Saving Seafood

Forum Fisheries committee seeking ways forward for Pacific tuna fisheries

May 16, 2024 — The 133rd Forum Fisheries Committee Officials Annual Meeting was held in Nauru from May 6-10, 2024. Of special interest to American Samoa, the Committee discussed the Forum Fisheries Agency’s (FFA) ongoing effort to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and endorsed a new monitoring, control and surveillance strategy – the Regional Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance Strategy (RMCSS) for 2024-2029.

The meeting brought together fisheries officials from the 17 Members of the Pacific Islands FFA, as well as observers from regional and international organizations, to deliberate and agree on ways forward for Pacific tuna fisheries.

The weeklong meeting involved the endorsements of strategic and implementation plans by FFA, proposal of new initiatives, as well as resolving the challenges Members face in their fisheries work, according to an FAA press release.

Among other key endorsements made by the Committee include the Information Management Strategy, designed to strengthen the data systems and improve regional information coordination, and the Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Strategy.

These are part of FFA’s ongoing efforts to integrate inclusive principles into fisheries management and the continued improvement of social benefits from Members’ tuna fisheries.

Read the full article at Samoa News

Vietnam to Scale Up to Become a Sustainable and Modern Fishing Nation

May 15, 2024 — Vietnam is aiming to have a modern, sustainable fishing industry, in line with those countries who already have a developed fishing sector across the region and to make it align with world fishing operations by 2050.

It is one of the targets set in a plan for aquatic resources protection and exploitation for the period 2021-30, which has been approved by Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang.

Under that plan, marine biodiversity and inland waterways will be preserved and developed to safeguard all material and spiritual improvements; ensure social security; protect sovereignty, security and to protect the national interests across Vietnam’s rivers and seas.

The target is a sustainable and responsible fishery sector in keeping with international integration requirements.

Fisheries exploitation will unite to protect the environment, adapting to climate change and proactively prevent and combat natural disasters.

The goal is for 27 marine protected areas to be set and operated over a total area of about 463,587ha, accounting for about 0.463 per cent of the nation’s waterways.

As many as 149 sea areas and 19 inland areas will be zoned to protect aquatic resources and young aquatic animals, while Vietnam aims to set a maximum total number of fishing vessels to about 83,600.

There will also be a strong focus on recovering aquatic resources, especially economically valuable species; endangered, precious and rare ones.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

US Department of Labor: Forced labor no longer prevalent in Thailand’s shrimp sector

May 14, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is pushing for a revision to a 15-year-old determination that child labor is prevalent in Thailand’s shrimp sector.

Thai shrimp were added to the DOL’s annual “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor” since 2009, which requires importers to go through a series of additional checks to ensure forced or indentured child labor was not employed to produce any shrimp they buy from Thailand.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Pacific Islands US Tuna Treaty Signed

April 17, 2024 — On March 28, 2024, in Suva, Fiji, the United States State Department and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) signed a tuna treaty that will allow the US purse seine fleet to continue fishing in the EEZs of 17 Pacific island nations that are party to the agreement.

The South Pacific Tuna Treaty originally went into effect in June of 1988, and the latest renewal will continue the agreement until June 2033. The memorandum of understanding allows the United States fleet operating under the Treaty to continue fishing in the EEZs of the Pacific Island Parties in 2024, pending the formal adoption of the agreed amendments and revised text of the Treaty for 2025 onwards. In exchange for access granted to US tuna vessels, the revised Treaty package includes an annual $60 million payment from the United States Government for the next ten years (2023-2033) and a further amount paid by the industry. In addition to this annual payment, the United States Government had agreed to provide US $10 million in 2023 to be distributed equally to the Pacific Island Parties for economic development, including climate change-related projects.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

American Samoa says restrictions on fishing are crippling the economy

April 15, 2024 — In a letter to the U.S. Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in September, American Samoa’s Gov. Lemanu Mauga wrote that “fishing prohibitions not only weaken U.S. fisheries but also increase seafood imports and jeopardize U.S. food and national security.”

