Saving Seafood

Global Tuna Alliance formed to advance sustainability goals and push RFMOs to reform

October 8, 2019 — A group of companies representing multiple levels of the tuna supply chain have joined together to launch a new alliance that will seek to improve tuna sustainability, raise respect for the human rights of fishermen and prevent illegally caught tuna from reaching the market.

The Global Tuna Alliance, which was announced 2 October, is open to retailers, food service companies, suppliers, and brands. It will leverage the power of the supply chain to compel change in fisheries, including pushing for reforms at Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NPR Report: Some scientists say tuna is being taken from the seas at unsustainable rates

October 7, 2019 — Editor’s note: On Twitter, University of Washington fisheries scientist Trevor Branch responded to this study, writing, “Most tuna fisheries are sustainable, and all have millions of individuals. None are in any danger of extinction (indeed no marine fish has ever been fished to extinction).” He also wrote, “Given that tuna fishing only took off in the 1950s and 1960s (when they started fishing them in the open ocean, where nearly all of them they live), is it really newsworthy that catches increased 1000% since then?”

If you’re in the mood for a tuna poke bowl or an old-school tuna niçoise salad, here’s a tip: Don’t hit up the Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland. It has been nearly six years since chef Jonathon Sawyer became a “tuna evangelist” after attending a meeting of like-minded chefs at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was there that he made the decision to forgo tuna — both in his personal life and on the menus at all four of his restaurants.

It wasn’t always easy. Turning down the chance to eat famed chef Eric Ripert’s mouthwatering thin-sliced tuna over a foie gras torchon took some Superman-like strength, but for Sawyer, the mission is an important one. He’s not trying to get people to give up tuna altogether. Rather, he’s trying to raise awareness of the sheer quantities that are coming across our collective plates and serve as a gentle warning that all that fish is coming from a limited resource.

It turns out that his effort is hitting a seafood sustainability bull’s-eye.

A new study, published in Fisheries Research, reveals that the sheer amount of tuna being taken from our seas, including some species considered “vulnerable,” has increased by an astonishing 1,000% in the last 60 years — a rate that some scientists are saying is unsustainable.

Read the full story at NPR

California’s Seafood Imports commits to IPNLF and responsible tuna sourcing

September 30, 2019 — San Diego, California, U.S.A.-based importer and distributor Seafood Imports has been inducted into the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF) as its latest member, the non-profit association announced on 30 September.

Seafood Imports, which was founded in 1997, is a provider of specialty seafood products to the international foodservice industry, with direct sourcing from South Africa and Asia. Among the company’s offerings are private label sashimi-grade JAVA and JAVA Kosher tuna products, which contain wild, one-by-one caught tuna sourced from the Indian Ocean courtesy of Indonesia. Exclusively packaged for Seafood Imports, the JAVA and JAVA Kosher tuna products are sold to U.S. customers.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As bluefin recover, a new fight about how to fish for them

September 30, 2019 — A federal plan that could loosen the rules about fishing for one of the most debated species in the ocean has attracted the attention of fishermen and environmentalists, some of whom fear years of conservation work could be undone.

Preservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has long been a subject of international debate, and sometimes discord. The giant sushi fish, which occasionally sell for more than $1 million and often weigh several hundred pounds, are at a fraction of historical population levels but have shown positive signs in recent years.

The federal government is considering some changes to the way the fish are managed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said some of the changes would give fishermen who use longlines, a method of fishing used to catch large fish, more flexibility by increasing their amount of open fishing area, including in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico is a critical spawning area for bluefin, and parts of it are closed down to longliners in the spring to protect the fish. Reopening it to fishing could jeopardize the bluefin stock in U.S. waters and beyond, said Shana Miller, senior officer for international fisheries conservation with the Ocean Foundation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Gloucester Daily Times

StarKist class-action suit payout less than expected

September 27, 2019 — Consumers who are part of a class-action lawsuit that Starkist agreed to settle in 2015 will get less than the tuna supplier originally agreed to pay.

The lawsuit, which claimed that StarKist was underfilling its five-ounce cans by a few tenths of an ounce, was settled out of court, with Starkist admitting no fault. As a result of the suit, residents of the United States who bought certain tuna products could obtain either USD 25.00 (EUR 22.84) in cash or USD 50.00 (EUR 45.68) worth of coupons for Starkist tuna.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

In her garage lab, a scientist looks for answers about skinny tuna

September 27, 2019 — Molly Lutcavage is standing on the State Fish Pier in Gloucester, watching a crane hoist a giant bluefin tuna off the back of a fishing boat.

“Look at how skinny she is,” the fisherman, Corky Decker, yells up to her. “That’s how they’ve all been — long, ugly things like you’d catch in June.”

Lutcavage nods at the fish, which is 74 inches long but weighs just 174 pounds — very skinny indeed for a tuna — then looks down at the plastic bag in her hands, which is what she’s come for. It contains the tuna’s ovaries, and Lutcavage, director of the Large Pelagics Research Center, hopes it can support a theory she first proposed two decades ago — one that would be good news for the health of the tuna population as a whole, and help explain the bad news that has plagued commercial tuna fishing this season, with poor-quality meat fetching record low prices.

Lutcavage believes that younger tuna have been spawning off the coast of New England, an idea that runs counter to the accepted belief that tuna in this part of the world spawn only in the Gulf of Mexico, and only when mature.

If Lutcavage is right, it would mean there are more tuna contributing to the population, and thus the population is larger and healthier than fishery managers and conservation advocates believe.

Read the full story at The Boston Globe

As bluefin recover, a new fight about how to fish for them

September 25, 2019 — A federal plan that could loosen the rules about fishing for one of the most debated species in the ocean has attracted the attention of fishermen and environmentalists, some of whom fear years of conservation work could be undone.

Preservation of the Atlantic bluefin tuna has long been a subject of international debate, and sometimes discord. The giant sushi fish, which occasionally sell for more than $1 million and often weigh several hundred pounds, are at a fraction of historical population levels but have shown positive signs in recent years.

The federal government is considering some changes to the way the fish are managed. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has said some of the changes would give fishermen who use longlines, a method of fishing used to catch large fish, more flexibility by increasing their amount of open fishing area, including in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico is a critical spawning area for bluefin, and parts of it are closed down to longliners in the spring to protect the fish. Reopening it to fishing could jeopardize the bluefin stock in U.S. waters and beyond, said Shana Miller, senior officer for international fisheries conservation with the Ocean Foundation.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Houston Chronicle

New national-level FIP gets underway in Indonesia

September 17, 2019 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:

The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is pleased to announce the development of a new, national-level fishery improvement project (FIP) concerning longline tuna in Indonesia.

SFP made the announcement today in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony in Jakarta with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries. The prospective FIP includes albacore, yellowfin, and bigeye longline fisheries in the Indian Ocean (WPP 572 and WPP 573) within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Indonesia and international waters (FAO Region 57), as well as yellowfin and bigeye longline fisheries in Western Central Pacific Ocean WPP 714 and WPP 715 (archipelagic waters), and WPPs 716 and 717 (EEZ; FAO Region 71).

SFP’s Target 75 initiative was a part of the driving force behind this FIP. The initiative has set a goal of seeing 75 percent of global production of key seafood sectors, including both shelf-stable and fresh and frozen tuna sectors, to be either sustainable, as in certified by organizations such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), or showing regular, verifiable improvements. SFP’s analysis of the global tuna sector recommends focusing on larger-scale FIPs like this one that offer economies of scale.
Members of SFP’s Fresh and Frozen Tuna Supply Chain Roundtable (SR) are supporting this developing FIP.

“Since Indonesia is considered to be the world’s largest producer of tuna and has the most abundant tuna fisheries in the world, it was only natural for SFP to promote a national-level FIP of this kind in that country,” said Blake Lee-Harwood, programs strategy director at SFP.

ATLI, the Indonesia Longline Tuna Association, is backing the FIP, along with 14 Indonesian tuna fishing companies and processors, involving more than 250 longline vessels that have committed to participate in this FIP. The ATLI Office in Benoa, Bali, will coordinate ongoing organizational efforts.

“This could be a historical milestone for the longline tuna fishery improvement project towards MSC certification,” said ATLI Chairman Dwi Agus Siswa Putra. “We hope that longline tuna will regain its position as a prominent product from Indonesia that makes all of us proud.”

Read the full release here

Tuna Transshipment Management Compromised

September 16, 2019 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s (WCPFC’s) management of transshipments in its waters is compromised by significant gaps in reporting, monitoring and data sharing, according to a report released by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Transshipment is the transfer of fish from the vessel that caught the fish to a carrier vessel that will deliver the fish to port, an activity that often takes place on the high seas and outside the view and reach of authorities. The practice allows unscrupulous fishing vessel operators to obscure or falsify data on their fishing practices. This contributes to millions of dollars of illegally caught fish entering the seafood supply chain each year.

The Pew Charitable Trusts combined commercially available Automatic Identification System data with the application of machine learning technology to analyze the track histories of carrier vessels operating in WCPFC convention area waters in 2016. Researchers then compared this analysis with publicly available information on transshipments and carrier vessels.

Read the full story at The Marine Executive

StarKist ordered to pay USD 100 million fine for role in tuna price-fixing

September 12, 2019 — StarKist & Company has been ordered to pay a criminal fine of USD 100 million (EUR 90.3 million) for its role in a tuna price-fixing conspiracy, the statutory maximum fine.

The decision, which was announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on 11 September, comes after the court and the company wrangled over the monetary amount of the fine. StarKist’s attorneys had been pushing to have the fine lowered to USD 50 million (EUR 45.1 million), calling the decision “life or death” for the company, while prosecutors had been pushing for a full fine based on the company’s recent investment in TechPack Solutions, an India-based can and bottle technology firm.

Read the full story at Seafood Source