Saving Seafood

Emergency measures introduced to protect UK salmon stocks

June 18, 2019 — An emergency bylaw to protect salmon in the River Severn and its estuary has been introduced by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency after a review of recent data showed a significant reduction in the stock.

Under the new measure that took effect on 15 June, 2019, draft-net and putcher fishing in the Severn estuary is prohibited, while lave-net fishing is to operate on a catch-and-release basis only. The bylaw also makes catch and release for rod-and-line fishing compulsory on the whole of the Severn for the remainder of the current rod season, which lasts until 7 October.

The move to protect this salmon population comes after figures on the stock levels for the Severn, Wye, and Usk showed numbers were extremely low.

“This has not been an easy decision to take. We have looked at other options, such as reduced catch limits for both net and rod fishermen and voluntary catch and release for lave-net and rod fishermen, but felt that stopping any salmon being taken on the Severn this season through a byelaw was necessary to protect salmon in the river,” David Hudson, environment manager for Gloucestershire, said.

Hudson explained that fishing was only one of a number of factors that have led to the fall in salmon stocks in the Severn, and highlighted that environmental factors at critical times in the salmon’s life cycle also play a part.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US looking to harness the ocean winds with British help

June 14, 2019 — As many American states are making the push to use more renewable energy sources, engineers in one of the country’s oldest states are looking “across the pond” for help from British scientists to harness the power of the wind.

When Joseph Massi enrolled at Bristol Community College, an hour’s drive south of Boston, Massachusetts, he chose to specialise in a brand new field of study – offshore wind power.

“It’s the new future. It’s where everything is going to be, the growth potential, especially in Massachusetts,” Mr Massi said.

The Massachusetts legislature is considering bills that would commit the state to 100% renewable energy within 25 years. To achieve this, the state will need lots more solar panels and wind turbines, and people like Mr Massi to manage, build or operate offshore turbines.

“Once it starts booming in the United States, that’s going to be where you’ll want to be,” Mr Massi said.

The federal government estimates that the coastal waters off of New Bedford, Massachusetts, are among the windiest in the nation.

But here’s some bad news. The US doesn’t know much about building wind turbines, out in the ocean at least.

Read the full story at BBC

Seafish: Young talent “put off” joining seafood industry

June 13, 2019 — Seafood companies in the United Kingdom are being urged to prioritize attracting young people to the sector after new research found that it is perceived as low-skilled and unexciting by new jobseekers.

Public body Seafish commissioned an investigation to find out what young people between the ages of 16 and 18 thought about careers in the seafood sector. It said the findings “make for worrying reading,” as many of those who took part thought the industry only offered limited career prospects and that friends would make fun of them for working with fish.

“We were already aware of some issues around attracting young jobseekers to seafood careers, but this research has highlighted the misconceptions and perceived barriers that we need to overcome to win over the next generation of talent. It includes a lot of valuable insights which we’ve used to inform a new practical guide for industry that’s full of recruitment advice,” Seafish CEO Marcus Coleman said. “As a collective seafood industry, we need to shine a light on the positive stories and show young people that it’s possible to carve out an exciting and rewarding career. We need to shout about all the different jobs that are available and the fact that seafood careers can offer young people a chance to travel the world, to become a leader or own a business.”

Coleman said the industry needs younger workers to help continue the gains it has made in recent years.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US and UK urge parents to feed more seafood to children

May 28, 2019 — “How can we engender enthusiasm in children for eating seafood?” asked Karen Galloway – owner of KAGC Limited, a company specialized in strategic development and consumer insights, and a former employee at Seafish – in her Drummond Lecture at the Shellfish Association of Great Britain this week. “Many studies have shown that children who eat seafood regularly have increased IQ and a better quality of sleep, yet parents in the U.K. are failing to take these messages onboard.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) also happened to release a report this week identifying that children in the U.S. are not eating enough seafood and recommending that urgent action be taken to address this.

