Saving Seafood

MSC marks 20th anniversary with release of 2020 strategy

April 27, 2017 — The following was released by the Marine Stewardship Council:

Today, as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) marks 20 years since its creation, the organisation set out its strategy for the years ahead. The plan includes the MSC’s aspiration for a more than a third of global marine catch to be certified or engaged in the MSC program by 2030. The MSC’s ambition is to strengthen engagement and impact in the Global South, Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs), priority markets and species, and with consumers, while continuing to deliver value to MSC certified fisheries.

The release of the MSC’s strategic framework is accompanied by a historical narrative, outlining the organisation’s journey to date. Written by independent journalists from the Press Association, Sustainable seafood: the first 20 years gives a compelling account of the MSC’s origin, challenges and milestones to date.

“20 years ago, the MSC was a bold new idea developed by WWF and Unilever to address the challenge of unsustainable fishing,” says Rupert Howes, MSC’s Chief Executive.“They wanted to create a market based mechanism that would connect seafood producers and consumers through a credible third party certification and labelling program. This program would recognise and reward existing good practice, but critically, incentivise and drive real and lasting change where needed to ensure healthy oceans and seafood supplies for the future. 20 years on this bold innovation has become a proven concept, and a global sustainable seafood movement has emerged to work with all stakeholders to drive this transformation.’’

Read the full release at the Marine Stewardship Council

Environmentalists Can’t Help Defend Fishing Rules

April 20, 2017 — Three environmental groups cannot join the U.S. government to defend against a challenge to an Obama administration rule requiring seafood companies to report the origin of the fish they sell, a federal judge ruled.

The National Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and Oceana asked the court on March 7 to join the government in defending a suit from a group of fishing companies challenging the seafood traceability rule, which requires companies to disclose on a government form the vessel or collection point of origin for their fish.

The companies say the rule will make seafood more expensive. The environmentalists say it is critical to protecting fish populations from illegal fishing. The environmentalists made specific arguments in support of the rule, telling U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that reversal would affect their daily lives.

Rachel Golden Kroner, in a declaration supporting Oceana, said that if the companies invalidate the seafood traceability rule she would be at greater risk of buying illegally fished seafood, preventing her from making “sustainable seafood choices.”

Todd Steiner, with the Center for Biological Diversity, said that without the rule he would have a harder time studying at-risk populations.

But on Monday Mehta shot down their chance to make their case in court, saying the groups had not shown that overturning the rule would harm them enough to give them standing in the case.

Read the full story at the Courthouse News Service

CFOOD: New Study Sheds Light on Relationship Between Forage Fish, Predators, and Fishing

April 18, 2017 — The following was published by CFOOD. Founded by Dr. Ray Hilborn from the University of Washington, CFOOD is a network of scientists formed to study the science of fisheries sustainability, and to correct erroneous stories about fisheries in the mainstream media:

A paper published earlier this month shows a new understanding of how commercially fishing forage fish impacts forage fish predators like sea birds, marine mammals, and pelagic finfish.

Forage fish are small, silvery, bottom-of-the-food-chain fish that eat plankton and small invertebrates. They are eaten by seemingly everything in the ocean, providing “forage” for many other animals—you’ve probably heard of the two most common forage fish: sardines and anchovies. If asked their favorite marine species, not many people would choose a forage fish, but many would choose a forage fish predator: Penguins and puffins are endearing, dolphins and seals are adorable, and tuna and swordfish are delicious. Forage fish help sustain these populations, but are also favorite foods for many cultures.

With a high oil and protein content, forage fish are also the perfect species for conversion to fishmeal and fish oil. The largest fishery in the world, Peruvian anchovy, is such a fishery. Fish oil provides essential fatty acids and is sold in drugstores as a nutritional supplement. Fishmeal is food for several of our favorite edible animals. It is especially important in farmed fish production (like most of the salmon eaten in the US), but is also fed to terrestrial livestock like cows and pigs. Essentially, forage fish fisheries take a renewable resource and turn them into protein that people eat.

But how do these fisheries affect the marine predators that feed on forage fish? This is an important question that has only recently been investigated. A paper published in 2012 used mathematical models to estimate the impact of fishing forage fish populations on their predators and recommended that commercial reduction fishing be cut by 50-80% to ensure forage fish predators get enough food. However since then, several papers—including some by the authors of the original—have recognized that the models used in the 2012 research were not suitable for the questions asked, and further studies are needed.

