Saving Seafood

Global Tuna Alliance Joins GSSI

May 25, 2021 — The following was released by the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative:

The Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative is pleased to announce Global Tuna Alliance has joined GSSI as an Affiliated Partner.

The Global Tuna Alliance is an independent group of retailers and tuna supply chain companies, who are committed to realising harvest strategies for tuna fisheries, avoidance of IUU products, improved traceability as well as environmental sustainability, and progressing work on human rights in tuna fisheries and to implementing the objectives laid out in the World Economic Forum’s Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration.

“The Global Tuna Alliance is excited to become an affiliated partner of GSSI. We are already aligned through our 5-year strategy; GTA Partners are publicly committing to sourcing 100% of tuna products from fisheries with a GSSI-recognized certification, or on a pathway to sustainability. Both organisations have a shared ambition of seeing comprehensive harvest strategies adopted, and we look forward to GSSI Partners supporting our advocacy around this goal for tuna fisheries,” said Dr Tom Pickerell, Executive Director of the Global Tuna Alliance.

Read the full release here

NGOs urge rebuilding plan for overfished yellowfin tuna stocks ahead of IOTC meeting

May 24, 2021 — Non-governmental organizations are calling on the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to adopt a plan for rebuilding the Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stock and improve the management of fish aggregating devices (FADs) to reduce catches of juvenile tropical tunas.

The Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) and the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), in a statement last week, said that these measures should be adopted during the upcoming virtual IOTC session, scheduled to take place 7 to 11 June, 2021.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bumble Bee Seafood pursuing MSC certification for two longline tuna fisheries

May 24, 2021 — San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based Bumble Bee Seafood and its parent company, FCF Co., announced on 24 May they will be pursuing Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for two of their tuna fisheries.

The companies will pursue MSC fishery assessments of two longline fisheries that span multiple nations, including Taiwan, Fiji, Vanuatu, and others. The fishery covers three oceans, three tuna species, and more than 250 longline vessels, predominantly catching albacore tuna. The fisheries represent approximately 50 percent of Bumble Bee’s entire albacore tuna production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF adopts new measure to protect Indian Ocean yellowfin if IOTC fails to act

May 18, 2021 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has announced the adoption of a new conservation member for participating companies aimed at reducing the annual sourcing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna.

Called ISSF Conservation Measure 1.3 IOTC Yellowfin Tuna Rebuilding, the measure will take effect if the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) doesn’t take action at its June 2021 meeting to safeguard the stock. The IOTC delayed any decision on the yellowfin stock in March, a move criticized by NGOs and seafood companies.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As sushi buyers come back, Gulf of Mexico yellowfin producers foresee a good season ahead

May 14, 2021 — A series of strong storms roiling the Gulf of Mexico this winter and early spring – coupled with a slow reopening from COVID-19-related restrictions – has dampened yellowfin tuna production in the Southeast U.S., with boat prices hovering at about the same levels as this time last year.

David Maginnis, who runs Jensen Tuna in Houma, Louisiana – the gulf’s largest yellowfin producer – said boat prices for the premium quality No. 1 tuna average USD 6.50 (EUR 5.43) per pound, while the No. 2 fish are about USD 3.50 (EUR 2.87). According to the latest landings data provided by NMFS, fishermen have harvested 30.7 metric tons (67,584 pounds) between 1 January and 28 February — way down from the same period in 2020 when 76.7 metric tons (169,137 pounds) were harvested.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species panel meets in May

May 7, 2021 — NOAA announced the next meeting dates for the Highly Migratory Species Advisory Panel, including a one-day Recreational Roundtable/Large Pelagics Survey Workshop.

“This meeting is loaded with issues of primary importance to every fisherman,” said David Schalit, President of the American Bluefin Tuna Association and an Advisory Panel member. Schalit explained that discussion will focus on basic fishery operations and structure, from quota allocations to temporal and spatial dimensions to a pelagic long line review. These are dynamic topics still to be settled by regulators.

“I would encourage every fisherman,” Schalit added, “to review the upcoming agenda and decide how to best participate in the open, public comment periods that are scheduled at the end of each day.”

There is “a shark depredation issue from Maine to Texas and the U.S. Caribbean Territories for which NOAA/NMFS will be seeking solutions during the upcoming meeting,” said Russell Hudson, with Directed Sustainable Fisheries and a member of the Advisory Panel. Hudson added that NOAA faces challenges in modeling population numbers for certain sharks, particularly the “highly migratory species that we share with neighboring countries. Comments and other suggestions regarding shark populations will be our focus during the meeting.”

Read the full story at National Fisherman

ISSF Adopts New Conservation Measure Aimed at Rebuilding Yellowfin Tuna in the Indian Ocean

May 6, 2021 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) today announced a new ISSF conservation measure (CM) requiring its participating companies to reduce annual sourcing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna. ISSF Conservation Measure 1.3 IOTC Yellowfin Tuna Rebuilding becomes effective in the event that the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) does not take action at its June 2021 annual meeting to effectively implement IOTC scientific committee advice on the reduction of yellowfin catch. The new measure is included in ISSF’s recently released IOTC position statement.

