Saving Seafood

MAINE: Dutch company chooses Down East town as home for its multimillion-dollar fish farm

November 21, 2019 — A Dutch company has reportedly selected the Washington County town of Jonesport for a multimillion-dollar, land-based aquaculture facility to grow yellowtail, a type of fish beloved by chefs and sushi aficionados.

Kingfish Zeeland settled on the historic fishing community roughly 20 miles from Machias after exploring other potential sites along the Maine coast, according to reports in local and seafood industry media. Kingfish Zeeland’s envisioned yellowtail facility is at least the fourth major land-based aquaculture operation proposed in recent years in Maine, which is experiencing a surge in “farming” for fish, shellfish and other marine products.

Company representatives were expected to discuss their plans Wednesday night during a special town meeting in Jonesport. The company did not respond to a request for additional information Wednesday, and a member of the Jonesport Board of Selectmen said town officials are waiting for Wednesday’s meeting before commenting.

“We are anxious to hear their presentation,” Selectman William Milliken said.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

‘Stalking horse’ bidder lined up for Bumble Bee as part of likely bankruptcy filing

November 20, 2019 — A “stalking horse” bidder, said to be an industry player, is lined up for Bumble Bee Foods if — or when, according to some executives — the company goes into US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, sources told Undercurrent News.

A Chapter 11 filing is seen as highly likely for the beleaguered shelf-stable seafood giant, driven by the lack of a settlement with the litigants in the civil lawsuits against the Lion Capital-owned company over its tuna price fixing, sources said. This comes as Chris Lischewski, the long-time CEO of Bumble Bee, is on trial in San Francisco, California for allegedly leading the price-fixing.

Undercurrent was unable to identify the stalking horse bidder, but Bolton Group International, Canadian Fishing Company (Canfisco), Cooke and Mitsubishi Corp. are four trade players who are said to have looked at all or parts of the business before.

Fong Chun Formosa Fishery Company (FCF), the Taiwanese tuna giant, is already a 22% shareholder in Bumble Bee and Itochu, the Japanese trading house, was also tipped by some tuna sector sources as a possible interested party.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

FDA Investigation of Scombrotoxin Fish Poisoning Linked to Yellowfin/Ahi Tuna/gassed tuna

November 20, 2019 — The following was released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration:

FDA and state health authorities are investigating incidents of scombrotoxin fish poisoning linked to yellowfin tuna, also sometimes called ahi tuna. As a result of this investigation, FDA has placed Truong Phu Xanh Co, LTD of Vietnam on Import Alert, which provides information to FDA field staff that they may detain the firm’s yellowfin tuna without physical examination. Detained product will not enter the United States unless the importer proves that it meets U.S. food safety standards.

FDA asked for the supplier of yellowfin tuna associated with most of the illnesses, Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD of Vietnam, to initiate a voluntary recall of all of its imported yellowfin tuna with production dates from January 2019 to the present. At this time, the firm has not recalled any product.

As part of the investigation, FDA evaluated the firm’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plans. A HACCP Plan details a firm’s management system to address food safety through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards. Since FDA’s evaluation of this plan identified deficiencies, we asked for Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD of Vietnam to initiate a voluntary recall of all of its imported yellowfin tuna with production dates from January 2019 to the present.
 
The investigation has identified 47 illnesses of scombrotoxin fish poisoning that occurred between August 8, 2019 and October 15, 2019.
 
Throughout the investigation, FDA and states have also been collecting product samples for testing. Scombrotoxin fish poisoning occurs when fish begin to spoil, resulting in increased histamine levels. Therefore, product samples cannot be linked to case patient samples through Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) or Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis like for other foodborne illnesses, e.g., Salmonella or Listeria. Instead, samples are tested for decomposition and/or histamine levels. Multiple samples have been collected and analyzed, with positive results for decomposition or high histamine levels in products imported from Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD.
 
FDA and state partners collected epidemiologic and traceback information for reported illnesses. As additional epidemiologic and traceback information was collected, FDA and state partners were able to work with companies throughout the supply chain to voluntarily recall implicated product. While recalls were conducted at various points in the supply chain, there may be additional product still on the market that could cause illness.
 
Ultimately, the coordinated investigation was able to identify Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD as the common supplier of tuna that was likely consumed by most of the ill people.
 
Because scombrotoxin fish poisoning causes temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences this incident did not meet the threshold for the use of FDA’s mandatory recall authority.
 
It has been determined that the source of the tuna for the illnesses announced by Seattle-King County Public Health Department is not related to Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD.
 
Recommendations
 
Yellowfin tuna from Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD with a production date in 2019 should not be consumed because it may have the potential to cause scombrotoxin fish poisoning. Tuna from this supplier could have been sold thawed or frozen; and could have been sold as ground tuna meat, poke cubes, steaks, or loins; this product could still be within its shelf life.­­
 
Scombrotoxin fish poisoning occurs when fish is not properly chilled or preserved and begins to spoil, resulting in increased histamine levels. Histamine cannot be destroyed by freezing or cooking.
 
