Saving Seafood

US Customs and Border Protection seizes 3,400 pounds of invasive mitten crabs

January 27, 2020 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized 3,700 live mitten crabs – sent under false manifests – shipped from China and Hong Kong to individuals and businesses in the United States over the past four months.

The crabs were sent in 51 separate shipments through the port of Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A., and weighed in at around 3,400 pounds, according to a CBP press release. Mitten crab is considered to be an invasive species that can have a “disastrous impact on native habitats,” according to CBP.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

RODA Submits Comments on Proposed Changes to Interpretation on the Jones Act

November 18, 2019 — The following was released by the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance:

On Friday, the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance (RODA) submitted a letter to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection expressing serious concern with proposed modifications to ruling letters that would allow non-Jones Act compliant vessels to be utilized for a wide range of offshore activities, including offshore wind energy facility construction.

For nearly a century, fishermen have complied with the Jones Act. RODA is concerned that the proposed modifications and revocation of ruling letters to CBP’s application of the Jones Act would not hold offshore wind energy developers to the same standards. The proposed definition is too broad and violates the purpose of the Jones Act. Carving out a broad exemption for an entire new industry does nothing to aid the development of U.S. marine commerce.

As the number of proposed offshore wind energy projects continues to grow throughout the U.S., their widely promised economic benefits must accrue to the citizens who are displaced, and to U.S. coastal communities at large. For offshore wind energy-related operations that can be executed with existing American vessels and crew, this means delivering on promises to fully utilize those resources. For larger construction tasks for which there may not currently be qualified vessels, foreign-owned wind energy companies should contract with U.S. shipyards to build the necessary Jones Act-qualified boats.

The actions proposed in the notice also have significant bearing on national security and environmental protection. Monitoring and enforcement of U.S. environmental and security laws on foreign vessels poses extraordinary challenges due the additional permissions needed by the Coast Guard to board non-U.S. flag vessels.

Finally, RODA noted that CBP may only issue Jones Act interpretations relevant to these activities through a public rulemaking process and after conducting thorough interagency evaluations. Due to the highly case-specific nature of ruling letters, any CBP action that affects the maritime community or the public more broadly must follow the Administrative Procedure Act. The notice overreaches a ruling letter’s authority by proposing to adopt a new and unprecedented definition for “vessel equipment.” The inclusion of specific, previously uncontemplated activities—and the materials for use in those activities—in the definition of “vessel equipment” is a new statutory interpretation, and unfit for adoption through modification of existing ruling letters.

The proposed changes are described at page 12 here: https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Oct/Vol_53_No_38_Title.pdf. Comments are due by November 22nd and must be submitted by postal mail.

Read RODA’s submitted comments here

US Customs claims Vanuatu tuna vessel used forced labor

February 7, 2019 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on Wednesday, 6 February it had issued an order against a vessel from Vanuatu claiming the tuna it was carrying was caught using forced labor.

“The order will require detention at all U.S. ports of entry of tuna and any such merchandise manufactured wholly or in part by the Tunago No. 61,” the CBP statement said. “Importers of detained shipments are provided an opportunity to export their shipments or demonstrate that the merchandise was not produced with forced labor.”

According to a search of the CBP website, the action taken against Tunago No. 61 was the first withhold order it issued this year and the first ever issued against a fishing vessel.

The order took effect on Monday, 4 February. CBP spokesperson Kelly Cahalan told SeafoodSource that the Tariff Act of 1930 bans imports of merchandise or food produced at least in part by forced or indentured child labor, including forced child labor.

“Such products are subject to exclusion and/or seizure, and may lead to criminal investigation of the importer,” she said. “When information reasonably but not conclusively indicates that products of forced labor are being imported, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection may issue withhold release orders.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US refuses entry of invasive Chinese crab

November 2, 2018 — The United States government refused entry of hundreds of pounds of invasive Chinese mitten crabs in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A., earlier this month.

While conducting a routine inspection of incoming Chinese freight at a local express consignment facility, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agricultural specialists noted x-ray anomalies in 16 shipments, which were labeled as clothing.

They discovered thousands of live Chinese mitten crabs, destined for residences in New York.

Read the full article at Seafood Source

Why Canadians are upset about Border Patrol run-ins in the disputed waters off Maine

July 6, 2018 — Border Patrol agents in northern New England apparently aren’t just ramping up their immigration enforcement on land. They’re also doing so on the water.

Canada is investigating at least two incidents in which two Canadian fishing vessels were reportedly stopped and questioned by U.S. Border Patrol agents in disputed waters off Maine, a spokesman for the country’s foreign affairs department confirmed Thursday.

The CBC reported Wednesday that the encounters occurred on June 24 and 25 in a so-called “grey zone” around Machias Seal Island and North Rock between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the agents were just conducting “regular” patrol operations. However, Canadian officials are not happy.

“They’re being harassed,” Rick Doucet, New Brunswick’s fisheries minister, told the Toronto-based National Post. “Canadian fishermen are being harassed by U.S. border patrol. As far as I’m concerned, it needs to stop immediately.”

Doucet said Wednesday that the “heavily armed” Border Patrol agents were looking for undocumented immigrants, but that the fishermen were just “doing their job.”

“Absolutely overkill,” he said of the “disturbing” stops.

Laurence Cook, the chair of the Grand Manan Fisherman’s Association, wrote on Facebook at the time that the Border Patrol agents said they were “looking for illegal immigrants.”

“Typical American bullies,” Cook wrote in the June 25 post, asserting that the Canadian vessels were rightly fishing in Canadian water.

Read the full story at Boston.com

Fishing Industry Says It’s Working To Stop Abuse Of Foreign Crews

September 21, 2016 — Hawaii longline industry leaders say they have formed a task force and hired an expert on slavery in response to media reports about human trafficking, forced labor and poor working conditions aboard some of their boats. 

“We’re trying to get a sort of fleet assessment, get our arms around the problem and see where we’re going to take it,” said Jim Cook, who owns several longline fishing boats and serves on the Hawaii Longline Association board of directors.

He said Monday that the goal is to weed out the “bad actors,” in part by requiring a universal crew contract that incorporates international norms to address forced labor. That contract is being finalized and should be “ready to rock” in the next couple days, Cook said.

Starting Oct. 1, the Honolulu Fish Auction won’t let fishermen unload tuna and swordfish unless they have a signed contract as well as copies of their passports and I-95 Crewman’s Landing Permits from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“The auction has taken a zero-tolerance stance for fishing vessels involved in forced labor,” said Michael Goto, a task force member from the United Fishing Agency, which runs the fish auction.

The task force also includes John Kaneko, program manager of the Hawaii Seafood Council, Khang Dang, president of Quota Management, and Katrina Nakamura, who was also hired as a consultant to provide guidance to the industry. She has developed criteria to address working conditions, such as amount of time off, whether the employee is bonded by debt and where the payments for their work are going.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat

Frozen fish filled with cocaine worth £400,000 seized in drug bust as cops reel in two ‘smugglers’

May 10, 2016 — Holy mackerel!

The feds busted two alleged drug smugglers in Brooklyn after hooking some fish stuffed with cocaine.

Triston Daniels and Troy Gonsalves were reeled in after 20 kilos of cocaine were discovered stashed inside a shipment of frozen fish.

They were arraigned Saturday in Brooklyn Federal Court and released on $150,000 bail.

The fish tale began May 4 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized an air cargo shipment of “large, frozen fish” from Suriname at Miami International Airport, according to U.S. Homeland Security special agent Ryan Varrone.

Read the full story at the New York Daily News