The latest, Hilborn et al. (2017) published earlier this month (open access), shows that environmental variability, left out of the original models, is actually the most important factor affecting forage fish populations. Commercial fishing often has little effect on forage fish populations and their predators. Instead, ocean conditions and nutrient cycles (things humans have no control over) dictate how many forage fish survive each year.

The new paper also suggests that the relationship between forage fish and their predators is complicated by several factors. Forage fish predators often rely on specific, high-density locations where the abundance may be largely unrelated to the total abundance of the population. Basically, instead of predators relying on the total number of forage fish, they rely on forage fish appearing in certain locations, such as near breeding areas. Predators are also not singularly reliant on commercially harvested forage fish to survive—most consume a wide variety of prey. Indeed, Hilborn et al. (2017) found no link between larger forage fish populations and increases in predator populations.

Forage fish provide a wonderful service to humans. They are tasty, nutritious, and their harvest provides food for animals that we enjoy and eat, both above and below the surface. Understanding their ecological role is important to ensure sustainability.

Read the story at CFOOD

Watch a video about the study here

Read an infographic about the study here

Pelagic Data Systems Announced as SeaWeb Seafood Champion Finalist

BOSTON — March 20, 2017 — The following was released by Pelagic Data Systems:

Pelagic Data Systems (PDS) is one of four finalists for the 2017 Seafood Champion Award for Innovation, SeaWeb announced today. A panel of seafood sustainability experts from industry and nonprofit organizations based in Asia, Europe and North America recognized the organization for its vessel-tracking technology, based on an affordable, solar-powered data collection device for small vessels. The technology has helped combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Gabon, Mexico, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and the U.S.

“We are incredibly honored to be a Seafood Champion finalist among such great and pioneering individuals and organizations,” said Dave Solomon, PDS CEO. “The innovation that has taken place in the seafood sector in recent years is truly heartening. We are pleased that SeaWeb is recognizing work on vital issues like seafood traceability and transparency.”

The annual Seafood Champion Awards program, now in its 11th year, recognizes individuals and organizations for excellence in promoting environmentally responsible seafood. There are 16 finalists in four categories. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on June 5 at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit in Seattle.

“This year’s finalists have a global perspective, whether they act locally or at a broader level,” said Mark Spalding, president of SeaWeb and The Ocean Foundation. “Improving seafood’s sustainability requires addressing difficult political, technical, social and economic questions. To create change, you have to forge alliances and bring people together around a common cause. These are not easy things to do, but the Champions on this list have forged ahead and are making real progress.”

PDS was founded in San Francisco in 2014 with the goal of increasing transparency and traceability in the global seafood supply chain. Its vessel tracking system, roughly the size of a typical smartphone, records a vessel’s location multiple times per minute, and automatically and securely transmits stored data within network range. Using this data, fishers and regulators can track vessel and fleet fishing activity, confirming the legality and location of catch and the type of gear that was used.

“As the expectation of transparency and traceability in the seafood supply chain grows, we are working to develop technologies that serve fishermen, regulators, and the environment, making management and smart business decisions easily accessible,” said Melissa Garren, PDS Chief Scientific Officer. “We continue to be inspired and motivated by the creativity and innovation in this sector.”

The Seafood Champion Award for Innovation recognizes those who identify and apply new solutions to ecological challenges, market needs or sustainability barriers. In addition to Pelagic Data Systems, the finalists are:

  • FISH-i Africa, a partnership of eight East African countries that combats large-scale illegal fishing by sharing information and taking collective enforcement action. FISH-i’s string of investigations and prosecutions has created a more responsible fisheries sector.
  • Alan Lovewell of the 1,200-member, community-supported fishery Real Good Fish. He also runs Bay2Tray, a program within Real Good Fish that brings affordable local fish to public school districts with high poverty rates and sends fishermen into classrooms to teach about the ocean, fishing and health.
  • Karl Warr of Better Fishing. He has improved the sustainability of bottom trawling with an easily fitted cage mechanism that can free 95 percent of juvenile fish, saving fuel costs and allowing fishers to catch species selectively.

