Saving Seafood

NOAA grant would fund study of tuna, lobster, climate change

June 12, 2017 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is recommending more than $1.3 million in federal funding for fisheries research projects in Maine.

The money would fund five projects. The largest grant of nearly $300,000 would fund a University of Maine project to evaluate the life history of yellowfin tuna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Another grant of nearly $290,000 would go to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute to address the issue of “choke species” in the era of climate change. Choke species are fish with small quotas for commercial fishermen. Catching too many of them can force fishermen to shut down operations.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Alva Review-Courier

CALIFORNIA: Squaring off over selling directly from boats at Fisherman’s Wharf

June 5, 2017 — Should local seafood be permitted to be sold straight from the boat in San Francisco?

That’s what some local fishermen are arguing, though their efforts are meeting resistance from some of the city’s oldest seafood families, who say the new proposal would hurt their established businesses and present a public health risk.

The would-be seafood mongers say that selling their wares from their boats would put the “fisherman” back into Fisherman’s Wharf, and could provide locals and tourists with a new shopping option.

“People in San Francisco do want whole fish,” said San Francisco fisher Sarah Bates. “This is a new market that the fishermen are uniquely situated to serve — especially when the fishing is slow or the weather is bad, and you have product and you have a couple days at the boat. This is value added directly to the fisherman.”

Fishing-boat operators and seafood wholesalers presented their points of view at a public meeting held by the Port of San Francisco on Friday. The 90-minute meeting got contentious at times, with some of the city’s seafood processors arguing that the proposal would put their businesses at a disadvantage. On the other side, individual fishers said that there’s no comparison between the wholesale seafood business and independent fishing entrepreneurs making a few hundred dollars when they have extra fish to sell.

Though most of the state’s harbors allow direct retail sales from the boat, it hasn’t been permitted in San Francisco since a brief trial period in 2000. The proposal the Port is considering — and will decide on this summer — is to allow fishers who have berth assignments at certain parts of the wharf to sell whole halibut, salmon, tuna, rockfish and bycatch from their boats. No Dungeness crab would be allowed.

Read the full story at the San Fransisco Chronicle

Lawsuit takes aim at kings of the tuna industry

June 5, 2017 — Clandestine phone calls. Surreptitious emails. In-person meetings to avoid a paper trail.

The purpose of all the secrecy? To keep the price on packaged tuna — the quick source of protein found in cans and pouches — artificially high.

New details of exactly how the country’s three largest tuna companies, including Pittsburgh’s StarKist Co., allegedly spent years sharing information and collaborating are included in a pile of amended complaints submitted last month in federal court by numerous grocers, restaurants and suppliers.

It’s the latest round in an ongoing court battle alleging price fixing in the packaged seafood industry. Bumble Bee Foods and Tri-Union Seafoods, which trades under Chicken of the Sea, both based in San Diego, are also named.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is conducting its own investigation into alleged price fixing in the industry, announced in early May that Bumble Bee Foods agreed to pay a $25 million fine after pleading guilty to conspiring with competitors to fix prices. The DOJ said the company also is cooperating with the antitrust investigation. It’s the third charge to be filed in the investigation.

The DOJ had released information that triggered the amended complaints, according to one attorney.

A spokesperson for Starkist, Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee declined to comment on pending litigation, but in 2016 attorneys representing StarKist urged the court to dismiss the case. They argued that it’s not unusual for people working in the same industry to know each other and to meet at industry gatherings.

But a lot of retailers are arguing that the evidence shows the exchanges were not so innocent.

The latest court documents — which are heavily redacted — include details such as Walmart and Ohio-based grocer Kroger charging that executives “used misleading subject lines on emails to affirmatively conceal the conspiratorial nature of their communications from those not involved in the conspiracy.”

Read the full story at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How To Choose The Safest, Healthiest And Most Sustainable Seafood

May 24, 2017 — Picking out fish should be a simple enough task, right? Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as grabbing a fresh-looking cut or some frozen shrimp and never giving it a second thought. These days we wonder: Does it have mercury? How much? What is its country of origin? Is it being overfished? And a new concern: Am I even getting the right fish?

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Loyola Marymount University recently performed DNA tests on sushi from 26 Los Angeles restaurants and found that 47 percent of it was mislabeled. Yellowfin tuna ended up being bigeye tuna, and red snapper and halibut orders were mislabeled 100 percent of the time, with most halibut turning out to be flounder. A one-year sampling of seafood from grocery stores showed similar rates of mislabeling, which suggests that the fish swap could be occurring earlier in the selling process. This may mean we’re overpaying and getting a less safe catch. Bigeye tuna, for example, is higher in mercury than yellowfin tuna.

