Saving Seafood

ICCAT raises bluefin catch quota, protects sharks, adopts harvest strategy

November 24, 2021 — The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), approved increases to the total allowable catch (TAC) of bluefin and bigeye at its annual meeting, which ended Tuesday, 23 November.

ICCAT is the regional fisheries management organization (RFMO) responsible for conservation of tunas and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas, including the Mediterranean. ICCAT fishery managers agreed to raise the Atlantic bluefin TAC for the western side of the Atlantic by 376 MT, or 16 percent, from 2,350 MT to 2,726 MT, as the 2021 western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock assessment estimates that the total biomass has increased by 9 percent between 2017 and 2020. This was a reversal from the 2020 meeting, when discussions revolved around reducing the total allowable catch.  TAC for the eastern Atlantic is unchanged. The total quota for Atlantic bluefin tuna for 2022 will be 3,483 MT.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

Protecting the Pacific’s endangered marine species using artificial intelligence

November 24, 2021 — The pelagic ocean covers over 50 percent of the planet’s surface and many of the species that call it home travel thousands of miles each year, seeking food and suitable nursery grounds. Some of these species end up in your favorite sushi—like Bigeye tuna—while others are some of the most imperiled on the planet, like leatherback sea turtles. Catching one without catching the other has challenged commercial fishers, scientists and fisheries managers to develop innovative solutions.

“In the last several decades, we have seen major improvements to bycatch reduction,” said T. Todd Jones, Fisheries Research and Monitoring Division director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. “We see as much as a 60 to 90 percent reduction in bycatch rates for endangered marine turtles due to gear improvement, for example. The goal is to refine that further.”

Recent efforts by UF/IFAS researchers attempt to do just that by drawing imaginary lines in the vast, open ocean, a seemingly impossible task. But using , scientists are making progress toward protecting  that are not meant to be caught.

Read the full story at Phys.org

Taiwan’s tuna industry adopts CCTV, blockchain in effort to mend image

November 22, 2021 — The Taiwan Tuna Association has teamed up with the National Chung Cheng University to trial a video-monitoring system aboard its fishing vessels, aimed at stamping out labor abuses.

The TTA said it’s using a government grant to install the surveillance systems on its distant-water fishing vessels, allowing onshore monitoring and the use of blockchain to guarantee the validity of the captured data. The move comes as part of a three-year experimental project titled “Fulfilling the Protection of Human Rights at Sea and Supporting the Sustainable Development of Fisheries with Technology: Establishing Person-Centered Decent Labor Policies in Distant Water Fisheries.” The project is funded in part by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology, which plans to set up a communication platform for stakeholders “utilizing advanced technologies, such as big data and blockchain,” according to the TTA.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

112 retailers, tuna suppliers urge WCPFC to adopt tuna harvest strategies

November 17, 2021 — More than one hundred companies in the tuna supply chain have sent a letter to the heads of delegations of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), urging them to develop and adopt harvest strategies across all the tuna stocks the regional fishery management organization oversees.

Walmart, Whole Foods, Costco, Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Target, and Kroger were among the signors of the letter, which said harvest control strategies are necessary to ensure the RFMO’s tuna fisheries retain their Marine Stewardship Council certifications.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

No tuna DNA in Subway’s tuna, lawsuit alleges

November 15, 2021 — Pescatarians may want to avoid eating Subway’s tuna, if one is to believe the allegations in a revived lawsuit questioning the ingredients in the restaurant chain’s seafood.

Nineteen of 20 tuna samples from Subway outlets throughout Southern California contained animal protein including chicken, pork or cattle, but no discernible tuna DNA, according to the latest complaint filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in California.

Subway dismissed the claims in the amended suit, the third filed this year, as “meritless” and defended its fish as “high-quality, wild-caught, 100% tuna.” The company’s lawyers are in the process of reviewing the claim and plan to file a new motion to dismiss what they called a “reckless and improper lawsuit.”