The Seafood Champion Award for Leadership recognizes people and organizations that bring stakeholders together to improve seafood sustainability or ocean health. The finalists are:

  • Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries since 2014. She has banned the use of bottom trawlers and other unsustainable catching devices; led the fight against IUU fishing in her geographically dispersed island nation; and fought against the use of forced labor on fishing vessels.
  • Wally Stevens of the Global Aquaculture Alliance. A widely admired leading light in aquaculture, he has developed the GAA as both a competitive force, with its Best Aquaculture Practices certification, and a precompetitive convener via the annual GOAL Conference, the Responsible Aquaculture Foundation, the Global Aquaculture Advocate and other initiatives.
  • Mariah Boyle of FishWise. Known for bridging divides to unite businesses, NGOs and governments in pursuit of common goals, she has led companies such as Albertsons, Target, Hy-Vee and Sea Delight to improve traceability and reduce the risk of IUU fishing and human rights abuses in their supply chains. Her efforts have positively affected more than 7,500 stores and 250 million pounds of seafood.
  • Sea Pact, an innovative alliance of nine leading North American seafood businesses. The organization uses its collective power to lead improvement throughout the global supply chain, funding projects to drive change while showcasing how competitors can work together.

The Seafood Champion Award for Vision recognizes distinctive visions that significantly advance the sustainable seafood community. The finalists are:

  • Bren Smith, who is leading the development and promotion of 3-D ocean farms. His nonprofit GreenWave helps fishers become ocean farmers by adopting GreenWave’s open-source, replicable model, which restores rather than depletes ocean ecosystems.
  • Matthew Beaudin, executive chef of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who moved $1 million in buying power to seafood producers within a 90-mile radius. He also is a regional and cross-border leader, developing aquaponics programs to support orphaned, HIV-positive children in Mexico.
  • The Marine Research Foundation, a three-person nonprofit in Malaysia whose work protects endangered sea turtles while making Malaysia’s shrimp-fishing industry more sustainable. The MRF overcame entrenched opposition to the use of turtle excluder devices and now anticipates a full rollout of the devices, which will save an estimated 4,000 turtles. That will open access for Malaysia to a global market hungry for sustainable shrimp.
  • The Global Ghost Gear Initiative, the first effort to tackle the problem of abandoned fishing gear on a global scale. This international, cross-sector partnership works with stakeholders from fishers to the United Nations to collect data and develop and model solutions that remove ghost gear from the ocean.

The Seafood Champion Award for Advocacy recognizes the promotion of sustainability, use of the media to raise the profile of sustainable seafood, work to strengthen public policy and resource allocations, and championing of advances in sustainable seafood. The finalists are:

  • The International Pole & Line Foundation, which spearheaded an effort by Indian Ocean countries to reform tuna fisheries management and played a central role in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s groundbreaking adoption of a precautionary harvest strategy.
  • Ned Bell, Ocean Wise executive chef at the Vancouver Aquarium and founder of Chefs for Oceans, who has made sustainable seafood his mission. In 2014, he rode his bike 8,700 km across Canada, hosting 20 events alongside some of the country’s best chefs to raise awareness of sustainable seafood.
  • Dr. Caleb Otto, former Permanent Representative of the Republic of Palau to the United Nations, who has led his small island nation to a position of leadership on the international stage through his passionate advocacy for ocean health and sustainability at the United Nations.
  • Bill Mook of Mook Sea Farm in Maine, who is modeling how shellfish growers everywhere can address the threat of ocean acidification. He has become a resource for hatchery and farm operators in the U.S. and abroad, counseling them on how to avoid losses and exchanging innovative ideas for protecting the industry.

For more information on the awards and finalists, go to www.seafoodchampions.org. For more information on the awards ceremony and the Seafood Summit, go to www.seafoodsummit.org.

Read the release at Marketwired

SeaWeb announces finalists for 2017 Seafood Champion Awards

March 20, 2017 — The 16 finalists have been announced for the 2017 Seafood Champion Awards, the seafood community’s premier honor recognizing outstanding leadership in promoting environmentally responsible seafood.

The Seafood Champion Awards are presented by SeaWeb, a program of The Ocean Foundation. SeaWeb serves the sustainable seafood community by supporting a coordinated infrastructure of people and knowledge to guide, inspire and reward the seafood industry’s uptake of sustainable practices. The awards have been given annually since 2006 to world leaders who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to advancing seafood sustainability.

