, Belgium.

The group will showcase a variety of products under the Superfoods Peru brand name at the expo, including giant squid, scallops, shrimps, tuna, mahi mahi, canned fish, anchovy, hake, mackerel, anchovies, and octopus. Peruvian canned fish, anchovies, hake, mackerel, and octopus will also be on display at the collective’s 252-square-meter stand.

Peru’s Export and Tourism Promotion Board, PROMPERÚ, has arranged for the Peruvian delegation to attend the expo, it confirmed in a press release. “Taking in consideration the commercial agreements generated in previous editions,” for 2019, the delegation expects to exceed USD 120 million (EUR 107 million) in profits, to be realized over the upcoming 12 months, PROMPERÚ said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Data noose tightening on “handful” of nations responsible for overfishing

January 24, 2019 — Tony Long is the CEO of Global Fishing Watch, a freely accessible and near real-time digital map of the global ocean aimed at exposing illegal fishing. With Japan, Peru, and Indonesia all recently agreeing to share data with Global Fishing Watch as part of an effort to combat illegal fishing, Long is now pushing for more countries to contribute data. Additionally, Long’s office is working with governments and NGOs to make the Global Fishing Watch map more complete and allow the tracking of vessels guilty of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. 

SeafoodSource: How important are the ongoing World Trade Organization negotiations on eliminating fishing and fuel subsidies in the fight against IUU fishing?

Long: Cutting or eliminating fuel subsidies are an important fisheries management measure because … fuel subsidies are part of the overcapacity equation – especially for distance fleets and also high-seas fishing. People following the negotiations closely tell me that there are disagreements within the WTO as to whether this is the case. It is vital that this matter can be resolved during the negotiations.

SeafoodSource: You point to a “handful of wealthy countries” as being culpable in IUU fishing. Is this a corporate or a government problem?

Long: It’s both, but ultimately, governments are the ones that allow IUU fishing practices in their fleets to continue. There are many factors beyond harmful subsidies, including weak penalties, poor enforcement and licensing flags of convenience that allow IUU fishing to occur. That said, individual corporations also have huge responsibility. In particular, they can help drive out practices such as bonded labor and slavery at sea, they can demand cleared provenance to their catch by demanding complete and proper tracking of vessels, catch documentation and open licensing as part of their contract with the supply chain. The recent green card given to Thailand is a good example of government, corporations, and NGOs working together to improve a dire situation.

SeafoodSource: According to an article in Science Advances, “On the high seas, 97 percent of all such fishing effort detectable by AIS is conducted by vessels flagged to higher-income nations. Dominance of this high-seas industrial fishing effort at the level of flag nation was highly uneven. The vast majority (86 percent) of this effort can be attributed to only five higher-income countries/entities, in rank order high to low: China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Spain.” Have rich countries also been willing to work with you and to share information?

Long: We have a [memorandum of understanding] signed with Japan to improve research and understanding of IUU fishing in the North Pacific and share data. We have staff in Korea and Taiwan to take forward the benefits of transparency. [And] we are in the very early stages of working with a coalition of European Union-based NGOs to look at the E.U. fleet and coastal states where [those vessels] fish. We are engaging with NGOs and foundations interested in China in order to identify a strategy on working with China.

Read the full Seafood Source

Fishmeal market turns bearish on good production, ASF, high China stocks

January 11, 2019 — The fishmeal market is described as bearish as good production in Peru weighs on market prices while stocks mount in China, as demand there takes a bigger hit than expected from an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak.

“It’s all bearish news,” James Frank, director of Peruvian fishmeal trading company MSICeres, told Undercurrent News Tuesday (Jan. 8). “The market is dropping in China as local fishmeal is competing with imported and port stocks are still high.”

“The [ASF] outbreak is taking a larger toll on Chinese hog herds than expected initially,” Jean-Francois Mittaine, an industry expert with 30 years experience, told Undercurrent. “I heard the situation has led to significantly lower usage of fishmeal.”

Stocks of fishmeal held in Chinese ports have hit a 10-year high for the time of year, at 186,000 metric tons, according to Chinese government figures. According to Undercurrent’s price portal, in Shanghai port, Peruvian superprime fishmeal offer prices, ex-warehouse, have fallen to CNY 10,700 per metric ton ($1,566/t), down CNY 1,200/t since mid-October.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Mislabeling Food in Peru Stirs Overfishing Worries

December 27, 2018 — In Peru, ceviche is not just the national dish but also a way of life.

The country may be best known for its Inca heritage but it is also a fishing superpower while its acclaimed culinary renaissance is arguably a greater source of local pride than Machu Picchu.

Even high in the Andes, residents are accustomed to lunching on the marinated seafood salad made with fresh fish trucked straight up from the Pacific Coast.

But what may shock Peruvians is learning that due to mislabeling they are unwittingly consuming endangered shark species. According to Juan Carlos Riveros, science director for the Peruvian arm of the international marine conservation nonprofit Oceana, 8 in 10 customers here fall for the misleading practice.

A recent DNA study by nonprofits Oceana and ProDelphinius found that 43 percent of the 450 samples taken from fish in Peruvian restaurants, supermarkets and fishing terminals were mislabeled. The reason for that is simple, conservationists say; the number of fish in Peru’s heavily exploited waters is dwindling. Sometimes inadvertent and sometimes deliberate, mislabeling a catch is always ecologically damaging given the dramatic and unsustainable fall in shark populations around the world.

Read the full story at U.S. News

SFP report: Path to mahi sustainability requires more data

December 20, 2018 — The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership released its latest sector report on mahi, finding that the biggest obstacle to the fishery reaching its “Target 75” goal is a lack of data in the fishery.

