Saving Seafood

U.S. Adopts Safety Improvements for Observers in Pacific Tuna Fisheries

August 18, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries this week made effective new regulations to implement measures that will promote the safety of fisheries observers on tuna-fishing vessels. These measures reflect stronger international standards developed through years of U.S.-led negotiations to improve the safety of observers at sea.

For example, the measures require countries and vessel operators to take emergency actions to help observers if an observer is threatened, harassed, assaulted, missing, presumed fallen overboard, injured, or suffering from a serious illness. Also, observers aboard purse seine vessels will now receive emergency communication devices and personal locator beacons before leaving port.

Fisheries observers collect data essential to the international organizations managing tuna fishing in the eastern Pacific Ocean: the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program (AIDCP). IATTC staff use the information collected by observers in fish stock assessments and to evaluate the compliance of member nations’ fishing fleets with international conservation measures.

Fisheries observers often face hazardous situations at sea. Rough waters churned up by storms, as well as busy decks with crews pulling in their catch, create dangerous conditions. Observers can also encounter difficult situations on board a vessel with fishing crews who can view them as intrusive.

Read the full release here

American Sword and Tuna Harvesters Call For Department of State to Help Imprisoned Captain Michael Foy

August 17, 2020 — American longline fishing boat captain Michael Foy has been imprisoned in the British Virgin Islands since June 8.  It’s now been months since his arrest, and now the American Sword and Tuna Harvesters are calling for the all relevant agencies of the United States Government to step in.

For those that haven’t been following the story of Foy, the captain, who lives in Puerto Rico, left on May 29 for a fishing expedition. He was detained in the British Virgin Islands on June 8 for reportedly traveling into BVI waters during the coronavirus border closures. Officials not only arrested Foy, but held his foreign crew without charge, and confiscated 8,000 pounds of tuna and swordfish worth more than $60,000.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Four-year forecasts possible for Hawaii bigeye tuna fishery

August 14, 2020 — Measuring the extent of microscopic ocean plant life around Hawaii could reliably predict bigeye tuna catch rates four years out for Hawaii’s deep-set longline fleet, according to a new study by researchers at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.

“Bigeye tuna are the primary target species of Hawaii’s most valuable commercial fishery, a longline fishery with landings that are valued at over $100 million and that account for nearly half the United States tuna landings,” NMFS scientists Phoebe A. Woodworth-Jefcoats and Johanna L. K. Wren wrote in their study, published July 22 in the journal Fisheries Oceanography.

“A reliable predictor of targeted species catch rates could help the fishery time fishing activity and plan capital improvements. It could also potentially inform adaptive management and facilitate ecosystem‐based fisheries management.”

Using routine oceanographic measurements including satellite data for sea surface chlorophyll and temperature, the researchers calculated the median size of microscopic plants, called phytoplankton, over the calendar year and the extent of the fishery area around the Hawaiian Islands.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

New reports detail threat to Pacific tuna observers, including from COVID-19

July 27, 2020 — The non-governmental organization Human Rights At Sea earlier this month published a report with numerous recommendations to better protect fisheries observers who monitor fish catches by tuna vessels in the Pacific.

The report, Fisheries Observer Deaths at Sea, Human Rights and the Role and Responsibilities of Fisheries Organisations, highlights “the often challenging and solitary working conditions for observers who are away at sea without any immediate physical support,” according to the group – a registered charity in England and Wales that promotes the development and enforcement of human rights at sea.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Report indicates Pacific tuna fisheries weathering COVID-19 well

July 20, 2020 — The fishing effort in the tuna-rich waters of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) does not appear to have been significantly impeded by the COVID-19 crisis, according to a report prepared by Brisbane, Australia-based resources consultancy MRAG Asia Pacific.

The report, which was completed in April, stated that travel restrictions as a result of the pandemic “has not resulted in a widespread decline in fishing effort.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Despite increased supply, South Shore fishermen are finding demand for Atlantic bluefin tuna is way down

July 20, 2020 — The population of Atlantic bluefin tuna is rebounding off the eastern seaboard, which should mean a banner year for fisherman but the normally high-priced fish is not in demand as its main markets are closed or doing little business during the pandemic.

“It’s all about supply and demand and there’s no demand for them, so the dealers don’t want to keep buying them if they’re not able to keep selling them,” fisherman Greg Ares, based out of Green Harbor in Marshfield, said. “Maybe within the next week or two, restaurants will be opened up in the U.S., sushi restaurants, and they will purchase our bluefin tuna. Even if I get $6 a pound, that’s good enough to keep going.”

