Saving Seafood

Celebrating 15 years of sustainable seafood: MSC’s Annual Report 2014-15

October 13, 2015 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has today released its annual report, marking 15 years since the launch of the transformational program rewarding and incentivising sustainable fishing.

The 2014-15 Annual Report, Celebrating 15 years of certified sustainable seafood, showcases industry leaders working to safeguard seafood supplies for the future. Fisheries which meet the MSC’s high standard of sustainability now catch close to nine million metric tonnes of seafood, representing almost 10% of the total global wild-caught seafood supply. This includes nearly half (45.9%) of the global whitefish catch. Seafood retailers and restaurants now sell over 17,000 products with the MSC ecolabel and more than 34,000 business locations are part of the MSC Chain of Custody, ensuring a traceable global supply chain.

“This growth and momentum, through the leadership of our partners, is driving lasting change in the way our oceans are fished, rewarding good practice and catalysing improvements where needed to meet the growing global demand for certified sustainable seafood” says MSC CEO, Rupert Howes.

This year, the MSC updated its Fisheries Standard to ensure it reflects the latest science and best management practices widely adopted by the world’s leading fisheries. A growing evidence base, captured in the MSC’s 2015 Global Impacts Report, also shows that MSC certified fisheries are maintaining healthy fish populations and effectively managing their impacts on habitats and ecosystems.

“The MSC is a learning organisation and we’ve invested heavily in strengthening the rigour of our program and building our evidence base on how our partners are delivering positive outcomes for our oceans” adds Mr Howes.

On the market side, the report acknowledges the bold global commitment by IKEA to only sell and serve certified sustainable seafood throughout its more than 370 stores, and the Iglo Group’s 100% sustainable fish commitment. This year also marked the MSC’s arrival in a new market with MSC certified products on sale in South Korea thanks to seafood processor Hansung and Lotte Mart, the country’s largest retailer.

“Market demand for sustainable seafood is helping to drive positive change in how our oceans are fished and managed. As more retailers and processors choose MSC certified seafood, other fisheries are encouraged into MSC assessment to meet the opportunities that higher demand for sustainable seafood can deliver” adds Mr Howes.

In 2014-15, 40 new fisheries achieved MSC certification and over 70 entered full assessment. These fisheries included artisanal fishing communities alongside large scale commercial fishing operations. The report highlights two pioneers, the first certified fisheries in India and China – the Ashtamudi clam and Zoneco scallop fisheries. Around 1,000 people depend on the Kerala-based clam fishery for their livelihoods, while the Chinese scallop fishery employs more than 20,000 fishers through a cooperative, and covers more than half a million hectares of the North Yellow Sea.

Two decades on from the collapse of the Grand Banks cod fishery in Newfoundland, the report highlights the commitments of fisheries in the Northern Hemisphere which are helping ensure the ongoing productivity of northern waters: 97% Canadian Atlantic lobster is now MSC certified; 87% of Alaska’s fisheries, by volume, are MSC certified; and the Iceland Sustainable Fisheries group is seeking MSC certification for all its commercial fisheries.

Consumers in close to 100 countries can now choose from more than 100 different certified seafood species, with an estimated US$4.5 billion spent globally by consumers on MSC labelled products in 2014-15.

View a PDF of the full annual report

Marine populations unchanged for almost 30 years| Fishing News International

September 24, 2105 — “The report states that 61% of commercial fish stocks are fully exploited misleadingly implying that these stocks are overfished and not sustainably exploited,” said Europêche Managing Director Kathryn Stack. “In fact, if we look at the FAO report in question, it clearly states that over 70% of global fish stocks are within biologically sustainable levels (below or at MSY levels i.e. full exploitation, which incidentally is the objective of the CFP and many RFMOs by 2020)**. It is unacceptable that an organisation such as WWF can be allowed to distort information which has a huge impact on the fishing sector’s reputation.”

The report has also been widely criticised for its inaccuracies with Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture Richard Colbeck labelling it as ‘one of a string of misleading campaigns aimed at scaring people into making donations, rather than educating the public.’

The statistics used change spectacularly when the changes are unweighted.

“It has been previously pointed out this week that the apparent huge declines are in fact linked to other species,” Kathryn Stack explained. “So the combination of a huge drop in one particular species of bird and a healthy fish population would result in a huge drop in both species, which is not necessarily the case.”