The report, released on 19 December, indicates that 59.3 percent of the mahi fishery can be considered either sustainable or improving. That number is largely related to eight fishery improvement projects (FIP) covering the mahi fishery, with the largest of those centered in Peru.

“The mahi-mahi FIP in Peru produces by far the largest of this ‘improving’ volume (53,297 tons),” the SFP report said

Peru produces the largest amount of mahi in the world by a significant margin, with 61,900 metric tons (MT) of mahi produced in 2015. That total is followed by Ecuador, at 11,400 MT; and Indonesia at 11,300 MT. Together, the three countries represent 70 percent of the world’s mahi production. The three countries currently have FIPs that could be expanded to cover larger portions of their fisheries.

“Mahi is an important large pelagic commodity, especially in the U.S.,” SFP CEO Jim Cannon said. “We’re pleased to see so many fisheries already functioning sustainably or involved in improvement projects that are showing progress. This is good news for the sector.”

According to SFP, if FIPs in Peru, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Costa Rica are expanded to cover the entirety of those nation’s production, the improving category would increase by another 15.3 percent.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Research shows inefficient fishing costs global companies over $51bn annually

November 28, 2018 — An international research initiative has calculated that fishing companies worldwide are losing between $51-$83 billion in unrealized economic benefits every year due to overexploitation and underperforming fish stocks.

According to research undertaken by experts at the organization Sea Around Us, companies are spending too much for the fish, revenue and profits that they ultimately generate.

The organization’s latest report studied menhaden fisheries off the coast of the US and anchovies off the west shores of Peru. In both cases, Sea Around Us believes that profits could be substantially increased if stocks had been fished more intelligently.

“We found that Atlantic and Gulf menhaden stocks were in a healthy state and were being exploited below sustainable levels. By not augmenting their catches the two largest companies targeting them were losing $50 million in additional revenues and $12 million in profits,” lead author Tim Cashion said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Sea Around Us identified that Peru could also have increased its annual revenues by $3m – $9.1m from 2011 to 2015 if anchovy stocks had been allowed to recover in that time.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Peru becomes second nation to put fishing vessels on public monitoring site

October 29th, 2018 — Peru has taken a “bold” step toward making its commercial fishing practices more transparent, putting at least 1,300 of its industrial fishing vessels on a publicly accessible website so that their locations can be monitored in real-time, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) and Oceana report in a jointly issued statement.

The change marks a 10-fold increase in the number of Peruvian vessels detectable by GFW’s Automatic Identification System (AIS), and represents a big boost in efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, the groups said.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Fishmeal industry optimistic on upcoming Peruvian anchovy season

October 15, 2018 — Fishmeal and fish oil industry sources are optimistic about the upcoming Peruvian anchovy fishing season, which might start earlier than expected, in mid-November.

Peru’s ministry of production (Produce) is expected to announce the start of the fishing season around the end of October, taking into account the outcome of the maritime institute’s ongoing evaluation.

“Sea conditions are optimal and good reproduction has already started on the acoustic cruise that will end at the end of October,” said Humberto Speziani, IFFO board member and former president of IFFO and of the Peruvian National Fisheries Society (SNP).

Although the evaluation hasn’t yet been completed, it seems that biomass in the water is abundant, which could lead to a quota of 2 million-2.5m metric tons, according to sources. Despite rumors that the quota could be as high as 2.5m metric tons, 2m-2.2m metric tons is more in line with the historical average, one source pointed out.

“2m-2.5m metric tons is quite a reliable assumption of quota,” Jean-Francois Mittaine, an analyst with 30 years experience in the sector, told Undercurrent News, adding that fishmeal and fish oil prices were currently “quite stable”.

Super prime fishmeal is currently priced at around $1,630-1,650 per metric ton, while fish oil is at around $1,350/t, according to industry sources in Peru. Meanwhile, prices in China were slightly falling, driven by expectations of a good upcoming Peruvian season, according to sources.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Japan, Peru using cutting-edge technology to combat IUU fishing

October 2, 2018 — Japan and Peru, two of the world’s biggest players when it comes to seafood, are hoping to crack down on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their exclusive economic zones through increased use of cutting-edge technology.

A key player in both countries’ efforts is the Global Fishing Watch, an international nonprofit organization with the goal of “advancing sustainability of the oceans through increased transparency.” Its mapping platform, which can be found on the GFW website, allows anyone to view or download data and investigate global fishing activity in near real-time, for free. GFW was founded in 2015 through a collaboration between Oceana, SkyTruth, and Google.

Global Fishing Watch’s tracking of automatic identification system (AIS) messages from ocean-going boats is now being used to fight illegal transshipment inside and near Japan’s exclusive economic zone. GFW recently signed onto a collaboration with the Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency (FRA) and the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS) at the University of Wollongong to investigate IUU fishing and strengthen transparency and governance of fisheries within the region.

To detect pairs of vessels meeting at sea, GFW and analysts at SkyTruth and Google applied machine learning algorithms to more than 30 billion automatic identification system (AIS) messages from ocean-going boats to find tell-tale transshipment behavior, such as two vessels alongside each other long enough to transfer catch, crew, or supplies. AIS is a collision avoidance system that constantly transmits a vessel’s location at sea. These transmissions are collected by satellite receivers and delivered to GFW for automated processing. Nearly all refrigerated cargo vessels carry AIS and those ships receiving fish can be identified and their activity plotted on the map.

Read the full story at Seafood Source