Read the full story at the Huffington Post

ISSF Annual Report Focuses on Tuna Fishing Best Practices and Participating Company Conformance with Science-based Conservation Measures

May 23, 2017 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) released its 2016 annual report today, Best Practices, Better Solutions, which outlines tuna sustainability achievements and argues for continuous improvement of global tuna fisheries through collaboration and advocacy.

“ISSF marked its seventh anniversary in 2016, and I’m proud to have been part of this unique organization from the beginning,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson in her opening letter. “Through our many activities and partnerships over the years — made possible by progressive tuna companies and other funders — we have deepened our understanding about what it takes to ‘be’ sustainable, and to advance the cause.”

Best Practices, Better Solutions focuses on ISSF’s collaborations on “best practices” in tuna and ocean conservation sustainability with fishers, tuna companies, retailers, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and other governing bodies, working closely with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), scientific agencies, and charitable foundations.

Report Highlights

The report offers these special features:

  • Spotlights on fish aggregating device (FAD) management, electronic monitoring and reporting, and harvest control rules — including timelines that track best-practice milestones 2009-2016 as well as graphics showing RFMO proposal activity
  • Graphics documenting skipper acceptance of best practices, including bycatch mitigation techniques
  • Charts showing tuna stock status based on catch and abundance
  • Table with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) performance indicator averages for global tuna fisheries
  • Summary of ISSF advocacy efforts, including joint letters, blogs, and RFMO side events
  • Graphic showing how RFMO proposals track with ISSF advocacy priorities
  • Reflections from outgoing ISSF Board chair Juan Corrales

It also covers these notable ISSF achievements:

  • Five new tuna companies joined as participating companies in 2016.
  • ISSF Skippers Workshops were held in China and Vietnam for the first time; a record 343 vessel crew were trained in 2016 workshops.
  • In North America, Europe, and Africa 32 retailers that purchase tuna have incorporated ISSF guidelines in their procurement policies.

Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report

ISSF’s annual report also serves as the platform to share the organization’s annual Conservation Measures and Commitments Compliance Report. The report shows a conformance rate of 97.5 percent by 28 ISSF participating companies as of March 31, 2017 — up from 95.6 percent in November 2016 — across 21 ISSF conservation measures in effect in 2016. Twenty-two of 28 companies were fully compliant across all measures.  

The report tracks ISSF participating companies’ progress in conforming with measures like these:

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

In addition to a summary report, MRAG Americas issues individual company reports that document in detail each organization’s compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures. ISSF publishes these individual company compliance reports on its website.

ISSF Participating Companies account for about 75% of the global canned tuna market.

New tuna measures target IUU, bycatch

May 19, 2017 — New conservation measures from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation aim to reduce incidental capture of sharks and marine turtles and reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Two of the new measures are the first to affect longline vessels, since longline fishing accounted for 12 percent of the tuna catch globally in 2015, according to ISSF.

The new measures go into effect on 1 January, 2018.

ISSF-participating seafood suppliers include Thai Union, Bumble Bee Seafoods, Chicken of the Sea and Starkist.

“With about 75 percent of the world’s canned tuna processing capacity conforming to multiple ISSF measures for sustainability best practices, and with major tuna companies being transparently audited against those measures, we have a real opportunity to make changes on and off the water,” ISSF President Susan Jackson said.

Moving forward, tuna companies that do business with large-scale longline vessels must conduct transactions only with long-liners whose at-sea transshipment activities are 100 percent monitored by human observers, either onboard the main vessel or onboard the transshipment vessel.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

Corporate and Social Responsibility Leader Luciano Pirovano to Chair Sustainability Group Board

May 4, 2017 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) announced today the appointment of Luciano Pirovano as Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Pirovano, International Marketing & Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Director at Bolton Alimentari, succeeds Juan Corrales, CEO, Grupo Conservas Garavilla, in the role.

“I would like to thank Juan for his many contributions to ISSF. Under his leadership, ISSF has grown from 17 to 28 participating companies. We’ve also made strides to achieve, in his words, ‘a transparent, traceable, and fully compliant tuna industry.’ Last year, ISSF began publishing detailed audit reports evaluating each participating company’s compliance with our conservation measures,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson.