Importers, Suppliers, and Distributors:
 
Importers, suppliers, and distributors should not use and should discard or destroy any yellowfin tuna imported from Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD with a production date in 2019.
 
Restaurants and Retailers:
 
Restaurants and retailers should contact their suppliers to confirm the source of their yellowfin tuna because not all product was distributed in packaging that identifies Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD. Yellowfin tuna imported from this company with a production date in 2019 should not be used, served, repacked, or sold; and should be discarded.
 
Consumers:
 
While we expect restaurants and retailers will have removed yellowfin tuna with a production date in 2019 from the Vietnamese supplier Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD, consumers should ask if the yellowfin tuna being served or sold was imported from the Vietnamese supplier Truong Phu Xanh Co., LTD and has a production date in 2019.

Chris Lischewski trial enters second week as key witnesses testify

November 19, 2019 — The trial of Chris Lischewski is now in its second week, with a panel of 16 jurors having heard six days of testimony from many of the witnesses deemed most important to the government’s price-fixing case against the former Bumble Bee president and CEO.

Lischewski is on trial for a single charge of engaging in a conspiracy to fix the prices of canned tuna in the United States from 2011 to 2013. The case is being heard by District Court Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Canned Tuna Maker Bumble Bee Preps for Bankruptcy Filing

November 18, 2019 — Bumble Bee Foods LLC is preparing to file for bankruptcy within days over mounting legal expenses stemming from its involvement in a conspiracy to fix prices on canned tuna, according to people familiar with the matter.

The San Diego-based company, owned by London-based private-equity firm Lion Capital, is expected to file a chapter 11 petition shortly and will put itself up for sale, the people said. Bumble Bee didn’t respond to a request for comment. Lion Capital, which bought the company in 2010 for $980 million, also didn’t immediately respond.

Bumble Bee pleaded guilty in 2017 and agreed to pay a $25 million fine for having formed a cartel with its two main competitors, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist Co.

The Justice Department subsequently indicted Bumble Bee Chief Executive Christopher Lischewski for his alleged role in the conspiracy. Mr. Lischewski, who pleaded not guilty, took a leave of absence from Bumble Bee last year and is on trial in California federal court.

Read the full story at The Wall Street Journal

Congresswoman Pushes US To Support Its Seiners

November 18, 2019 — “Fishing forms the backbone of our local economy,” said Republican Congresswoman, Aumua Amata Radewagen, speaking at the opening of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s (WPRFMC) 180th meeting in Pago Pago, American Samoa. Radewagen is a delegate for the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa. The sustainable future of the nations purse seine fishery was also the issue in Lt. Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga’s speech in which he referred to the importance of fishing for the livelihood of the island.

Radewagen mentioned that US purse seiners pay annually up to USD 2 million per vessel to have access to foreign EEZ’s for fishing. Due to marine national monument regulations, these parts of US EEZ’s are now closed for purse seiners.

The seiner fleet provides skipjack and yellowfin tuna for the American Samoa-based cannery owned by StarKist Samoa Co. The fleet has exceeded the limit of fishing days in 2018 and therefore by US regulations, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced the closure on October 1, whereby US-flagged vessels have no access to the fishing grounds within the nations’ EEZ which also includes the waters around American Samoa.

The Congresswoman finds it her priority to get the lifting of the fishing closure within the Marine parks – which is still recommended by the US Interior Department – onto President Trump’s agenda. From her perspective, the latest negotiations for the South Pacific Tuna Treaty between the US and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) nations went backward when 700 fewer fishing days were agreed.

According to a report by the American Samoa Department of Commerce, the Pago Pago cannery provides 25 percent of the territory’s jobs and effectively subsidizes the cost of freight and fuel to American Samoa. If it should shut down, it would be a USD 200 million loss annually to the local economy.

Actually, most employees of StarKist’s American Samoa processing plant are inhabitants of the neighboring country, Samoa, located 137 miles away from American Samoa.

US-flagged purse seiners are owned by US entities and a minority by foreign companies. Only the South Pacific albacore longlining fleet is in American Samoan hands. The reduction of that fleet – that targets albacore – to 13 vessels while China enlarged its fleet is something Radewagen is concerned about. In her view, the US should constantly be active and engaged in the Pacific region and monitor foreign actions that affect the domestic fleet.

Read the full story at Atuna

Report: ICCAT bluefin rules leave loopholes for IUU

November 15, 2019 — A new report, recently published on ResearchGate, has found that the current catch documentation method for Atlantic bluefin tuna used by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas leaves large loopholes that can be exploited by fishers catching more than what is allowed, allowing them to have illicit catch enter E.U. markets.

