Saving Seafood

World Tuna Conference: FAO providing powerful instruments to fight IUU fishing

June 5, 2018 — The 15th Infofish World Tuna Trade Conference and Exhibition opened on 28 May in Bangkok, Thailand. The three-day conference covered resources, fisheries management, markets, new technologies, food safety, sustainability, and environmental issues.

Among the sponsors was the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Jong-Jin Kim, FAO’s deputy regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, said during his opening address that the international community now has at its disposal a number of new and powerful instruments with the potential to drastically reduce and eliminate illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including the FAO Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Catch Documentation Schemes and the FAO Global Record of Fishing Vessels.

FAO Fishery Planning Analyst for Asia and the Pacific Cassandra De Young explained the various programs to SeafoodSource.

The 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) is the first binding international agreement to specifically target IUU fishing. Its objective is to prevent, deter, and eliminate IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using ports and landing their catches. Entering into force in June 2016, 54 States and the European Union have joined forces by becoming Parties to the PSMA, as of May 2018.

FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Catch Documentation Schemes were officially adopted by the FAO Conference in July 2017 and, with seafood trade at record highs and consumer demand still rising, CDS are increasingly seen as an effective tool. For example, since 2010, the European Union has used a CDS that covers all fish shipments imported into the bloc from overseas; and in 2016, the United States announced its own scheme, the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). In 2017, ASEAN adopted the voluntary ASEAN Catch Documentation Scheme for Marine Capture Fisheries to enhance intra-regional and international trade of fish and fish products.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Conservation groups disagree with NOAA decision on Western Atlantic bluefin

May 22, 2018 — The decision by NOAA Fisheries to remove Western Atlantic bluefin tuna is not sitting well with conservationists.

Last week, the agency released its Status of U.S. Fisheries report for 2017. In it, officials announced that the number of stocks on the overfished list had dropped to 35, an all-time low. The Western Atlantic bluefin was among six stocks removed from the overfished list. NOAA, in a press release, said “significant scientific uncertainty” about the stock after last year’s assessment led to the ruling.

To be placed on the overfished list, NOAA officials must determine the stock’s population is too small. That differs from the overfishing list, where stocks with an excessive catch rate land. Overfished stocks may not necessarily be subject to overfishing currently, however, the stock cannot produce a maximum sustainable yield in its present condition. Other factors, such as environmental changes, also may put a stock on the overfished list.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

ISSF Wants Concrete Progress on Harvest Strategies in the Indian Ocean

May 21, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:   

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) published its position statement in advance of the 22nd Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) in Bangkok, Thailand, May 21-25.  One of ISSF’s highest priority items for IOTC is to advance the region’s management strategy evaluations (MSE) for albacore, yellowfin and bigeye tuna, which have not been fully evaluated; adopt species-specific harvest strategies; and conduct a review of limit reference points to pave the way for the adoption of harvest control rules by 2019.

“ISSF is concerned that the Commission’s progress on harvest control rules (HCRs) for stocks that need stricter and more targeted management has slowed, based in part on a lack of resources for its critically important harvest strategy work,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson.

“The Commission has taken steps over the last three years to demonstrate its intention to implement carefully planned harvest strategies, but has made little progress on execution this year. It’s important that the Commission regains momentum at the upcoming Annual Session in Bangkok. That starts with considering the Science Committee endorsed MSE outcomes and taking other needed decisions in line with Resolution 15/10 that will lead to the adoption of HCRs next year.”

Observer Coverage and Electronic Monitoring

In the position statement, ISSF also advocates for intensified FAD management measures — including of supply and tender vessels; full implementation of a non-entangling Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) requirement; and regional support for projects that test biodegradable FADs.

Additionally, ISSF asks IOTC to:

  • Require 100 percent observer coverage on large-scale purse seine vessels
  • Increase longline observer coverage to 20 percent
  • Develop standards so that electronic monitoring can be used to ultimately achieve 100 percent observer coverage in both purse-seine and longline fisheries
  • Strengthen the IOTC compliance assessment process
ISSF urges IOTC to move forward with harvest strategies for all species within its purview. IOTC’s own science committee reports that:
  • Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna is overfished with 67.7 percent probability.
  • Billfish, such as black and striped marlin, in the Indian Ocean are overfished, with 80 percent and 60 percent probability, respectively.
  • Longtail tuna, a species critical to the region’s food security, is overfished with 67 percent probability.