“I know Juan joins me in applauding the appointment of Luciano to this dynamic and important position. As we near the close of our 2013-2017 Strategic Plan, with more momentum, partners and progress than ever before, ISSF is well poised for our future. We are confident in Luciano’s abilities to take us there.”

“As a founding participating company with ISSF, Bolton Alimentari has been invested in and committed to the Foundation’s cause since day one,” said Mr. Pirovano. “I am proud to honor and extend that commitment by taking on the role of Chair of the ISSF Board. I look forward to working with my esteemed colleagues on the Board toward our shared vision of sustainable tuna fisheries – for the ultimate protection of this important natural resource and all those that depend on it.”

On the ISSF Board, Mr. Pirovano joins a diverse group of leaders from non-governmental organizations, marine science, government agencies, and the seafood industry, representing several countries. In addition to fiduciary and governance responsibilities, ISSF Board members advance the mission of the Foundation, including through the adoption of ISSF conservation measures, to which ISSF participating companies commit to conform. Other ISSF Board members are:

  • Dr. William Fox, Vice Chair and Vice President, Fisheries, WWF-US
  • Dr. David Agnew, Standards Director, Marine Stewardship Council
  • Dr. Transform Aqorau, Pacific Fisheries Expert and former CEO, Parties to the Naura Agreement (PNA)
  • John Connelly, President, National Fisheries Institute
  • Javier Garat, Secretary General, Cepesca
  • Susan Jackson, President, ISSF
  • Ichiro Nomura, Fisheries Policy Advisor, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Republic of Indonesia
  • Dr. Victor Restrepo, Vice President, Science, ISSF
  • Alfred Schumm, Director, WWF Global Fisheries Program, WWF International

A long-time advocate for sustainable seafood, Mr. Pirovano has spent nearly 15 years at Bolton Alimentari. In 2007, he took over the role of International Marketing Director, developing Bolton Alimentari’s canned fish business abroad. In 2009, Mr. Pirovano took charge of Corporate Social Responsibility, having been involved with ISSF since its founding. As CSR Director at Bolton Alimentari, he has launched the “Responsible Quality” project, Rio Mare’s Corporate Social Responsibility strategy. Mr. Pirovano is based in Milan, Italy. ​

 

JAPAN SET TO REACH ITS PACIFIC BLUEFIN TUNA FISHING QUOTA TWO MONTHS EARLY

April 26, 2017 — Japan is on track to meet its annual Pacific bluefin tuna quota two months early, frustrating activists trying to protect the species from overfishing.

Japan, where bluefin tuna is considered a delicacy, consumes significantly more of the fish than any other country. But its quota for the year ending in June 2017 is likely to be reached as early as this month.

Despite the country’s aggressive approach to fishing, bluefin tuna isn’t cheap. At Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish auction, a 467-pound bluefin tuna sold for 74.7m yen ($700,000) in January.

The seemingly insatiable appetite for the tuna is causing concern among conservationists. Amanda Nickson, director of global tuna conservation at Pew Charitable Trusts, said Japan is irresponsible in its approach to bluefin tuna fishing, The Guardian reported.

“Just a few years of overfishing will leave Pacific bluefin tuna vulnerable to devastating population reductions. That will threaten not just the fish but also the fishermen who depend on them,” Nickson told The Guardian on Monday.

Overfishing has already caused the Pacific bluefin population to fall by 97 percent.

In 2015, Japan and other members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission agreed to reduce their catch of immature bluefin.

Read the full story at Newsweek

“No tuna disaster” as global stocks deemed healthier than expected

April 25, 2017 — Fishing effort in most tuna fisheries has grown steadily in recent years, a trend that has been largely led by the constantly increasing purse-seine harvest. At the same time, these stocks remain in a healthy state and are much less overfished than many other coastal resources, delegates heard at the sixth European Tuna Conference in Brussels, Belgium.

Speaking at the biennial forum, held on the eve of the 2017 Seafood Expo Global, Alain Fonteneau, a renowned tuna fisheries scientist from the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), confirmed that the total global tuna catch has grown to a level of around five million metric tons (MT), with skipjack accounting for around 66 percent the total.

Fonteneau highlighted that the purse-seine fleets’ heightened productivity – averaging 2.5 percent annually over the last two decades – was chiefly responsible for this growth and that their improved efficiency was directly due to the increased number of fish aggregating devices (FADs) deployed in recent years.

Over the last 10 years, FADs have been responsible for approximately 50 percent of the total purse-seine catch, including 53 percent of the skipjack that has been caught during this period.