The report, funded by the WWF, is focused exclusively on the eastern bluefin tuna stock. It comes in the wake of the 2018 bluefin tuna trade scandal, which found an illicit trade network selling large amounts of illegally harvested bluefin tuna in Europe. A complex, multi-organization investigation that included the Spanish Guardia Civil and EUROPOL – dubbed Operation Tarantelo – discovered that the illicit trade of illegal bluefin tuna catch had been occurring for years. The trade involved most of the countries in the northern Mediterranean, with illegal bluefin tuna coming from Maltese farms and Italian fishing boats. One of the largest Spanish tuna farming operators, Ricardo Fuentes y Hijos, was found to be the mastermind behind the trade on the Spanish side, and used a number of companies to issue false ICCAT bluefin catch documentation. The volume of the resulting illicit trade was estimated to be around 2,500 metric tons a year, which would have represented 18.6 percent of the total quota for the E.U. in 2017.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Clashing views ahead of tuna fleet crisis meeting

November 13, 2019 — Tuna industry leaders have different views on the best way to solve the current market crisis.

Some of the world’s biggest tuna fishing fleets are set to meet “face-to-face” on Nov. 13 in Manila, Philippines, as record low prices are seen as unsustainable for most tuna fleets.

The World Tuna Purse Seine Organization (WTPO) should close the whole fishery in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean for one month or one month and a half, according to the head of a European fishing company.

“They should stop all the vessels for a month or a month and a half from now until Chinese New Year to stop overproduction and stabilize the market,” he told Undercurrent News, adding that even the canneries would support such a measure, as it would provide market stability. In this way, skipjack prices would return to a minimum of $1,000 per-metric-ton, he also noted, adding that the fleets in the Western Pacific should be “responsible and take steps to stop the vessels, restarting the logistics chain”. At present, there is too much fish and the logistic chain is paralyzed, he noted.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Tuna fleets to hold crisis meeting as skipjack prices drop to record low

November 8, 2019 — Some of the world’s biggest tuna fishing fleets are set to meet “face to face” next week to discuss the current market crisis.

An oversupply of skipjack tuna has led raw material prices for delivery in Bangkok, Thailand to dive from $1,600 per metric ton in March to $900/t this month, a record low. This has caused many purse seine boats around the world to operate at a loss. Prices are expected to drop even further in the near future -with rumours of some exchanges done at $850/t in recent days- a situation that is seen as unsustainable for most tuna fleets.

The World Tuna Purse Seine Organization (WTPO) will hold a meeting on Nov. 13 in Manila, the Philippines, to discuss the market and catch situations in relation to “concerns” raised by WCPO and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission members.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Western Pacific Council Urges NMFS Use New Model for Swordfish Fishery; Reference Point for Albacore

November 4, 2019 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed changes related to the interaction of sea turtles in the swordfish fishery and the South Pacific albacore fishery when it met in American Samoa last week. Both require the National Marine Fisheries Service to agree with Council’s action to move forward.

The Council urged NMFS, on the Hawaii deep-set longline fishery consultation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) consider all anticipated scientific information in the biological opinion. This should include the new model developed by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center that evaluates the impacts of fishery interactions on the North Pacific loggerhead and Western Pacific leatherback sea turtle populations.

The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee, prior to last week’s Council meeting, endorsed the new model as best scientific information available for evaluating the fisheries’ impacts. The results of the model for the shallow-set (swordfish) longline fishery showed no discernible impact of the fishery’s interactions on the population trend of loggerhead turtles over the next 100 years. For leatherbacks, it showed a small change in the long-term population trend, indicating that the population impact from the fishery would occur five years earlier at the end of the 100-year period.

The NMFS scientist noted the primary impacts to the leatherback population include directed fisheries and nesting predation where the turtles nest in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

The Council also urged NMFS to apply the model to the Hawai’i deep-set (tuna) and American Samoa longline fisheries so they may be considered in the ongoing consultations. It also recommended NMFS work with the Council to develop only necessary sea turtle protection measures under the ongoing consultations for the Hawai’i deep-set and American Samoa longline fisheries that are appropriate and practicable and ensure the sustainability of the fisheries.

Additionally, the Council will work with NMFS to evaluate the impact of any management actions for reducing turtle interactions on the economic performance and socioeconomic effects of the shallow-set and deep-set longline fisheries, including consideration of the effect on protected species being transferred to foreign fisheries should the U.S. longline fishery close.

Regarding South Pacific albacore tuna, the Council requested NMFS compile and evaluate the catches of albacore from Chinese-flagged longline vessels operating in the southwest Pacific and compare them to the catches and performance of the American Samoa longline fleet.

The Council also wanted to move forward on creating a reference point for South Pacific albacore. It requested NMFS and the U.S. delegation to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission work with other international delegations to develop the reference point. It should include the catch per unit effort of small island developing states and participating territories to reach historical levels, in addition to a biomass target reference point.

Furthermore, they should also work with other international delegations to develop:

a) a harvest plan for South Pacific albacore to achieve its target reference points “soonest” and under 20 years; and

b) an allocation scheme for countries and cooperating members in which small island developing states and participating territories are exempt from annual catch reductions to reach the target reference point or that they can maintain catches commensurate with historical optimal levels. The allocation scheme must take into consideration charter arrangements and allocations should be accounted by fishing vessel registry, such that conservation benefits are not undermined.

This story was originally published on SeafoodNews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.