There are two types of bluefin tuna fishermen — those who use a harpoon and those who use a rod and reel, the latter making up the vast majority of commercial licenses.

Read the full story at Wicked Local

Coronavirus has Americans hooked on canned tuna, and producers are playing catch up

July 15, 2020 — Tuna fish has surged in popularity thanks to pantry loading during the coronavirus pandemic, but producers of the canned fish are dealing with higher prices and other challenges that are making it difficult to keep up with the increased demand.

Americans have been buying more canned tuna during the economic downturn, in part because it is one of the cheapest proteins on the market, costing as little as $1 for a 5-ounce can. Bumble Bee Foods said sales of canned and pouched tuna jumped as much as 100% from mid-March to early April, while Costco Wholesale Corp. put limits earlier this year on how many tuna containers a customer could purchase.

Even after the initial feeding frenzy, canned tuna producers say sales for these products have remained significantly higher than a year earlier.

Companies have been able to keep retail prices steady for tuna so far, even though average wholesale prices for tuna were up 41% from a year earlier in the year through May after reaching decade lows late last year, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Prices vary depending on where the fish is bought. Skipjack tuna purchased in Bangkok cost $1,200 a metric ton in June, up 14% from December 2019 but down from a peak of $1,500 in March, according to data from Thai Union Group, a global seafood-based food producer that owns the Chicken of the Sea canned tuna brand.

Read the full story at Fox Business

Help for Hawaii’s Fishing Industry

July 14, 2020 — When it comes to Hawaii’s homegrown food sustainability, farming operations usually come to mind. But beyond farm aid, fish aid can’t be forgotten. That’s particularly true in Hawaii, the source of coveted quality catches such as tuna, billfish (swordfish and marlin), and open-ocean fish (mahimahi, ono and opah).

Just as farmers have been hard-hit by the months-long pandemic shutdown, so, too, have fishers and related operations. The shuttering of restaurants, seafood markets and other fish outlets have left some vessels inactive in Honolulu Harbor for 3-1/2 months, with about half of the workforce laid off. The COVID-19 lockdown has caused a 50% reduction in revenue for Hawaii longline vessels over the last four months, totaling losses of more than $20 million so far.

Read the full opinion piece at Seafood News

This New App Uses AI To Grade Tuna Freshness

July 10, 2020 — Sushi is only as good as the fish wrapped inside its barrel of rice and seaweed. If the tuna, yellowtail, or salmon isn’t fresh, it not only looks gross, but renders the whole roll underwhelming in flavor and texture.

To keep things from getting fishy, a Japanese company has developed a new mobile app that uses artificial intelligence to grade the freshness of cuts of tuna on sight. Aptly named Tuna Scope, the system uses thousands of cross-sectional images of tuna tails as training data to learn what good quality tuna looks like.

According to the Tuna Scope website, trained fishmongers use the tuna tail as a “road map” detailing the fish’s flavor, texture, freshness, and overall excellence. Traditionally, master tuna merchants look at things like color and sheen, firmness, and the layering of fat to set fish prices. The silkier the meat looks, the better it probably tastes.

“The goal behind the development of this system was to pass down skills in the field of tuna evaluation, an area with a serious shortage of successors,” Dentsu, the Tokyo-based digital marketing company that led development of the app, said in a press release.

Read the full story at Popular Mechanics

BRIAN PERKINS: A new wave of sustainable seafood to feed generations to come

July 6, 2020 — Seafood is having a moment.

Fish, especially canned and frozen options, increasingly have become a go-to choice for Americans during the pandemic as they stock their pantries and freezers; seek out new immune-boosting meal ideas; and look for alternatives to meat due to shortages and health concerns over meat processing. For example, U.S. shelf-stable tuna sales were up 31.2 percent over last year in March, according to Nielsen data.

While increased seafood consumption may be good short-term news for the U.S. seafood industry, it also is combating other major challenges, such as severely decreased foodservice and export business due to the pandemic. We must look at the flexibility and long-term viability of the seafood industry globally to prepare for the long-term implications of the current crisis.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2020” (SOFIA) report, which indicates more than a third of fisheries (34.2 percent) globally are operating at unsustainable levels. Compare that to 10 percent in 1990, and it becomes an abundantly clear global issue we must quickly and sustainably address, even as the industry is plagued with pandemic challenges.

While these numbers seem perilous, efforts by the U.N., the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), fisheries and conscious consumers already have led to stock recoveries for skipjack tuna, Alaskan pollock and Atlantic cod. The industry must look to these examples to enact changes that will ensure seafood is around for generations to come.

Read the full opinion piece at GreenBiz