Read the full story at CBS News

 

UMaine research to bolster bluefin tuna industry

November 10, 2021 – A new study of western Atlantic bluefin tuna population data is expected to improve management practices and a valuable marketplace for fishermen from Maine to Texas.

Thousands of commercial and recreational fishermen capture the tuna, one of the strongest and fastest predators in the open ocean, off the East Coast each year.

The tuna is “among the most sought-after commercial fish in the world’s oceans,” University of Maine assistant professor Walt Golet said in a news release.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded Golet, a research assistant professor with the School of Marine Sciences, more than $276,000 to lead a team of researchers who will collect and analyze updated the animal’s population data. The new data will help reduce uncertainties in assessment models that estimate the amount of fish in the fishery, which can help guide management practices and prevent overfishing, he said.

Golet was also awarded almost $300,000 from NOAA for a project to help bolster the industry. The research includes developing best practices for handling, particularly cleaning and chilling the fish, and outreach to improve consumer perceptions and markets.

Read the full story at Mainebiz

Hai Trieu Food Earns Friend of The Sea Certification for Sustainable Wild-Caught Yellowfin Tuna

November 8, 2021 — Friend of the Sea, the global certification standard for products and services that respect and protect the marine environment, is pleased to announce the certification of Hai Trieu Food for sustainable fishing practices. Consequently, the company can display the Friend of the Sea eco-label on its products, highlighting its efforts to protect and preserve the environment.

Hai Trieu Food was established in 2006 in Vietnam and, after 13 years in business, has become one of the leading seafood companies in the country. With a seven vessels fleet, Hai Trieu Food specializes in processing and exporting wild-caught yellowfin tuna products with high-quality international standards.

Yellowfin tuna is one of Vietnam’s most important exports, surpassing a total annual value of more than 300 million dollars. However, as the national tuna industry grows, so does the need to protect the country’s magnificent marine biodiversity from the impact of unsustainable fishing practices.

Read the full story at Friends of the Sea

 

IATTC approves Pacific bluefin tuna quota increase

October 27, 2021 — The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) has approved a higher catch limit for Pacific bluefin tuna.

Based on IATTC Scientific Committee projections that indicated a 100 percent chance of reaching an initial stock rebuilding target by 2024, the IATTC approved a 15 percent increase in the catch limit for adults (over 30 kilograms) and no change for juveniles. The decision was made at IATTC’s full commission meeting, which ran from 13 to 22 October.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

RFMOs moving toward an increase in bluefin tuna TAC

October 21, 2021 — Regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs) that regulate Pacific bluefin tuna have moved closer to adopting a catch increase, based on an improved outlook for meeting stock recovery goals.

During its 5-7 October electronic meeting, the Northern Committee (NC) of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) approved, by consensus, the recommendation of the sixth Joint IATTC and WCPFC-NC Working Group Meeting on the Management of Pacific Bluefin Tuna (JWG06).

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Fish And Power Shifts: How The Marshall Islands Became A Fishery Superpower

October 19, 2021 — Just how did a small nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean become a major player in the fishing world?

Giff Johnson, editor of The Marshall Islands Journal, seeks an answer in his new book “Our Ocean’s Promise: From Aspirations to Inspirations.” It tracks the country’s fishery from its time under Japanese and American rule to now, as a nation with one of the busiest tuna transshipment ports in the world.

Johnson researched and wrote the book — which was formally launched on Oct. 8 — over the course of five months, parsing documents spanning almost a century.

The result tells a history of an ever-evolving power dynamic, from more powerful nations dividing and ruling the fisheries to successful regional cooperation through the Parties to the Nauru Agreement starting in 1982. That milestone agreement showed Pacific nations’ collective power and regional camaraderie.

“I think that’s the big story … how the islands have taken charge of the fishery that was historically controlled, totally controlled, by distant water fishing nations,” Johnson said.

The project was conceived by Glen Joseph, director of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, to look at history and forecast the future.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat