Saving Seafood

Retailers, suppliers call on Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission for emergency tuna management

November 29, 2016 — European and American tuna suppliers and retailers have called for new interim rules governing the sustainable fishing of Western and Central Pacific tuna stocks.

The group says the interim rules are needed “as quickly as possible”, due to the failure to reach a comprehensive regulatory settlement agreed by country-members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which “allows unsustainable fishing to continue”.

Interim targets should be in place within the next 12 months, read the letter addressed to the WCPFC – which will meet next week in Fiji — with targets including limit and reference points for all target tuna stocks and key by-catch species where these are not currently in place.

Signatories to the letter, including retail giants Target, WM Morrison Supermarkets and Aldi Sud, note that finding a comprehensive fisheries management system is a “time-consuming and complex undertaking”.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Tuna’s Declining Mercury Contamination Linked to U.S. Shift Away from Coal

November 23, 2016 — Levels of highly toxic mercury contamination in Atlantic bluefin tuna are rapidly declining, according to a new study. That trend does not affect recommended limits on consumption of canned tuna, which comes mainly from other tuna species. Nor does it reflect trends in other ocean basins. But it does represent a major break in the long-standing, scary connection between tuna and mercury, a source of public concern since 1970, when a chemistry professor in New York City found excess levels of mercury in a can of tuna and spurred a nationwide recall. Tuna consumption continues to be the source of about 40 percent of the mercury contamination in the American diet. And mercury exposure from all sources remains an important issue, because it causes cognitive impairment in an estimated 300,000 to 600,000 babies born in this country each year.

The new study, published online on November 10 by Environmental Science & Technology, links the decline directly to reduced mercury emissions in North America. Most of that reduction has occurred because of the marketplace shift by power plants and industry away from coal, the major source of mercury emissions. Pollution control requirements imposed by the federal government have also cut mercury emissions.

Progress on both counts could, however, reverse, with President-elect Donald Trump promising a comeback for the U.S. coal industry, in part by clearing away such regulations.

For the new study, a team of a half-dozen researchers analyzed tissue samples from nearly 1,300 Atlantic bluefin tuna taken by commercial fisheries, mostly in the Gulf of Maine, between 2004 and 2012. They found that levels of mercury concentration dropped by more than 2 percent per year, for a total decline of 19 percent over just nine years.

Read the full story at Scientific American

The latest weapon in the fight against illegal fishing? Artificial intelligence

November 21, 2016 — Facial recognition software is most commonly known as a tool to help police identify a suspected criminal by using machine learning algorithms to analyze his or her face against a database of thousands or millions of other faces. The larger the database, with a greater variety of facial features, the smarter and more successful the software becomes – effectively learning from its mistakes to improve its accuracy.

Now, this type of artificial intelligence is starting to be used in fighting a specific but pervasive type of crime – illegal fishing. Rather than picking out faces, the software tracks the movement of fishing boats to root out illegal behavior. And soon, using a twist on facial recognition, it may be able to recognize when a boat’s haul includes endangered and protected fish.

The latest effort to use artificial intelligence to fight illegal fishing is coming from Virginia-based The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which launched a contest on Kaggle – a crowdsourcing site based in San Francisco that uses competitions to advance data science –earlier this week. TNC hopes the winning team will write software to identify specific species of fish. The program will run on cameras, called electronic monitors, which are installed on fishing boats and used for documenting the catch. The software will put a marker at each point in the video when a protected fish is hauled in. Inspectors, who currently spend up to six hours manually reviewing a single 10-hour fishing day, will then be able to go directly to those moments and check a fishing crew’s subsequent actions to determine whether they handled the bycatch legally – by making best efforts to return it to the sea unharmed.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Update to ISSF Participating Company Compliance Report Shows Improvement Across All Measures

November 21, 2016 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

WASHINGTON — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has released its Update to ISSF Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which shows a conformance rate of 95.6 percent by 25 ISSF participating companies as of October 31, 2016, across all 20 measures then in effect. ISSF Participating Companies account for about 75% of the global canned tuna market.