This year, the Seafood Champion Awards will be awarded at the SeaWeb Seafood Summit, taking place 5 to 7 June, 2017, in Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. [Editor’s note: SeaWeb and Diversified Communications, owner of SeafoodSource.com, jointly produce the SeaWeb Seafood Summit.]

In the leadership category, the finalists include Wally Stevens, the executive director of the Global Aquaculture Alliance, where he has developed the Best Aquaculture Practices certification and worked through a variety of channels to promote responsible aquaculture; Mariah Boyle, who is being recognized for her work in urging seafood companies to set commitments to improving traceability, social responsibility and combatting IUU fishing; Susi Pudjiastuti, an Indonesian businesswoman who has turned her attention to fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as her country’s Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries; and Sea Pact, a nonprofit consisting of nine North American seafood companies that award grants to fisheries improvement projects around the globe.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Lists U.S. Fisheries as a Top Department Priority

WASHINGTON (Saving Seafood) – March 1, 2017 – In his first address (starts at 9:41 in the video) to Department of Commerce employees this morning, newly confirmed Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross included U.S. fisheries among his top priorities for the department.

In a list of ten challenges facing the Commerce Department’s 47,000 employees, including the launch of more NOAA satellites and changes to the methodology of the 2020 U.S. Census, Mr. Ross specifically identified the need for “obtaining maximum sustainable yield for our fisheries.”

Maximum sustainable yield (MSY) refers to the largest catch that can be sustainably taken from a fish stock over an indefinite period of time. Promoting sustainable fishing by achieving maximum sustainable yield is one of the primary goals of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the chief law governing fisheries management in the U.S.

The U.S. commercial fishing industry is a vital part of the U.S. economy, with landings of 9.7 billion pounds of seafood in 2015 worth $5.2 billion, according to the latest “Fisheries of the United States” report from NOAA Fisheries. Nevertheless, nearly 90 percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported into the country.

Mr. Ross has previously expressed his support for domestic fisheries and his desire to reduce America’s reliance on seafood imports, which has created an $11 billion trade deficit for the U.S. seafood industry.

“Given the enormity of our coastlines, given the enormity of our freshwater, I would like to try to figure out how we can become much more self-sufficient in fishing and perhaps even a net exporter,” Mr. Ross said at his January confirmation hearing, according to Politico.

Mr. Ross was confirmed in a Senate vote 72-27 Monday night. He is a successful billionaire investor and founder of the private equity firm WL Ross & Co., from which he has agreed to divest as he takes on his new government role.

How Smart Fishery Management Saved The Atlantic Sea Scallop

January 24, 2017 — Scallops taught the United States an important lesson in sustainability.

A smart fishery management plan was meant to relieve suffering cod and flounder populations, but it also prevented the Atlantic sea scallop market from fizzling out in the ’90s.

In 1991, New England fisheries yielded 37 million pounds of scallops. Scientists started to worry when scallop landings dropped to less than 10 million pounds in 1994.

Then, regulators closed three fisheries along the Georges Bank, an underwater plateau between Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. They also temporarily stopped issuing new fishing licenses, and they rotated access to certain fishing grounds.

Read the full story and watch the video at Newsy

ISSF Report Shows Management of Many Tuna Stocks Falling Short of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Sustainability Standards

January 24, 2017 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

WASHINGTON — Only 11 of 19 major commercial tuna stocks are being managed to avoid overfishing and restore depleted fish populations, in part because the majority (16) of them are not protected by well-defined harvest control rules (HCRs) from Regional Fishing Management Organizations (RFMOs), according to independent scientists in a report published by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).

About the Report

In response to inconsistencies amongst assessments of tuna stocks against the MSC certification standard, “An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria” takes a global, comprehensive approach to scoring stocks against certain components of the MSC standard. In addition, the report — authored by experienced MSC assessors Joseph E. Powers and Paul A. H. Medley and updated twice since first published in 2013 — is designed to:

  • Provide a basis for comparing between stocks scores as assessed by the same experts
  • Become a useful source document for future tuna certifications or in the establishment of tuna Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs)
  • Offer a “snapshot” of the current status of the stocks, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of RFMOs
  • Prioritize ISSF projects and advocacy efforts against initiatives that will improve low performance indicator scores

The scores in this report focus on stock status (MSC Principle 1) and the international management aspects relevant to RFMOs (part of MSC Principle 3) and are based on publicly available fishery and RFMO data. Each of these Principles is evaluated in relationship to Performance Indicators (PIs) within each Principle.