“It’s down to us as parents to influence our children, but don’t forget that children also influence parents, so we need to listen to them, and if they want to try seafood then let them, even if you don’t personally like it,” said Galloway.

She suggested keeping seafood comfortable, giving it some crunch, focusing on favorite flavors, putting it between bread, even taking it outdoors.

Advertising has a major influence on our lives and our food choices and Galloway pointed out that a “Kids Against Plastic” campaign has a massive reach, particularly because schools have taken the messaging onboard. However, advertising can also go wrong, and she warned that using cute characters to encourage kids into seafood could have the opposite effect.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UK seafood growth will be supported through Brexit and beyond, fisheries minister promises

May 23, 2019 — While the still-unknown nature of the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union continues to elevate worry levels across much of the seafood sector, the country’s new fisheries minister, Robert Goodwill, is confident that opportunities should arise from the country once again becoming an independent coastal state and trading nation.

The minister, who was appointed to the position in March, told delegates at the 50th Annual Conference of the Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) in London that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) was working hard to ensure the disruptions to seafood supply routes would be minimized, and to also pave the way for new trade opportunities.

“I am aware that the E.U. exit is causing serious concerns in this industry, especially the impact of a possible ‘no-deal’ Brexit, and this will perhaps lead to the need for additional export and health certificates and the subsequent delays that these may incur. Our priority is ensuring that trade can continue as smoothly as possible and with minimal disruption,” he said.

With 60 percent of U.K. shellfish exports going to E.U. markets and as shellfish provided 46 percent of the total value of U.K. vessel landings in 2017, at GBP 342 million (USD 434.3 million, EUR 389.6 million), Goodwill welcomed a project conducted by SAGB and the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO) to identify the main elements of the shellfish trade and the risks associated with Brexit.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

The fish you’re eating in London might not be what it’s labelled

April 16, 2019 — When biology professor Jennifer McDonald got the DNA results back from her students’ experiment on fish, a high number of the fish were not what was said on the label.

As part of a class experiment at Fanshawe College, her students were sent to grocery stores and sushi restaurants in London to collect fish samples.

The class extracted the DNA and compared how many samples were actually what they claimed to be.

Of the 16 samples, they were able to sequence nine of them due to varied success rates.

Seven of the nine were misidentified, McDonald said.

“Yeah, it was a pretty high number,” she said.

A piece of fish that was labelled as red snapper came back as tilapia, something McDonald said happens all the time.

“That really wasn’t surprising. It was disappointing but not surprising,” she said. “Same with a piece of fish that was supposed to be white tuna. That is very often actually escolar and mislabelled as white tuna.”

What did surprise McDonald was when tilapia was passed off as red tuna.

“A fish like tuna has a very characteristic taste it has a very characteristic texture and for a place to actually be fooling people into thinking that they’re eating tuna when they’re really being served tilapia was really really surprising,” she said.

Read the full story at CBC News

Low consumer awareness of microplastics in fish, finds survey

April 15, 2019 — Forty percent of consumers are aware of the issue of microplastics in fish, according to a new survey conducted by land-based salmon farming company Pure Salmon. The recently-launched company’s analysis also found that 36.5 percent had knowledge of antibiotic use in sea-farmed fish.

The results are part of a survey of 2,000 consumers in the United Kingdom and United States. Consumers in each country were asked their opinions on issues ranging from microplastics in seafood to food miles and purchasing habits.

Pure Salmon said that while awareness levels around the environmental impact of sea farming were low, two-thirds of consumers in the same survey said they would be more likely to purchase fish that has been sustainably farmed. Sixty percent of those surveyed also said they would also pay more for fish with strong sustainable and environmental credentials.

The survey also found that when it comes to awareness of microplastics, U.K. consumers were ahead of the curve (55 percent awareness) compared to Americans (37 percent). Furthermore, 81 percent said it was either important or very important to understand where fish comes from when making purchasing decisions, and that 72 percent would be more likely to purchase fish if they knew it was produced close to their home, reducing food miles.