Harvest Strategies, which include target and limit reference points (TRPs and LRPs) together with harvest control rules, provide pre-agreed rules for the management of fisheries resources and action to be taken in response to changes in stock status. Pre-agreed rules and strategies enable prompt management action to avoid overfishing or to rebuild stocks and reduce protracted negotiations that can lead to further declines in the stock.

Additional “asks” of IOTC from ISSF this year include:

  • Retain overall catch reductions contained in IOTC Resolution 17/01 to prevent overfishing of Indian Ocean yellowfin and other species, which requires the Commission to rigorously evaluate the resolution’s effectiveness when the results of the next stock assessment are available and ensure that all relevant parties comply with the resolution.
  • Like last year, ISSF advocates for strengthened monitoring, control and surveillance measures to support data collection and the implementation of harvest strategies.

Read the full position statement here.

ISSF and Fisheries Improvement

ISSF’s goal is to improve the sustainability of global tuna stocks by developing and implementing verifiable, science-based practices, commitments and international management measures that result in tuna fisheries meeting the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification standard without conditions.

ISSF’s appeals to IOTC — and RFMOs in all ocean regions — align with MSC performance indicators that comprise the principles of the MSC certification standard: Principle 1, Sustainable fish stocks; Principle 2, Minimizing environmental impacts; and Principle 3, Effective management.

About the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is a global coalition of scientists, the tuna industry and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) — the world’s leading conservation organization — promoting science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing bycatch and promoting ecosystem health. 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 https://iss-foundation.org/, and follow ISSF on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

 

NOAA report: Number of overfished stocks in U.S. reaches all time low

May 17, 2018 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

The number of domestic fish stocks listed as overfished has reached an all-time low, with three species of West Coast rockfish rebuilt to sustainable levels, according to the 2017 Status of U.S. Fisheries report to Congress. The number of stocks on the overfishing list also remained near all-time lows, an encouraging indicator that the U.S. fishery management system is achieving its long-term sustainability goals.

“Ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks provides two key benefits for the American people,” said Chris Oliver, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries. “First, it strengthens the value of U.S. fisheries’ contribution to the economy, which in 2015 exceeded $208 billion dollars. Second, it supports the communities and marine ecosystems that depend on healthy fisheries.”

Three West Coast stocks were rebuilt to target levels in 2017, bringing the total number of rebuilt U.S. marine fish stocks to 44 since 2000:

  • Bocaccio
  • Darkblotched rockfish
  • Pacific ocean perch

The overfishing list at the end of 2017 included 30 stocks, and the overfished list included 35 stocks. Overall, 91 percent of U.S marine fish stocks are not subject to overfishing and 87 percent are not overfished.  A stock is on the overfishing list when the harvest rate – a direct result of fishing activities – is too high. A stock is on the overfished list when the population size of a stock is too low, whether because of fishing or other causes, such as environmental changes.

Six stocks were removed from the overfishing list:

  • Sailfish – Western Atlantic
  • Blue king crab – Pribilof Islands
  • Puerto Rico Wrasses Complex
  • Coho salmon – Puget Sound: Hood Canal
  • Winter flounder – Georges Bank
  • Witch flounder – Northwestern Atlantic Coast (due to significant scientific uncertainty, the status of this stock cannot be determined following a 2017 assessment)

Six stocks came off the overfished list:

  • Yelloweye rockfish – Pacific Coast
  • Winter flounder – Georges Bank
  • Gray triggerfish – Gulf of Mexico
  • Red snapper – Gulf of Mexico
  • Pacific ocean perch – Pacific Coast
  • Bluefin tuna – Western Atlantic (due to significant scientific uncertainty, the status of this stock cannot be determined following a 2017 assessment)

“Rebuilding stocks to fully utilize our fisheries is one way NOAA can reduce our nation’s seafood deficit,” said Oliver. “We look forward to exploring innovative approaches to fisheries management and working with our partners to ensure America’s fisheries remain the world’s most sustainable.”

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and our other social media channels.

 

Bumble Bee CEO indicted on federal price-fixing charges

May 17, 2018 — The CEO of Bumble Bee Foods faces up to 10 years in prison on charges he conspired to illegally set prices on canned tuna in the United States.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday 16 May indicted Christopher Lischewski on a single count of price fixing. He is scheduled to be arraigned on 29 May in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, California.