Key Findings

The report scores tuna stocks (bigeye, yellowfin, albacore, and skipjack — but not bluefin) and each tuna RFMO (ICCAT, IATTC, WCPFC, and IOTC). An 80 is a passing score, below 60 is a failing score, and 60–79 would indicate a conditional pass, with the requirement that any deficiency is addressed within five years if a fishery were to become MSC-certified. The stock scores for each principle, which are comprised of scores for performance indicators within the principle, show that:

  • Principle 1: “A fishery must be conducted in a manner that does not lead to over-fishing or depletion of the exploited populations and, for those populations that are depleted, the fishery must be conducted in a manner that demonstrably leads to their recovery.”
    • Among seven tuna species in the Atlantic Ocean, only one — Northern Albacore, which “has recovered from biomass reductions several decades ago” — received an overall principle-level passing score.
    • In contrast, in the Pacific, only one stock — Western Bigeye, which has been undergoing a steady decline since the 1970s — received an overall principle-level failing score.
    • Likewise, in the Indian Ocean, only Yellowfin received an overall failing score. However, the outlook for that stock in 2016 is slightly more optimistic than it was in 2015.
    • Yellowfin stocks in the Eastern Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans require rebuilding, as do Mediterranean Albacore; Atlantic Bigeye; and Western Pacific Bigeye and Eastern Pacific Bigeye.
    • Mediterranean Albacore and Western Pacific Bigeye had the most failing scores on individual performance indicators — including stock status, stock rebuilding, and harvest control rules and tools.
    • Only Eastern Pacific Skipjack received passing scores of 80 on each of the six performance indicators for Principle 1.
  • Principle 3: “The fishery is subject to an effective management system that respects local, national and international laws and standards and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the resource to be responsible and sustainable.”
    • Two RFMOs examined in the report — WCPFC and IATTC — received passing scores for all seven performance indicators under Principle 3.
    • The other two RFMOs — ICCAT and IOTC — received conditional pass scores on these performance indicators: “consultation, roles and responsibilities” and “compliance and enforcement.” ICCAT was given a conditional pass score for “legal and customary framework.” Other performance indicators include “long term objectives”; “fishery specific objectives”; “decision-making processes”; and “management performance evaluation.”
    • All four RFMOs received overall principle-level passing scores from the authors.

The Evaluation report also includes detailed remarks on each stock, evaluations of the four RFMOs, and comprehensive reference citations.

As the authors note, the “status of stock determinations change continually with new data, new assessments and new findings.” A comparison of the December 2016 report to the previous March 2015 version reveals that good progress has been made in the adoption of interim harvest control rules for several stocks in IATTC and IOTC, as well as in the RFMO management frameworks (previously, both ICCAT and IOTC failed to score 80 or higher).

“ISSF applauds tuna RFMOs for improving their management frameworks,” comments Dr. Victor Restrepo, ISSF Vice President, Science. “While the slow pace is not ideal, it is evident that progress is being made. These improvements must continue if we are to ensure sustainable tuna fisheries into the future.”

While the Evaluation report focuses on tuna stock status and sustainability as well as on RFMO policies, it does not address national or bilateral fishing jurisdictions, gear- or fleet-specific ecosystem impacts, or specific fisheries’ ecosystems — all of which are also considered within the MSC assessment methodology.

Since 2011, ISSF has been an active stakeholder in MSC tuna fishery assessments and certifications. ISSF works to develop and implement verifiable, science-based practices, commitments and international management measures to help all tuna fisheries become capable of meeting the MSC certification standard without conditions.

Seafood Industry Fights Back Against Obama’s Fish Fraud Laws

January 13, 2017 — Even your humble local sushi joint will (hopefully) offer a dizzying array of seafood, from fluke to lobster to sea urchin. But chances are high that your sashimi isn’t what it seems: According to one report a couple years back from the ocean advocacy group Oceana, as much as 74 percent of fish sold at sushi spots in the US is fraudulent. Per that report, 92 percent of what’s sold as “red snapper” and 71 percent of what’s sold as “tuna” are actually imposter species of fish.

