Saving Seafood

Appeals court hears Chris Lischewski’s claim of judicial error

June 17, 2021 — Former Bumble Bee Foods President and CEO Chris Lischewski formally appealed his conviction for leading a tuna price-fixing conspiracy in front of a three-judge panel on Wednesday, 16 June.

Lischewski’s appeal is centered around an argument that District Court Judge Edward M. Chen, who oversaw the case, gave incorrect instructions to the jury. In Wednesday’s hearing, Lischewski’s lawyer, John D. Cline, called the jury instructions given by Chen erroneous and confusing, which could have made the difference in what he called a “very close case.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

IOTC adopts resolution to rebuild yellowfin tuna stock, but NGOs question its effectiveness

June 14, 2021 — The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) agreed to reduce the total allowable catch for yellowfin tuna after months of pressure from non-governmental organizations and some commercial groups.

But according to environmental organizations, the effort has fallen short of ending overfishing, as five members of the commission objected to the rebuilding plan.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Is Maldivian tuna being penalized for being sustainable?

June 11, 2021 — In seafood circles, the Maldives is heralded as one of the world’s most-important tuna-fishing nations, an acknowledgement proudly welcomed by Maldivians. But what isn’t so apparent to most non-natives is just how vital tuna is to the island nation. Its 2,000-year history is literally built on catching these universally-prized fish. Moreover, it’s been doing this in pretty much the same way down through the centuries – one-by-one. Essentially, one fisher, using one fishing line, catching one fish at a time.

Its fisheries laws prohibit purse-seining, gillnets, trawl nets, or any other form of commercial fishing that uses a net. At the same time, the country’s exclusive economic zone isn’t leased to other nations and it has a strict policy of not licensing foreign fishing vessels.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Summary of Action Items for the 186th WPRFMC Meeting

June 8, 2021 — The following was released by the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council:

  1. Regulatory Amendment: Gear and Release Requirements to Improve Post-Hooking …..Survivorship of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks in the Longline Fisheries
  2. 2022 US Territorial Bigeye Tuna Catch/Effort Limit & Allocation Specifications
  3. Multi-Year US Territory Longline Bigeye Catch & Allocation Limits
  4. American Samoa Bottomfish Management Unit Species Rebuilding Plan
  5. American Samoa Marine Conservation Plan
  6. Guam Bottomfish Management Unit Species Rebuilding Plan
  7. Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology & FEP Amendments for Updating …..Consistency
  8. Main Hawaiian Island Deep 7 Bottomfish Annual Catch Limits for Fishing Years 2021-23

Click here for a complete PDF version of the 186th Action Item Summary Memo.

The 186th meeting of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council will convene June 22-24, 2021, by web conference (WebEx) with host sites at the following locations:

  • Tedi of Samoa Building, Suite 208B, Fagatogo Village, American Samoa
  • Cliff Pointe, 304 W. O’Brien Drive, Hagatña, Guam
  • BRI Building, Suite 205, Kopa Di Oru St. Garapan, Saipan, CNMI

The WebEx link is https://tinyurl.com/186CouncilMtg (if prompted, enter event number: 133 181 5362; password: CM186mtg).

The Council will consider and may take action on the issues summarized below, including any public comments on them. Written public comments on final action items should be received by the Council’s executive director by 5 p.m. (HST), Friday, June 18, 2021, by postal mail, fax or email as indicated below.

Instructions for connecting to the WebEx and providing oral public comments during the meeting will be posted on the Council website at https://www.wpcouncil.org/event/186th-council-virtual-meeting/.

Read the full release here

IOTC pressed to take urgent action to end overfishing of yellowfin tuna

June 7, 2021 — The 25th Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission begins Monday, 7 June, and  several stakeholders are demanding immediate action from the regional fisheries management organization to put an end to overfishing of yellowfin tuna in the region.

Several non-governmental organizations issued statements in advance of the meeting, saying the IOTC can no longer ignore its responsibility of putting in place an agreement that will save the  tuna stock, which has been deemed to be overfished.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Northwest tuna vessel owners fined for ‘paper captain’ violations

June 2, 2021 — Federal teams working in the Pacific Northwest uncovered eight cases of U.S.-flag commercial vessels illegally employing foreign nationals during the summer tuna season out of Washington state, Coast Guard officials said.

Working with Customs and Board Protection and NMFS law enforcement officers, the Coast Guard says since 2019 it documented so-called “paper captain” violations – documentation claiming a U.S. crew member as the captain, when in fact the vessel was under command of a foreign national.

“Paper captain is a term applied to an individual listed on documents as a U.S.-flagged vessel’s captain but in actuality serves as a deckhand or in a similar lower‐level capacity. It is the law that a documented vessel be under the command of a U.S. citizen,” according to a Coast Guard statement.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Chinese distant-water firms plan big push after COVID-19 sales lull

May 28, 2021 — China’s top distant-water fishing firms are making big plans for 2021 after many suffered losses in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese tuna fishery firm Shanghai Kaichuang Marine International Co. is predicting a bounce-back year on predicted stronger sales of its marquee product. The pandemic seriously dented demand and pricing for the firm’s tuna, according to the company, which reported a 10.9 percent year-on-year decline in revenues last year to CNY 1.9 billion (USD 285 million, EUR 247 million), alongside a 17.5 percent drop in profits, which sunk to CNY 135 million (USD 20.2 million, EUR 17.5 million).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NFI releases new list detailing the top 10 seafood species Americans consume most

May 26, 2021 — American consumers ate 19.2 pounds of seafood per capita in 2019, an increase of 0.2 pounds over 2018’s figures, according to National Fisheries Institute (NFI) calculations based off of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) latest “Fisheries of the United States” report.

For its report released this year, which recounts 2019 figures, NOAA revised its per capita consumption model, “updating weight conversion factors to more accurately reflect efficiencies in processing,” NFI said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NFI’s Top 10 List Suggests Consumers Diversifying Seafood Consumption

May 26, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

In 2019, Americans ate 19.2 pounds of seafood per capita, an increase of .2 pounds from 2018’s revised figure. In previous years, the Top 10 list has made up an outsized portion of US seafood consumption, nearly 90%. This time the familiar names on the Top 10 make up only 74%.

The 2019 Fisheries of the United States report, released by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), revised its Per Capita Consumption model to update edible weight conversion factors to more accurately reflect efficiencies in processing. The revised model resulted in higher consumption levels than previously reported.

Shrimp maintained the top spot, while Salmon, Canned Tuna and Alaska Pollock all saw gains.

It is important to highlight that the featured numbers on this list are all exclusively from 2019 and do not represent any pandemic-impacted market forces.

StarKist to move headquarters from Pittsburgh to Virginia

May 26, 2021 — StarKist Co. has announced plans to move its corporate headquarters from Pittsburgh to Virginia next year.

StarKist, known for cartoon mascot Charlie the Tuna, said in a statement that the headquarters on Pittsburgh’s North Shore will close at the end of March 2022 “but the company will maintain a presence in the region.” The new headquarters will be in Virginia in the Washington D.C. area, StarKist said.

StarKist, originally the French Sardine Co., was founded in California in 1917 and became StarKist Foods in 1953. The seafood firm’s connection with landlocked Pittsburgh came when it was sold to H.J. Heinz Co. in 1963. StarKist was acquired in 2002 by Del Monte Foods and was purchased by Dongwon Industries of South Korea in 2008.

Read the full story at the Associated Press