“If we were to lose all of the FAD fisheries tomorrow, we would lose most of the skipjack catch,” he said.

While the amount of skipjack caught in most fisheries has continued to increase – a trend that Fonteneau said is indicative of healthy stocks – most of which are still not yet exploited to their maximum sustainable yield (MSY), including the 2 million MT currently coming from the Western Pacific. He is, nevertheless, pessimistic about the Indian Ocean’s stock, despite it currently being in “good shape,” as his “personal feeling” is that the next stock assessment, expected in October, will suggest its over-exploitation.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

Worldwide Industry, NGOs Advocate for Policy Changes in Tuna Fisheries in 2017

March 24, 2017 — SEAFOOD NEWS — A diverse, global group of commercial and non-profit organizations has joined the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation’s (ISSF) call for immediate improvements on tuna management, including developing harvest strategies, strengthening monitoring, control and surveillance tools, and improving the management of fish aggregating devices (FADs).

A March 21 outreach letter to four tuna Regional Fishing Management Organizations (RFMO) was co-signed by 83 nongovernment organizations, tuna processing companies, fleet associations, retailers, importers and food service operators. The RFMOs are IATTC (Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission), ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas), IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission), and WCPFC (Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission).

These groups manage tuna fisheries in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. In 2015, more than 4.8 million tonnes of tuna were harvested, as reported in ISSF’s recent Status of the Stocks report.

Harvest strategies are based on science-based frameworks that include guidelines and limits for fishing vessels. The tools for monitoring, control, and surveillance include human observers, satellite vessel monitoring systems, electronic monitoring systems on vessels, and data collection and dissemination.

The ISSF-coordinated joint outreach letter urges the RFMOs to:

  • Develop precautionary harvest strategies, including specific timelines to adopt target reference points, harvest control rules and other elements
  • Where it is not already in place, require 100%observer coverage for all purse seine fishing vessels and all at-sea transshipment activities
  • Identify and sanction non-compliance with the existing mandatory 5% observer coverage requirement for longline vessels
  • Develop and adopt standards for electronic reporting and electronic monitoring, for all major fishing gear types, and modernize vessel monitoring systems
  • Develop science-based recommendations for managingFADs (fish aggregating devices), including for stock assessments
  • Adopt measures for using non-entangling FAD designs, to protect sharks and other non-target species

The letter requests that the above points are addressed in 2017.

The letter’s 83 signatories are:

Ahold Delhaize (Global)

Aldi North (Global)

Aldi South (Global)

American Albacore Fishing Association

American Bird Conservancy

American Tuna

ANABAC

Anova (US)

Anova Seafood, BV

AP2HI

Atunlo

Auchan Retail (Global)

BirdLife International

Bolton

Bumble Bee Seafoods

Carrefour (Global)

Casino (FR)

Caterers Choice (UK)

Chancerelle

Client Earth

Conservation International

Co-op (UK)

Coop Italia (IT)

Coop Trading (All Scandinavia)

Davigel

Edeka (DE)

Environmental Defense Fund

Eroski (ES)

Fishwise

Frinsa

Greencore (UK)

Grupo Conservas Garavilla (Isabel)

Grupo Maritimo Industrial (Grupomar)

Herdez del Fuerte

Horizon Fisheries

IPNLF

ISSF

IUCN SSC Tuna & Billfish Specialist Group

Jealsa

Kroger (USA)

Lidl (Global)

Loblaws Canada

M & J Seafood (UK)

Marks & Spencer (UK)

MDPI

Mercadona (ES)

Migros (CH)

MMP

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Morrisons (UK)

New England Seafood International (UK)

Ocean Brands

Ocean Harvesters Operative

OPAGAC

Orthongel

Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna (PAST)

Pesca Azteca

Pick N Pay (South Africa)

Princes

Procesa

REWE GROUP (Global)

RS Cannery

Sainsbury’s (UK)

Salica

SEAPAC (a subsidiary of Kingfisher)

Sodexo (Global)

Spar (Austria)

Spar (South Africa)

Subway

Sustainable Fish Cities

Sustainable Fisheries Partnership

Tesco

Thai Union/COSI

Thai Union Europe

The Nature Conservancy

Thunnus Overseas Group/Conserveries des Cinq Océans

Tri Marine

Tunago Fishery, Ltd.

Warenverein (DE)

Wegman’s (USA)

Woolworths (South Africa)

Worldwise (UK)

WWF

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. To learn more, visit http://iss-foundation.org/.

This story originally appeared on Seafoodnews.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.