Seafood fraud is nothing new, and another Oceana report found that overall, 20 percent of all types of seafood sold nationally was mislabeled. Often, endangered fish of dubious origin can be passed off as more sustainable types of fish.

Last month, in an effort to enhance transparency for consumers and allow traceability of fish coming to US shores from foreign waters—where shady international fishing operators often use illegal methods to haul in catch en masse—the Obama administration announced rules that would require seafood importers to be able to trace the origin of each and every fish sold in the US back to an individual boat or fish farm.

Now, however, fishing industry players are fighting back, and have sued the government for placing what they say is an onerous and expensive burden on importers who already follow the rules.

The rule, which would go into effect on January 1 of 2018, requires importers to keep track of sourcing information for 13 priority species including tuna, swordfish, cod, and other species that are often mislabeled and overharvested. Importers would need to specify when and where a fish was caught, and would have to hold onto the data for two years. A new Seafood Import Monitoring Program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would oversee the program.

When the program was announced, Kathryn Sullivan, a NOAA Administrator said, “As a global leader in sustainable fisheries management and seafood consumption, the US has a responsibility to combat illegal practices that undermine the sustainability of our shared ocean resources. We designed this program to further ensure that imported seafood is legally harvested and truthfully represented, with minimal burden to our partners.”

Read the full story at VICE

How Antibiotic-Tainted Seafood From China Ends Up on Your Table

December 16, 2016 — From the air, the Pearl River Delta in southern China’s Guangdong province resembles a mass of human cells under a microscope. Hundreds of thousands of tiny rectangular blocks, all of them shades of green, are clustered between cities and waterways. Livestock pens are scattered among the thousands of seafood farms that form the heart of the country’s aquaculture industry, the largest in the world.

Beside one of those fish farms near Zhaoqing, on a muggy day in June, a farmhand wearing a broad-brimmed straw hat hoses down the cement floor of a piggery where white and roan hogs sniff and snort. The dirty water from the pens flows into a metal pipe, which empties directly into a pond shared by dozens of geese. As the yellowish-brown water splashes from the pipe, tilapia flap and jump, hungry for an afternoon feeding.

Chinese agriculture has thrived for thousands of years on this kind of recycling—the nutrients that fatten the pigs and geese also feed the fish. But the introduction of antibiotics into animal feed has transformed ecological efficiency into a threat to global public health.

At another farm, in Jiangmen, a farmer scatters a scoop of grain to rouse her slumbering swine, penned on the edge of a pond with 20,000 Mandarin fish. The feed contains three kinds of antibiotics, including colistin, which in humans is considered an antibiotic of last resort. Colistin is banned for swine use in the U.S., but until November, when the Chinese government finally clamped down, it was used extensively in animal feed in China. Vials and containers for nine other antibiotics lie around the 20-sow piggery—on shelves, in shopping bags, and atop trash piles. Seven of those drugs have been deemed critically important for human medicine by the World Health Organization.

The overuse of antibiotics has transformed what had been a hypothetical menace into a clear and present one: superbugs, bacteria that are highly resistant to antibiotics. By British government estimates, about 700,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections worldwide. If trends continue, that number is expected to soar to 10 million a year globally by 2050—more people than currently die from cancer.

In November 2015 scientists reported the discovery of a colistin-resistant gene in China that can turn a dozen or more types of bacteria into superbugs. Since then the gene has been found in patients, food, and environmental samples in more than 20 countries, including at least four patients in the U.S. Food, it now appears, can be a crucial vector. “People eating their shrimp cocktails and paella may be getting more than they bargained for,” says Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology and an infectious diseases physician at New York University Langone Medical Center who chairs President Barack Obama’s advisory panel for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria. “The penetration of antibiotics through the food chain is a big problem.”

Research has found that as much as 90 percent of the antibiotics administered to pigs pass undegraded through their urine and feces. This has a direct impact on farmed seafood. The waste from the pigpens at the Jiangmen farm flowing into the ponds, for example, exposes the fish to almost the same doses of medicine the livestock get—and that’s in addition to the antibiotics added to the water to prevent and treat aquatic disease outbreaks. The fish pond drains into a canal connected to the West River, which eventually empties into the Pearl River estuary, on which sit Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Macau. The estuary receives 193 metric tons (213 tons) of antibiotics a year, Chinese scientists estimated in 2013.

Read the full story at Bloomberg