According to the indictment, Lischewski “knowingly joined and participated” in a conspiracy to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing prices on packaged seafood sold in America. He and other unnamed co-conspirators held meetings and exchanged information on not just pricing data but sales, supply, demand, and production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

118 Organizations Make Sustainability Appeal for Critical Improvements in Global Tuna Fisheries

May 16, 2018 — The following was released by the NGO Tuna Forum:   

A diverse, global group of 118 commercial and non-profit organizations have joined together to call for immediate action by tuna RFMOs to address critical tuna sustainability priorities. In a letter dated 7 May 2018, the signatories call for accelerated action on the following global tuna fishery priorities:

  • The development and implementation of comprehensive, precautionary harvest strategies
  • Effective monitoring and management of fish aggregating devices (FADs)
  • Strengthened monitoring, control and surveillance tools, including increased observer coverage in purse seine and longline fisheries, and of at-sea transshipment activity, through human observers and/or electronic monitoring
  • Greater focus on the implementation of bycatch mitigation best practices broadly, with an emphasis on longline fisheries

Tuna fisheries represent not only a high-value protein source but also an important economic driver for countries and communities around the globe. As a highly migratory, global species, the health of tuna stocks is of global concern – as witnessed by the breadth of signatories to this appeal.

The letter and outreach effort are being coordinated by leading NGOs working on tuna sustainability globally through the NGO Tuna Forum. The letter has been shared with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission in advance of its annual meeting later this month; it will also be sent to Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in advance of their 2018 general meetings.

While the signatories recognize that RFMOs have made progress to-date on some these priorities, accelerated action is required on all fronts to ensure the long-term sustainability of tuna fisheries.

Specific actions that IOTC, IATTC, ICCAT and WCPFC are being asked to address in 2018 include:

  1. Develop and implement comprehensive, precautionary harvest strategies with specific timelines for all tuna stocks, including the adoption and implementation of target and limit reference points, harvest control rules, monitoring strategies, operational objectives, performance indicators, and management strategy evaluation;
  2. Adopt a 100% observer coverage requirement for purse seine vessels where it is not already required, and require the use of the best-available observer safety equipment, communications and procedures;
  3. Increase compliance with mandatory minimum 5% longline observer coverage rates by identifying and sanctioning non-compliance, and adopt and implement a 100% observer coverage requirement – human and/or electronic – within five years for longline fisheries;
  4. Adopt and implement a 100% observer coverage requirement for at-sea transshipment activities, as well as other measures that ensure transshipment activity is transparent and well- managed, and that all required data is fully collected and sent to the appropriate bodies in a timely manner;
  5. Develop and implement science-based recommendations for the effective management of FADs, and integrate FAD-based information into stock assessments to reduce uncertainties;
  6. Adopt effective measures for the use of non-entangling FAD designs as a precautionary measure to minimize the entanglement of sharks and other non-target species, and support research on biodegradable materials and transition to their use to mitigate marine debris;
  7. More effectively implement, and ensure compliance with, existing RFMO bycatch requirements and take additional mitigation action, such as improving monitoring at sea, collecting and sharing operational-level, species-specific data, and adopting stronger compliance measures, including consequences for non-compliance for all gear types.

The organizations believe these measures are needed to positively impact the long-term sustainability of tuna stocks and the overall health of the marine ecosystem.

Read the full letter here.

 

Blockchain could open markets

May 11, 2018 — Consumers are demanding transparency regarding their food. One survey of 1,522 consumers found that as they have become accustomed to getting more information via their phones, their demand for transparency as to all types of products — from medicine to sports to food — has increased. Consumers are not alone. Changes to laws governing supply chain transparency and documentation have imposed considerable obligations on companies to not only know their supplier, but to know their supplier’s supplier, and so forth.

The Obama-era Action Plan for combatting IUU fishing and seafood fraud requires the development of a program to track fishery products along the supply chain. Beginning January 1, 2018, NOAA rolled out its Seafood Import Monitoring Program, which establishes reporting and recordkeeping requirements for fish importers. For 10 groups of species — including cod, red snapper, and tunas — it requires importers provide and report certain records along the entire chain of custody, from harvest to entry into the United States. Information will be entered into the confidential International Trade Data System — not reported to the public or on a label. NOAA has also proposed a voluntary Commerce Trusted Trader Program, which would qualify importers to achieve streamlined entry requirements under the monitoring program. These programs are expected to be expanded to cover all imported fish products in coming years.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

 

URI Leads Effort To Reform Commercial Fisheries in the Philippines

April 25, 2018 — Researchers at the University of Rhode Island are leading a new project in the Philippines to increase the number of fish in their waters.

