Seafood Source Archives - Saving Seafood

The Top 25 Seafood Product Innovators – 2021 Edition

September 28, 2021 — Welcome to The Top 25 Seafood Product Innovators list, featuring a group of North American seafood providers that have brought an innovative shine to these uncertain times.

It’s been a long, busy 18 months for the seafood industry, and with 2021 a breath away from its final quarter, there’s much to reflect on. From record retail sales to comebacks for foodservice operators and in-person events, it seems stories of hope have begun to arrive after a long suspension. We think this year’s edition of the Top 25 will fit right into that theme.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Cooke Aquaculture continuing to fight Washington ban even as it ponders next steps

March 9, 2018 — In an interview with SeafoodSource, Cooke Vice President of Communications Joel Richardson discussed his company’s efforts to convince Washington Governor Jay Inslee of the merits of the industry as the governor considers signing a bill that would phase out non-native finfish aquaculture in his state. Richardson also discussed the formulation of his company’s back-up plan in case it was unsuccessful in convincing the governor to veto the bill.

SeafoodSource: Is Cooke making any efforts to reach out to Gov. Inslee as he considers signing the bill?

Richardson: Yes, we will continue to reach out to Gov. Inslee over the coming days to urge him to veto HB 2957. Over the last few months we have provided Gov. Inslee and all legislators in Washington with evidence-based science from well-respected, credible fishery scientists to inform and educate on sea farming practices. We are also aware that the Washington Fish Growers Association is now urging Governor Jay Inslee to veto the bill this week calling on a ban on Atlantic salmon aquaculture in state waters “Ill-conceived and politically motivated rather than based on the best available science.”

SeafoodSource: In what ways was science not taken into proper account by legislators as they considered the bill?

Richardson: You will have to ask the governor and legislators to answer that question. However, in the aquaculture industry’s view, it’s appalling that that lawmakers have ignored calls to drop the ban from some of the world’s top aquaculture and fisheries scientists, including from the state Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, who refuted false and misleading claims made by anti-sea farming groups, tribes, and politicians that Atlantic salmon, when and if they escape, could interbreed with Pacific stocks or colonize rivers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that the science from decades of peer-reviewed research does not support the conspiracy theory that Atlantic salmon that escape from net pens will colonize our rivers and/or interbreed with native stocks.

Read the full interview at Seafood Source

New Fisheries Monitoring Technology to Take Center Stage at Seafood Source Webinar

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) — October 19, 2016 — This Thursday, October 20, advances in low-cost small-scale fisheries monitoring will be showcased on Seafood Source’s monthly webinar series. Viewers will learn how emerging technology is significantly smaller and cheaper than traditional vessel monitoring systems, and is helping to lead the fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. These new tools are also ensuring that small-scale and artisanal fishermen remain competitive as standards for seafood transparency increase.

“Small Vessels, BIG Data: Silicon Valley Takes Up the Fight Against IUU Fishing” will feature Pelagic Data Systems’ (PDS) CEO Dave Solomon and Chief Scientific Officer Melissa Garren, along with Jack Whalen of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and will be hosted by Seafood Source editor Cliff White. It will be held from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. EST, and is free to view with registration at seafoodsource.com.

PDS is the developer of lightweight vessel tracking systems made specially for small vessels that are being used to fight IUU fishing, and the exploitation of global fish stocks. It has partnered with fishing and conservation groups to pilot its technology in Southeast Asia, as well as Latin America and West Africa. The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership is a non-profit that works to rebuild depleted fish stocks.

Technology such as the one developed by PDS provides monitoring for vessels that are otherwise unable to accommodate large and expensive traditional satellite-based monitoring systems. Such technology is growing in importance as regulations increasingly put a premium on transparency in the seafood supply chain. Just recently, the U.S. raised standards on imported seafood, making it more important than ever for fishermen to have cheap tracking tools to verify sustainable practices.

Using vessel-monitoring tools can also help small-scale and artisanal fishermen stay competitive as the demand for seafood transparency grows. Certifications for fairly traded and sustainably caught seafood can increase the price of catch, but require more comprehensive monitoring to achieve. New technologies allow fishermen to be proactive in demonstrating they are doing things the right way, without waiting for regulations to force their hand.

Today, 95 percent of the global fishing fleet consists of small-scale vessels, and most of these are invisible to data monitoring. This allows for IUU fishing, which hurts the vast majority of the fishing industry and steals profits from legitimate fishing businesses. Filling in the data gap for small-scale fisheries has the potential to benefit law-abiding fishermen while helping to rid the world of IUU fishing.

Tuna fisheries can be profitable and sustainable, MSC says

October 7, 2016 — On 14 September, SeafoodSource published an article reviewing a scientific paper written by Producers’ Association of Large Tuna Freezers (OPAGAC), a Spanish industry organization, criticizing the policies of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in regard to fish aggregating devices (FADs). MSC responded with a letter to SeafoodSource addressing the reasons behind its policies. SeafoodSource replied to MSC to ask three follow-up questions regarding issues not explicitly discussed by the organization in its letter. Here are MSC’s responses:

SeafoodSource: Does MSC consider the use of FADs an “unsustainable” method of fishing?

MSC: Certification to the MSC Fisheries Standard is based on comprehensive assessment of the impacts of a particular fishery and the environment within which it operates. Therefore, because of the variations in the impacts that different FADs and fishing techniques can have in different marine environments, the MSC Fisheries Standard does not include specific requirements for FAD use, nor does it prohibit the use of FADs. However MSC requirements that any impacts on bycatch species are sustainable mean that fisheries using FADs with high or unknown levels of bycatch can struggle to achieve certification. There are currently no purse seine fisheries certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard for tuna caught using drifting FADs. However, there are some purse seine fisheries on free schools (“unassociated” with floating objects) that are certified, and two MSC certified fisheries which catch tuna associated with anchored FADs.

Read the full interview at Seafood Source