“For more than a year, ISSF and our partners have been urging IOTC to heed scientific advice and act to protect Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna. But the Commission has repeatedly failed to adopt effective measures to rebuild the yellowfin stock, including at its special meeting held in March 2021,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “ISSF and its participating companies are committed to the long term sustainable use of the valuable Indian Ocean tuna resources. We will take steps as needed—with scientific guidance in mind—when fisheries management falls short. And we will do so transparently through a well-established audit and compliance reporting process.”

The most recent advice from the IOTC Scientific Committee (SC) recommends a reduction in yellowfin tuna catches to less than 403,000 tonnes annually, which would represent, at a minimum, an 11% reduction from 2019 catches. ISSF CM 1.3 requires ISSF participating companies to reduce annual sourcing of Indian Ocean origin yellowfin by 11%, calculated with respect to the company’s average annual level of Indian Ocean yellowfin purchases from 2017-2019. The measure also requires companies to issue public statements on their company websites describing their commitment to and implementation of the measure. ISSF CM 1.3 will go into effect on July 31, 2021 if IOTC, once again, fails to adopt a measure to effectively implement the most recent IOTC SC advice at its annual meeting in June.

As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to audit participating companies to assess their compliance with all ISSF conservation measures. MRAG Americas conducts independent auditing based on a public audit protocol.

IOTC Position Statement

ISSF has also included recommendations on the IOTC yellowfin rebuilding plan in its IOTC position statement for the June Commission meeting, which outlines these ‘asks’:

  1. Adopt without delay an effective rebuilding plan for yellowfin tuna which, if implemented effectively, would imply a reduction to a total catch between 350,000 and 403,000 tonnes.
  2. Address over-catches in contravention of Resolution 19/01.
  3. Urgently monitor and manage catches of skipjack to ensure catches in 2021 do not exceed the limit set by the adopted Harvest Control Rule.
  4. Accelerate the develop Management Procedures and agree on permanent Limit and Target Reference Points for tropical and temperate tunas, particularly yellowfin, by 2022.
  5. Request the Scientific Committee to provide science-based limits on FAD deployments and/or FAD sets; develop in 2021 and adopt, by 2022, FAD marking guidelines and FAD tracking and recovery policies; and require the use of biodegradable materials in the construction of FADs and establish a timeline for transitioning to 100% biodegradable.
  6. Establish the Working Group on Electronic Monitoring (EM) and develop EM program minimum standards by 2022. Require 100% observer coverage (human and/or electronic) in industrial tuna fisheries, including all those engaged in at sea transshipment, by 2024.

The complete ISSF IOTC position statement is available online: https://iss-foundation.org/what-we-do/influence/position-statements/download-info/2021-iotc-position-statement-for-june-2021-meeting/

About ISSF Conservation Measures & Compliance Process

Since its inception in 2009, ISSF has adopted conservation measures and commitments to facilitate this mission with the intent that processors, traders, marketers and others involved in the seafood industry will follow them to facilitate real and continuous improvement across global tuna stocks. Each ISSF participating company commits to conform to these conservation measures to improve the long-term health of tuna fisheries. They also must adhere to the ISSA Compliance Policy.

ISSF participating tuna companies, which represent the majority of the world’s canned-tuna production and include well-known brand names, are audited yearly by MRAG Americas on their compliance with ISSF conservation measures.

ISSF recently released its ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which ISSF published in coordination with its recent annual report Staying the Course. In addition to a summary report, MRAG Americas issues individual company reports that detail each organization’s compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures. ISSF publishes these individual company compliance reports on its website.

About the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) — a global coalition of seafood companies, fisheries experts, scientific and environmental organizations, and the vessel community — promotes science-based initiatives for long-term tuna conservation, FAD management, bycatch mitigation, marine ecosystem health, capacity management, and illegal fishing prevention. Helping global tuna fisheries meet sustainability criteria to achieve the Marine Stewardship Council certification standard — without conditions — is ISSF’s ultimate objective. To learn more, visit iss-foundation.org, and follow ISSF on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Ken Worsham, Scott Cameron avoid jail time, concluding tuna price-fixing case sentencings

April 28, 2021 — Former Bumble Bee Foods executives Kenneth Worsham and Walter Scott Cameron were each sentenced to three years’ probation for their roles in a conspiracy to fix the price of canned tuna sold in the United States between 2011 and 2013.

Both were sentenced by Judge Edward M. Chen of the Northern District of California on Wednesday, 28 April, and both received more lenient sentences than typical for the level of crimes to which they pleaded guilty because they served as key witnesses in the U.S. government’s case against former Bumble Bee Foods CEO Chris Lischewski, who is currently serving a 40-month prison sentence. Former StarKist executive Stephen Hodge also served as a witness in the U.S. government’s case against Lischewski, and received leniency in a non-custodial, probationary sentence issued by Chen in January.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

StarKist says all its salmon and tuna now sustainably-sourced

April 26, 2021 — Starkist is now sourcing all of its tuna and salmon from sustainable sources.

The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based company is now sourcing 100 percent of its tuna and salmon from suppliers that meet the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard for sustainable fishing or are working toward certification, including those participating in a comprehensive fishery improvement project (FIP), the tuna supplier said in a press release.

Read the full story at Seafood Source