Pure Salmon was developed by investment firm 8F Asset Management Pte. Ltd.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

As wind giants set sights on NY, fishermen demand a role

UK fishermen tell locals of their experiences in Europe with offshore wind farms and how to organize.

April 10, 2019 — As global wind-energy interests set their sights on more than a dozen offshore U.S. energy areas, two longtime British fishermen who act as go-betweens to the offshore wind industry and the fishing community advised Long Island fishermen to stay vigilant and demand a seat at the table when waters are divvied up.

Two dozen Long Island fishermen gathered in Montauk Monday to hear how two veterans of Europe’s maturing offshore wind industry worked to bring their industry into discussions on siting projects in waters that have traditionally been their workplace. It hasn’t been easy, and successes have come only recently, they said.

Colin Warwick, chairman of the Fishing Liaison Offshore Wind and Wet Renewables, Crown Estate, said U.K. fishermen were initially caught flat-footed when wind-energy developers first started planning turbines for their fishing grounds. It’s taken time for fishermen to demand a seat at the table so that prime harvest grounds aren’t lost, and so that fishermen can be compensated if even temporary work limits access to those grounds.

“We had to find a way to bring the fishing industry into the discussion,” said Warwick. “Most importantly, you have to be organized.”

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said challenges continue. “We’re fighting on everything and we’re united as a group, but we can’t seem to get teeth in because wind farm companies keep saying, ‘I can’t hear you.’ ”

Read the full story at Newsday

 

Scottish minister urges seafood to grab trade opportunities, irrespective of Brexit

April 2, 2019 — While the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union will inevitably have an impact on Scottish seafood – with a lot of uncertainty surrounding trading relationships and the practicalities of exporting products – Fergus Ewing, cabinet secretary for the rural economy, is urging the sector to overcome these challenges and seize opportunities as they are presented.

Delivering the keynote address at the Scottish Seafood Summit in Aberdeen, Ewing stressed the importance of seafood to Scotland’s economy, and also the success of its exports, which have increased by 111 percent over the past 10 years.

Today, seafood accounts for 60 percent of Scotland’s food exports, compared to England’s 6 percent, he highlighted.

“We have a marvelous industry worth a huge amount of money – GBP 3 billion [USD 3.9 billion, EUR 3.5 billion] – it’s world-leading, as is the reputation we have for the quality of our produce and the cleanliness of our waters,” he said.  “This fuels success in the fish sector, but also spreads out to other parts of the food and drink sector; it enables other businesses to build on [the seafood industry’s] success worldwide. The seafood demand across the world is increasing – consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, and that can only increase [because] the amount of arable land is finite, and in almost every case is already being used. The potential to create more protein lies in the world’s seas and oceans.”

Ewing pointed out that almost 5,000 people work on Scottish-registered fishing vessels, while seafood processing provides over 8,000 jobs, and aquaculture, including the supply chain, supports more than 12,000 jobs, many of them in rural areas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New online tool launched for UK seafood trade, tariff data

March 28, 2019 — Seafood importers and exporters in the United Kingdom now have instant access to seafood trade data back through 2010 and current tariff rates, following the delivery of the new online Seafish Trade and Tariff tool.

Launched at the Scottish Seafood Summit in Aberdeen by Arina Motova, interim chief economist at Seafish, the system has been designed through industry consultation to be user-friendly and interactive. Available through the trade body’s website, it allows users to drill down into trade by product and country, giving businesses a better understanding of the U.K. seafood market.

“Having the data just a few clicks away within a self-service tool means businesses can access whatever information they want in their own time and their own way – from enquiries as specific as the volume and value of import and tariff on frozen warmwater shrimp imported to U.K. from India, for example, to obtaining a more general background picture on export and markets they might be considering entering,” Motova said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source