The November 2016 Update is based on audits conducted June 2016–October 2016 on measures where some companies had “minor” or “major” nonconformance. Improvements noted since the June 2016 ISSF Conservation Measures & Commitment Compliance Report was published include:

  • 14 companies were found to be fully compliant with all 20 measures.
  • 19 companies were fully compliant in 17 or more conservation measures.
  • “Minor” non-conformance with measures dropped from 11.6% to 4.4%.
  • All 6 “major” non-conformances have been corrected, resulting in the first 0% “major” non-conformance rate since the report has been published.

The ISSF Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report is published annually to track ISSF participating companies’ progress in conforming with ISSF conservation measures like these:

In addition to these summary reports, third-party independent auditor MRAG Americas issues individual company reports that document in detail each company’s compliance with conservation measures. This year, for the first time since ISSF started tracking and reporting company compliance in 2013—and in response to requests for deeper information—ISSF now publishes the individual company compliance reports on its website.

“That many of the tuna industry’s key players are conforming to science-based conservation measures, opening their books to independent auditors, and reporting their findings publicly, would be accomplishment enough,” said ISSF Board Member Dr. Bill Fox, Vice President, Fisheries, WWF-US. “But efforts to improve participating company conformance within the audit year—increasing the conformance rate by seven points in just five months—raises the bar for the industry and the market as a whole. And it represents continuous improvement in action.”

ISSF continually expands and refines its science-based conservation measures, which now number more than 25. New measures passed by the ISSF Board of Directors in October 2016—some taking effect in 2016, and others in 2017 or later—cover non-entangling FADs, product traceability, and fishing capacity management.

More Information about ISSF Conservation Measures & Compliance

For long-term tuna sustainability, a growing number of tuna companies worldwide are choosing to participate with ISSF, follow responsible fishing practices, and implement science-based conservation measures. From bycatch mitigation to product traceability, ISSF participating companies have committed to conforming to a set of conservation measures and other commitments designed to drive positive change—and to do so transparently through third-party audits.

“We recognize that transparency underpins all of the initiatives we tackle, and all of the collaborative efforts we undertake,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “Transparency reinforces the understanding that we are not only committed to making a difference, but to clearly demonstrate ongoing improvement in meeting that commitment.”

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 and Commitments. MRAG Americas conducts independent auditing based on a rigorous audit protocol.

Australia rejects yellowfin tuna TAC increase

November 16, 2016 — The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) Commission said it did not support an increase in the total allowable catch (TAC) increase of yellowfin tuna proposed at a recent meeting.

The proposal, from the Tropical Tuna Management Advisory Committee (TTMAC), would have hiked the total allowable catch (TAC) over-catch allowance, enabling commercial fishermen to bring in yellowfin tuna above the current limits during the remainder of the 2016-17 season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MASSACHUSETTS: Herring trawlers just offshore anger Cape fishermen

November 16, 2016 — ORLEANS, Mass. — They were visible from shore for most of Tuesday, seven vessels of between 140 to 170 feet in length, four miles off Nauset Beach.

Some worked in tandem, towing a huge net between them, scooping up mackerel or herring right on the Cape’s doorstep and making local fishermen like Bruce Peters angry.

“They suck up all the herring and mackerel, the forage fish we need for the cod, tuna, stripers, the whales, what we need for the food chain,” said Peters, a longtime commercial cod and groundfish fisherman, who now runs a charter boat business and fishes commercially for tuna. “We need a 50-mile buffer zone to keep these guys offshore.”

Buffer zones that prohibit the herring fleet from fishing within anywhere from 6 to 50 miles from shore are part of a new amendment to the herring fishery management plan that will be outlined at the New England Fishery Management Council meeting Thursday in Newport, Rhode Island, and voted on at the January meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The council — a representative body of fishermen, industry representatives, environmental organizations and state and federal fishery officials — draws up plans to sustainably manage fish and shellfish stocks in federal waters. They received 238 pages of comment, much of it in support of requiring the herring fleet to fish farther from shore.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

US tuna fishing company fined USD 1.6 million for illegal waste dumping

November 3, 2016 — U.S.-based tuna fishing company Pacific Breeze Fisheries, LLC, has been accuised by the U.S. Department of Justice of discharging oily waste into South Pacific waters near American Samoa and of maintaining false records of the events, leaving the company on the hook to pay a USD 1.6 million (EUR 1.44 million) fine, according to a report from Ship and Bunker.

The tuna company admitted that on two separate occasions, one in 2014 and the other in 2015, its engineers released oily bilge water into American Samoan waters, and then failed to properly document the acts. Pacific Breeze also admitted that its senior engineers did not properly document instances of oil waste disposal in the ship’s Oil Record Book from the period between October 2014 and July 2015, according to court documents.

Pacific Breeze will pay USD 400,000 (EUR 360,644) to the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa, in addition to the USD 1.6 million (EUR 1.44 million) fine. While the company does not currently manage any active fishing vessels, it has vowed to implement “an ‘extensive’ environmental compliance plan should it resume operations,” reported Ship and Bunker.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

International Seafood Sustainability Foundation Announces New & Amended Conservation Measures on FADs, Product Traceability, Fishing Capacity Management

November 2, 2016 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation: 

Washington, D.C. — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) announced today the adoption of new and amended conservation measures to facilitate continuous improvement across global tuna stocks and to reflect ISSF participating companies’ commitment to driving positive change. The measures address the use of non-entangling fish aggregating devices, or FADs; product traceability; and fishing capacity management — directly impacting how nearly thirty global seafood companies do business with vessels on the water, at the processing plant, and in the marketplace.

“When it comes to the global tuna fishing, industry must play a leading role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of global tuna stocks,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “With as much as 75 percent of the world’s tuna processing capacity conforming to multiple measures for sustainability best practices — and being transparently audited against those measures — ISSF can make real progress toward its goal of sustainable fisheries for the long term.”

Non-entangling FADs: Mitigating Bycatch in Tuna Fisheries

Scientific studies show that FADs, when constructed with materials such as loose old netting, can entangle vulnerable species such as sharks. To address this issue, ISSF scientists developed the ISSF Guide for Non-Entangling FADs. Research indicates that vessels fully implementing non-entangling FADs can completely eliminate shark entanglement — saving many thousands of sharks across ocean regions. While some tuna fisheries management organizations have already made the transition from traditional FADs to non-entangling FADs, others have not.

To support of the global transition to non-entangling FADs, ISSF adopted Conservation Measure 3.5 Transactions with Vessels that Use Only Non-entangling FADs. The measure stipulates that ISSF participating companies “conduct transactions only with those purse seine vessels whose owners have a public policy regarding the use of only non-entangling FADs” and that the policy should refer to the ISSF Guide for Non-Entangling FADs. The measure became effective October 18, 2016 and vessel owners have six months from that date to develop and publish their policies, which must require deployment of only non-entangling FADs within twelve months.

Product Labeling: Expanding a Commitment to Tuna Traceability

Adequate tuna product traceability records are necessary to enforce compliance with existing and future conservation measures, and also to eliminate illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing. Formalizing a commitment by the world’s leading tuna companies to make this information publicly available strengthens industry transparency.

ISSF adopted Conservation Measure 2.3 Product Labeling by Species and Area of Capture, which states that participating companies will identify 1.) all species of tuna and 2.) the ocean of capture for tuna contained in a product on all labeling or through a publicly available web-based traceability system, for all branded tuna products. The measure applies to all product labeling as of January 1, 2018.

Committed to Effective Capacity Management

“Unmanaged fishing capacity is the quickest path to overfishing. We continue to be concerned that there are too many tuna fishing boats on the water, causing overfishing of some tuna stocks,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson.

“That’s why ISSF has refined and expanded its capacity management conservation measures, through which the tuna industry — following scientific and environmental group recommendations — is urged to do business with only those vessels that already are on the water, unless new vessels are replacing existing boats that are taken completely out of service.”

ISSF announces new conservation measures in support of its existing capacity measures 6.1 Transaction Ban for Large-Scale Purse Seine Vessels not Actively Fishing for Tuna as of December 31, 2012 and 6.2(a) Requirements for Inclusion in Record of Large-Scale Purse Seine Vessels Fishing For Tropical Tunas. The new measures address investments in and purchases from purse seine vessels not in compliance with the preceding capacity measures.

The first of those new measures, 6.2(d) Investment in Purse Seine Vessels Not in Compliance with ISSF Conservation Measures 6.1 and 6.2(a) states that ISSF participating companies that are investors in any new vessel that does not meet all of the conditions in Conservation Measures 6.1 and 6.2(a) shall buy out and scrap existing capacity of large-scale tuna purse seine vessel(s) that corresponds to the full capacity of the new vessel. “New vessels” includes vessels owned, partially or fully:

  • Directly or indirectly by any ISSF participating company, or
  • Directly or indirectly by any individuals who hold controlling interests of any ISSF participating company.

The second of the new capacity measures, 6.2(e) Purchases From Purse Seine Vessels in Fleets With Other Vessels Not in Compliance with ISSF Conservation Measures 6.1 and 6.2(a), states that participating companies shall refrain from transactions in tuna caught by large-scale purse seine vessels owned by business organizations or individuals that also own large-scale purse seine vessels not in compliance with measures 6.1 and 6.2(a).

Finally, in additional support of efforts toward capacity management, ISSF amends one of its conservation measures regarding the ISSF ProActive Vessel Register (PVR). If purchasing tuna from large-scale purse seine vessels, ISSF participating companies must ensure that 100% of those vessels are on the PVR. Further, measure 7.2 Threshold Requirement for PVR Listing states that to be listed on the PVR, all large-scale purse seine vessels must be in compliance with all ISSF capacity measures and listed on the ISSF Record of Large Scale Purse Seine Vessels.

Amendments to Measure 7.2 Threshold Requirement for PVR Listing now stipulate that, in order to be listed on the PVR:

  • All large-scale purse seine vessels owned by the same business organization shall be in compliance with all ISSF capacity measures and listed on the Record.
  • If a large-scale purse seine vessel is not in demonstrated compliance, any and all large-scale purse seine vessels owned by the same business organization will not be eligible to be listed on the Record, and if those vessels are already on the Record, they will be removed.

All ISSF conservation measures are available for review in full at: http://iss-foundation.org/knowledge-tools/publications-presentations/conservation-measures-commitments/

HAWAII: Fishermen Catch 11% More Bigeye Tuna Despite Overfishing Status

October 27, 2016 — U.S. commercial fishermen hauled in 2.5 million pounds more bigeye tuna last year than they did in 2014, landing almost all of it out of Honolulu, according to a federal report released Wednesday.

Bigeye landings in 2015 totaled 25.8 million pounds, an increase of nearly 11 percent compared to last year. 

And that tuna was worth a bit more too, averaging $3.17 per pound in 2015, up from $3.08 in 2014, according to the most recent Fisheries of the United States report by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Overall, U.S. commercial fishermen landed 32 million pounds of seafood last year operating out of Honolulu, the 27th highest nationally by weight. 

But that seafood — mostly bigeye tuna, which fetches top dollar in local sashimi markets and high-end restaurants — was worth $97 million, making it the sixth-highest catch in the country by value. 

Bigeye tuna continues to be subject to overfishing, however. It’s one of 28 stocks on the federal overfishing list. Only 9 percent of fishing stocks monitored by the feds are subject to overfishing, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

13 Benefits of Taking Fish Oil

October 20, 2016 — Fish oil is one of the most commonly consumed dietary supplements.

It’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are very important for your health.

If you don’t eat a lot of oily fish, taking a fish oil supplement could help you get enough omega-3 fatty acids.

Here is an evidence-based guide to fish oil supplements and their health benefits.

What Is Fish Oil and Why Should You Care?

Fish oil is the fat or oil that’s extracted from fish tissue.

It usually comes from oily fish such as herring, tuna, anchovies and mackerel. Yet sometimes it’s produced from the livers of other fish, as is the case with cod liver oil.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends eating 1–2 portions of fish per week. This is because the omega-3 fatty acids in fish provide many health benefits, including helping protect against a number of diseases.

But if you don’t eat 1–2 portions of fish per week, fish oil supplements can help you get enough omega-3s.

Read more at Best for Nutrition