Saving Seafood

UN considering proposal to phase out trawling on seamounts

November 2, 2026 — The United Nations is meeting until 6 November and is considering a proposal to phase out bottom trawling on high-seas seamounts.

The U.N. regularly considers different fisheries resolutions and annually considers and adopts its “Oceans and the law of the sea” resolution in December. Armenia, as well as Monaco, have proposed a phase-out of bottom trawling at high-seas seamounts, drawing praise from nonprofits like the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) and the Marine Conservation Institute.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

War in the Middle East continuing to disrupt Iran’s fisheries sector, with estimated millions in losses

October 29, 2026 — According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ongoing war in the Middle East has heavily disrupted Iran’s fisheries sector, especially in two of the nation’s top commercial fishing provinces.

OCHA estimated that direct and indirect losses to the fisheries sectors in the provinces of Hormozgan and Bushehr have totaled around USD 105.9 million (EUR 94.4 million). This comes as more than 60 percent of the fishing fleet in the two provinces remains inactive, directly impacting the income of an estimated 37,000 fishers and causing other adverse impacts on the livelihoods of an estimated 300,000 people.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

UN, in collab with WWF, publishes new Ocean Investment Protocol

September 24, 2026 — 4The United Nations, in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Greening Financial Regulation Initiative, has published a new revised edition of the Ocean Investment Protocol.

First released in 2025, the Ocean Investment Protocol gives investors and financial institutions a roadmap for how to support the ocean economy while also supporting sustainability and a healthy ocean. The protocols were designed to help investors align with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide a framework that would increase investment in the blue economy.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FAO: Growth of global seafood trade set to ease while prices set for steady rise over the next decade

June 25, 2026 —  Vastly improved fisheries and aquaculture yields, together with soaring consumer demand, have powered substantial growth in global seafood trade over the past 50 years, but that growth will steadily ease over the next decade, according to the latest “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” (SOFIA) report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

FAO’s latest edition of SOFIA, which the organization releases biennially, revealed that in 2024, the global value of international trade in aquatic products – involving 230 countries and territories – amounted to USD 186 billion (EUR 164 billion). Fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and other aquatic animal products accounted for 99 percent of this total, or around USD 184 billion (EUR 162.2 billion), in exports. The remaining USD 2 billion (EUR 1.8 billion) comprised trade in algae and other aquatic products such as sponges and shells.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FAO study estimates 20 percent of seafood is subject to fraud

February 13, 2026 — A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report estimates that up to 20 percent of seafood may be subject to fraud, but other studies estimate that number could be as high as 30 percent.

The report, “Food fraud in the fisheries and aquaculture sector,” surmises that one-fifth of the global fisheries and aquaculture sector is subject to some type of fraud – far higher than the levels of fraud believed to take place in other food categories.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

UN High Seas Treaty enters into force, drawing praise from NGOs

January 20, 2026 — NGOs are celebrating the entry into force of the United Nations Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement), also widely known as the High Seas Treaty, after decades of work.

The High Seas Treaty officially entered into force on 17 January 2026 after crossing the ratification threshold in September 2025. The Pew Charitable Trusts said the new treaty will finally create a mechanism for the world to preserve two-thirds of the ocean lying outside national borders.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ICFA Urges COP30 Negotiators to Recognize Critical Role of Fisheries in Climate Action

November 10, 2025 — The following was released by the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations:

The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) reminds climate change negotiators of the critical role fisheries play in both climate mitigation and adaptation. ICFA emphasizes two key points: (1) the fisheries sector’s contribution to mitigating climate change; and (2) the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems and fish stocks. Related to both is the critical role blue foods play in global food security and nutrition.

Next week, during the 30th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, countries are expected to deliver more ambitious Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC’s) and adopt indicators under the Global Goal on Adaptation. 

“Fisheries produce low carbon proteins and lower the overall carbon intensity of the global food system. But ocean ecosystems and fisheries are impacted by climate change. We need to prioritize adaptation strategies to ensure resilience and contribute to the sector’s mitigation potential. Global food security, nutrition and the socio-economic well-being of billions is on the line,” says ICFA Chair, Ivan Lopez Van der Veen.

 In a recently adopted resolution, ICFA calls on Parties to:

·         Recognize that the fisheries sector plays a crucial role in combating climate change, as fisheries products and blue foods have among the lowest carbon footprints of all animal proteins. Implementation of NDCs 3.0 should increase the proportion of these products in the global diet to substantially reduce the carbon intensity of the global food system and support achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);

·         Take into full consideration the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, fish stocks and economic activities at sea, and encourage all Parties to prioritize adaptation strategies that strengthen the resilience of ocean and fish resources. Better adaptation can contribute to the sector’s mitigation potential;

·         Bring together policy makers and the economic sectors, including the fisheries sector, to find pragmatic and implementable solutions to tackle climate change and to adapt to its unavoidable effects.

Read ICFA’s full resolution on climate and fisheries here. 

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Since 1988 the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA) has been a unified seafood policy voice committed to the sustainable use of marine resources and dedicated to global food security. For more information, please visit www.fishcoalition.org

‘Super big deal’: High seas treaty reaches enough ratifications to become law

September 24, 2025 — A major treaty establishing a framework for the world’s nations to jointly manage marine conservation in international waters, which cover about half of the Earth’s surface, has reached enough ratifications to become international law. It will come into force in January.

The deal, known as the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), was reached in 2023 with much fanfare in marine conservation circles. But like any international agreement, the high seas treaty, as it’s often called, didn’t just become law overnight. It required 60 countries to ratify it to enter into force. Now, with unusual speed by the standards of such deals, it’s reached that threshold.

Morocco deposited its instrument of acceptance on Sept. 19, becoming the 60th country to do so. That launched a 120-day period until the treaty will become binding international law, on Jan. 17, 2026. Experts and advocates celebrated the occasion, calling it a win for conservation and international cooperation.

“This is a super big deal, both for ocean protection and for proving that there’s still hope in multilateralism, that countries can come together and do big things, even in these times where there’s so much discord across the world,” Arlo Hemphill, an oceans project lead at Greenpeace USA, told Mongabay.

Morocco’s mission to the U.N. called it “a milestone for the protection of the ocean, the strengthening of multilateralism, and the collective commitment of the international community to safeguarding marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction” in an X post.

Read the full article at Mongabay

Hard-Fought Treaty to Protect Ocean Life Clears a Final Hurdle

September 22, 2025 — The high seas, the vast waters beyond any one country’s jurisdiction, cover nearly half the planet. On Friday, a hard-fought global treaty to protect the “cornucopia of biodiversity” living there cleared a final hurdle and will become international law.

The High Seas Treaty, as it is known, was ratified by a 60th nation, Morocco, crossing the threshold for United Nations treaties to go into effect. Two decades in the making, it allows for the establishment of enormous conservation zones in international waters.

Environmentalists hailed it as a historic moment. The treaty “is a conservation opportunity that happens once in a generation, if that,” said Lisa Speer, who directs the International Oceans Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

It is also a bright spot amid a general dimming of optimism about international diplomacy and cooperation among nations toward common goals. It will come into force just as the high seas are poised to become the site of controversial industrial activities including deep sea mining.

Read the full article at The New York Times