The Philippines is one of the biggest fish producing nations in the world. The U.S., for example, depends on the country for crab and tuna.

However, the majority of their fishing grounds are overfished, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based environmental advocacy organization.

URI and other Filipino universities and organizations will be working throughout the next five years to develop better fishery management plans for municipalities.

Read the full story at Rhode Island Public Radio

 

Workshop series aims to boost “harvest strategy” for tuna management

April 23, 2018 — On late February, Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries and the World Wildlife Fund hosted a two-day regional workshop to create a better understanding among states in the western and central Pacific Ocean of the “harvest strategy” approach to tuna management. About 40 participants from Fiji and across the Pacific region attended.

The event, held in the city of Nadi, was funded by the Global Environment Facility’s Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction project. The term “areas beyond national jurisdiction” generally refers to the high seas, which lie outside of any country’s exclusive economic zone. The Global Environment Facility is a grant-making organization formed after the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to address environmental problems around the world. Its members include the World Bank and the FAO as well as many countries. Several business partners are also involved.

Ocean Outcomes, an organization funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, helped design the program, and the workshop was also attended by a representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization. It was the seventh in a series of eight workshops, held in locations around the world, including Dakar, Senegal; Bali, Indonesia; and Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

ISSF: How Can Tropical Tuna Purse-Seine Fisheries Become MSC Certified?

April 19, 2018 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has published a comprehensive report of recommendations, with an emphasis on fish aggregating device (FAD) usage, for purse-seine fisheries pursuing Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. ISSF 2018-05: Recommended Best Practices for Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fisheries in Transition to MSC Certification, with Emphasis on FADs is based on MSC fishery-certification requirements and organized by MSC scoring indicators. It is intended as a practical resource for purse-seine fisheries entering into Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) to address problems, close gaps, and earn MSC certification.

The report summarizes science-based best practices for tropical tuna purse-seine fisheries with a FAD component — that is, with a portion of their sets on FAD-associated schools of tuna. Many of the practices also apply to purse-seine fishing on free-swimming tuna schools.

MSC Certification, Purse-Seine Fisheries, and FIPS

Approximately 65% of the world’s tuna is harvested from purse-seine fisheries, which have been challenged in receiving MSC certification as compared to other species fisheries. Only certain components of some purse-seine fisheries — the free-swimming school, anchored FAD, and dolphin-associated components — have been certified by MSC to date.

Helping all tuna fisheries to be sustainable and meet MSC certification standards — without conditions — is ISSF’s ultimate objective. Since FIPs are instrumental in that process, ISSF’s new five-year strategic plan, Advancing Sustainable Tuna Fisheries,emphasizes tools and resources, along with scientific expertise and RFMO advocacy, to support those improvement projects.

More than 30 tuna FIPs are active worldwide today, and many retailers and food-service providers are committed to FIPs in their seafood sourcing guidelines.

Best Practices in FAD Fishing

In Recommended Best Practices, ISSF marine scientists Ana Justel-Rubio and Dr. Victor Restrepo — who also sits on MSC’s Technical Advisory Board — reference requirements from Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) and present best practices gleaned from ISSF at-sea research, skippers workshops, and other resources.

Regarding FAD use, they identify several best practices for vessels operating in a tuna purse-seine fishery seeking certification, including:

  • Comply with flag state and RFMO reporting requirements for fisheries statistics by set type
  • Voluntarily report additional data on FADs for use by RFMO science bodies
  • Support science-based limits on the overall number of FADs used and/or FAD sets
  • Use non-entangling FADs only, and promote the use of biodegradable FADs
  • Develop a FAD recovery policy, including arrangements to alert coastal countries of derelict FADs that may impact sensitive areas
  • For silky sharks (the main bycatch species in FAD sets), implement further mitigation efforts
Recommendations to Increase MSC Scores
In addition to best practices for FAD use, the report recommends strategies for fisheries to:
  •  Promote RFMO adoption of stock management measures that address all fishing gears
  •  Increase research and monitoring capabilities
  •  Improve overall compliance with RFMO requirements, including reporting of data needed for stock assessment

An appendix lists all MSC performance indicators (PIs) for each MSC Principle — Sustainable Fish Stocks (P1), Minimizing Environmental Impact (P2), and Effective Management (P3) — and their component scoring issues (SIs), identifying actions that will lead to passing scores of 80 or higher.