A proposal to expand fishing restrictions in the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Area, referred to as PRIA, has sparked debate about conservation of Pacific fish populations, as well as an unlikely conversation about competition between the U.S. and China in the region.

Situated in the middle of Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa, PRIA encompasses Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Wake Island, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef.

Parts of the region’s waters were blocked off from fishing through the establishment of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush in 2009, and it was expanded by President Barack Obama in 2014.

A new proposal from President Joe Biden in March 2023 would further expand it to protect 777, 000 square miles of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, known as the EEZ—an area larger than Alaska—essentially blocking it all from fishing and making it the world’s largest marine protected area.

It’s based in part on proposals from environmental advocates in Hawaii, who have pushed for further protections. But officials in American Samoa have charged that the new restrictions would “destroy ” their fishing industry and potentially lead to the closure of the StarKist Samoa cannery. According to the territory’s government, the cannery makes up 85 % of American Samoa’s gross domestic product and is responsible for 99.5 % of its exports.

Read the full article at AOL

NORTH CAROLINA: Offshore wind is ‘core’ to clean energy plans in N.C., Duke Energy VP says

March 6, 2023 — A Duke Energy official called offshore wind a “core part” of the company’s goals to reduce carbon emissions.

A bipartisan 2021 law requires North Carolina’s energy producers to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. Duke Energy, North Carolina’s largest energy producer, and the state Utilities Commission continue to refine plans to hit the carbon reduction goals.

“We have 9 gigawatts of coal, and we need to replace that,” said Venu Ghanta, a vice president with Duke Energy. Three of the four plans the company submitted to the state to hit carbon reduction goals include offshore wind. “Offshore wind seems to be a core part of getting to 70% by 2030.”

Read the full article at Spectrum News

Fishery Management Council Recommends a New US Strategy in the Pacific Islands with the WCPFC

December 10, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed outcomes from the December Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) meeting, including proposed protections on sharks, and conservation and management of South Pacific albacore and bigeye tuna. Despite scientific advice, the 18th WCPFC meeting ended without an agreement on increasing Hawai‘i longline fishery bigeye tuna catch limits, or reducing total catch on South Pacific albacore with a goal of increasing catch rates for fisheries such as American Samoa. The tone of the negotiations was unfavorable for U.S. interests.

The U.S. objectives included a 3,000 metric ton increase in the bigeye tuna catch limits for the Hawai‘i longline fishery, and that purse seine vessels based out of American Samoa, a small island developing state, have recognized privileges. The U.S. proposed prohibiting wire leaders on fishing gear to promote shark conservation and increasing observer coverage from 5% to 10%. None of these measures were adopted.

During Council deliberations, it was decided that a completely new strategy is needed for the U.S. government to tie in the geopolitical interests of U.S. fisheries in the Pacific through a high-level campaign with increased multi-federal agency engagement. Council Executive Director Kitty Simonds noted, “This can only be done by all federal agencies–Departments of State, Interior, Homeland Security and even Defense–working together well in advance of meetings to make the landscape workable for us at the WCPFC.”

For more information, visit https://meetings.wcpfc.int/meetings/wcpfc18.

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Regarding the proposed Northwestern Hawaiian Islands sanctuary designation, the Council discussed several considerations for potential noncommercial fishery regulations, including customary exchange. The initial discussion looked at Council-developed regulations in the Pacific marine national monuments and previous Council scoping in Hawai‘i.

NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries initiated the public process in November 2021, and the Council is formally consulted to provide fishery regulations. The Council will provide NOAA with a response in advance of its March 31, 2022, deadline.

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The Council discussed the feasibility of a limited cultural take for honu (green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas) in the main Hawaiian Islands. Dave Hogan, U.S. State Department, told the Council that the Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC) and protection under the Endangered Species Act are both barriers to proceeding with consideration of a cultural take for any area under the U.S. jurisdiction. The U.S. is party to the IAC that prohibits the intentional capture, retention or killing of, and domestic trade in, sea turtles, their eggs, parts or products. The IAC does allow for an economic subsistence exception, but not cultural take for indigenous use.