 

Read a PDF of the full report

Read the full report at Fishing News International

 

Industry Looks to Future on Final Day of World Seafood Congress

September 10, 2015 — On its final day, the congress’ program focused on the future, with keynote speaker Chris Grieve, executive director at Meridian Prime, opening the session by looking closely at the opportunities and challenges facing the industry in the 21st century. Chris also examined the need for skills and training to help ensure sustainable practices are implemented as the industry moves forward.

This forward-looking theme was continued throughout the day, with a number of sessions on sustainability, future product opportunities and the developments taking place among international fisheries.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

 

ICES: POSITIVE STATE OF FISH STOCKS PRESENTED TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION

July 14, 2015 — COPENHAGEN, Den. —The following was released by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES):

Today, the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) delivered an overview of the status of a host of fish and shellfish stocks across the Northeast Atlantic for which the organization has provided advice on this year.

The Chair of ICES Advisory Committee, Eskild Kirkegaard, presented the information at a seminar in Brussels organized by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE). Encompassing around 150 stocks, the general picture is of a reduction in the exploitation level in accordance with the advice provided by ICES and in line with management objectives for sustainable fisheries.

“Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have seen a general decline in fishing mortality in the Northeast Atlantic and the Baltic Sea,” explained Kirkegaard. “The stocks have reacted positively to the reduced exploitation and we’re observing growing trends in stock sizes for most of the commercially important stocks.”

For the majority of stocks, it has been observed that fishing mortality has decreased to a level consistent with Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) – meaning levels that are not only sustainable but will also deliver high long term yields.

An example of this trend is reflected in the status of North Sea cod for which advice was recently issued, where a downturn in fishing mortality and an upturn in Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) was noted. North Sea plaice, which is now at record high levels is a comparable example.

The current stock and exploitation status of all ICES stocks can be viewed on the ICES website.

VIDEO: A RETAIL PERSPECTIVE ON SEAFOOD SUSTAINABILITY

SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Michael Ramsingh — July 13, 2015 –In our ongoing video series about seafood sustainability, Resiliensea CEO Phil Gibson discusses some of the pitfalls retailers have encountered in trying to navigate the alphabet soup of certification standards available to them.

According Gibson, a former group director for Safeway’s seafood department, both retail seafood buyers and general consumers are confused about the unique benefits each certifying body brings to the table.

Gibson adds that a program agreeing to one set of guidelines would be good for the industry to develop a singular voice when it comes to educating retailers and consumers about what it means to certify a seafood product as sustainably fished resource.

Watch the video from SeafoodNews on YouTube here 

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

Five delicious kinds of fish that American consumers should be eating more of

July 9, 2015 — Finding the right fish to eat is hard when you’re looking for something sustainable. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as deciding between farmed or wild, imported or domestic, or fresh or frozen. When it comes to seafood, sustainability means considering the long-term viability of the species’ populations, the environmental impacts of farming or catching, and the livelihoods of the people doing the work—not something that can be summed up in one sentence or less.

 But while there is no single, catch-all principle, eating a variety of fish is key to maintaining healthy fisheries, and also a good way to limit your intake of toxins like mercury.

Variety can be a major hurdle in countries like the US, where consumers rely heavily on just three kinds of fish, much of which is imported: shrimp, canned tuna, and salmon.

Read the full story at Quartz 

NORTH CAROLINA: Several saltwater species get upgrades in latest stock-status report

July 7, 2015 — The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries upgraded the status of a handful of popular saltwater species in its annual stock status report released last week.

The report upgraded to “viable” the status of spotted seatrout, king mackerel, black drum and kingfish. It upgraded gag grouper from “concern” to “recovering.” A popular baitfish, menhaden, was upgraded from concern to viable. The viable status means the stock is not overfished and is not experiencing overfishing.

Read the full story at North Carolina Sportsman

 

International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Releases Annual Report, Shares Results of Diverse Stakeholder Collaboration

June 25, 2015 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) released its annual report today Driving Change through Collaboration, which outlines progress and achievements for tuna sustainability in 2014 and lays out the various needs for continuous improvement of global tuna fisheries through collaboration and advocacy. The report also emphasizes efforts to encourage industry engagement, including efforts by ISSF participating companies to comply with ISSF conservation measures and commitments.

“Important steps were taken in 2014 to help ensure the longevity of tuna stocks and the greater marine ecosystem, but we also saw inaction in some fisheries that could have distressing impacts on stocks down the road,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson.

“In order for ISSF to continue to work towards its mission and encourage better management, we’ll need to continue to collaborate with stakeholders and governing bodies to get things done from a policy perspective and to move forward on market incentives, strengthened compliance and monitoring and data collection tools – in addition to other efforts capable of changing the status quo.”

Read the full release here