Manny Dueñas, Council vice chair for Guam, expressed his dismay, saying he believed in perpetuating culture, rather than “pickling it and putting it in a jar.” Council members from across the jurisdictions pressed the Council to pursue recognition of the indigenous cultural harvest of honu within the IAC.

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The Council continues to prioritize efforts to support equity and environmental justice (EEJ) for underserved communities in the Western Pacific Region, and recommended that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) use data to help characterize EEJ impacts region-wide.

At the Council Coordination Committee (CCC) meeting in October 2021, the Council presented regional EEJ approaches and needs alongside the North Pacific Council and NOAA. The CCC decided to convene a workshop ahead of the committee’s next meeting in May 2022. The Western Pacific Council is taking a lead role in the development of the workshop expected to be held in Hawai‘i in February 2022.

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A CCC subgroup on area-based management created a working definition for conservation to address the goals under the president’s America the Beautiful 30×30 initiative. The working definition of a conservation area is an 1) established, geographically defined area, with 2) planned management or regulation of environmentally adverse fishing activities, that 3) provides for the maintenance of biological productivity and diversity, ecosystem function and services (including seafood production).

The Council will send a letter to NMFS that conservation areas should: 1) be informed by empirical evidence and scientific veracity, 2) be adequately monitored and enforced, 3) be adaptive to address climate change—especially in the Pacific Islands, and 4) recognize existing subsistence and native rights.

The Council manages federal fisheries operating in waters offshore of the State of Hawai‘i, the Territories of American Samoa and Guam, the CNMI and the U.S. Pacific Remote Islands Areas. The next meeting of the Council will be March 22-24, 2022.

 

One of world’s largest protected areas now being opened to commercial fishing

November 17, 2021 — One of the world’s largest protected marine areas will open again to commercial fishing, the Kiribati government said Monday.

The Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA), located in the south Pacific, was designated as a “no-take” zone in 2015, which prohibited commercial fishing in the area encompassing more than 157,000 square miles, The Guardian reported.

“Similar to any Government, our decisions, as we make them, put the livelihoods of our people at the fore and have been carefully considered and agreed to as a Government,” a government press statement read, referring to the economic benefits the nation could receive by lifting the commercial fishing ban, according to The Guardian.

Read the full story at The Hill

 

U.S. urged to join South America in fighting China fishing

March 23, 2021 — The U.S. should consider leading a multilateral coalition with South American nations to push back against China’s illegal fishing and trade practices, a U.S. intelligence agency has recommended in a document obtained by Axios.

Why it matters: China’s illegal fishing industry is the largest in the world. Beijing has made distant-water fishing a geopolitical priority, viewing private Chinese fishing fleets as a way to extend state power far beyond its coasts.

  • A senior U.S. administration official confirmed to Axios that several agencies across the government are “taking a look at this in light of the president’s priorities,” which include “deepening cooperation with allies and partners on the challenges we face to our economy and national security.”

What’s happening: Huge fleets of hundreds of Chinese vessels have had boats fish illegally in the territorial waters of South American countries, including off the Galapagos Islands.

  • The activity has depleted stocks and disrupted food chains, in a practice referred to as illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
  • South American nations say these fleets are a challenge to their economic and environmental security, but their navies often lack the resources to effectively monitor and patrol their own waters.
  • Last year, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru stated they would join forces to defend their territorial waters from incursions by Chinese vessels.

Read the full story at Axios

SalmonChile suspending shipments to China in response to coronavirus outbreak

February 7, 2020 — Chile’s salmon trade group SalmonChile is the latest entity to interrupt business with China in response to the rapidly spreading coronavirus.

“In the last two weeks, all salmon shipments to China have been suspended and will continue in this way until the health emergency is controlled,” the trade organization announced in a statement. “This measure is not directly related to the [risk of] infections, but because demand has decreased to a minimum” in response to Chinese authorities’ recommendations to avoid crowds, affecting business at restaurants and large supermarket chains.

Read the full story at Seafood Source