Saving Seafood

FAO predicts lasting negative effects for seafood from COVID-19

June 11, 2020 — The biannual Food Outlook report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, released earlier this month, is predicting that seafood will see lasting impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, including reduced demand and pricing.

The report had a special focus this year in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disrupted supply chains, forced the cancellation of industry trade events, and lead to widespread restaurant closures. This year’s report contains a special feature, analyzing whether or not the COVID-19 disruptions to supply chains will result in a global food shortage.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Small boats and female workers hardest hit by Covid-19 fisheries impact

June 10, 2020 — Small fishing boats, fish markets and female workers are among the categories worst affected by the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis on the world’s fisheries, research has found.

Supply chains around the world have been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and artisanal fishing – small boats – has borne the brunt, according to the annual report on fisheries by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). While industrial fishing fell only by about 6.5% in April, a large proportion of small vessels around the world have been in effect confined to port, and their markets are uncertain.

In parts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, more than 90% of small-scale fishing fleets have had to stop fishing owing to a lack of markets and falling prices.

The closure of restaurants, hotels and catering has cut off markets for small boats and led to falling prices, and the resulting disruption has led to an increase in waste, according to an appendix to the annual report, published on Monday for World Oceans Day.

Read the full story at The Guardian

Sustainable Seafood Could Feed A Billion People A Day, Says Oceana

June 10, 2020 — It might come as a surprise to hear that Oceana, the world’s largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation, would be advocating for seafood consumption, especially given that overfishing is a major driver in the decline of ocean wildlife populations. But while overfishing has caused a decline in 34.2% of the world’s fish stocks, potentially leading to the depletion of a quarter of all fish by the end of the century, sustainable fisheries, on the other hand, are beneficial for fish populations, the environment and people.

The premise of sustainable fisheries lies in the belief that fishing practices that adapt to the reproductive rate of fish and maintain the health and productivity of wild fish stocks are not only critical to the sustainable growth of fish species, but also to the health of the surrounding marine ecosystem, coastal communities and the planet.

“Seafood eaters who choose sustainably managed wild seafood can feel good about their choice,” says Jacqueline Savitz, Chief Policy Officer at Oceana. “A healthy, fully restored ocean could feed a billion people a seafood meal every day, forever.”

Read the full story at Forbes

Global Deals to Save Oceans Were In Reach. Then Covid-19 Hit

June 9, 2020 — Before 2020 became the year of Covid-19, it was set to be the “year of the oceans.”

With only a small portion of them protected by law or agreement, expectations were high that bold steps to preserve biodiversity, rein in overfishing and bolster social responsibility were within reach. Then the coronavirus arrived, and high-profile meetings from the High Seas Treaty (the first global agreement to police and manage international waters) to the United Nations Climate Change Conference were postponed.

The oceans are critical to any effort to slow global warming. Delay in global agreements, given how little time is left to avoid catastrophe, has only made matters that much more desperate.

Waters more than 200 nautical miles from national shores are of critical importance to both fisheries and climate mitigation. The Global Ocean Commission estimates the high seas account for up to $16 billion in annual gross catch and between $74 billion and $222 billion in annual carbon storage. As the world struggles to cut emissions to zero by 2050—a goal scientists say is required to avoid massive planetary shifts—the ocean’s ability to store CO₂ will increasingly diminish, according to new research published last week in the journal AGU Advances.

Read the full story at Bloomberg

UN: The world is producing and consuming more seafood, but overfishing remains rife

June 9, 2020 — Global seafood production reached a level of 179 million metric tons (MT) in 2018, with all but 23 million MT going to human consumption. Consequently, average consumption has crept up to 20.5 kilograms per capita, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimated in the 2020 edition of its biennial publication, “The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture,” released on 8 June.

In the SOFIA report, the U.N. body states that with a yearly growth rate of 3.1 percent, fish consumption has been outpacing both the world population expansion rate of 1.6 percent since 1961 and the 1.1 percent meat consumption rise.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FAO releases latest State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report

June 8, 2020 — The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has released the latest addition of the biannual “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” report, a flagship publication in the United Nations’ “State of the World” series.

The 2020 edition of the publication is devoted to “Sustainability in Action” as the organization continues to focus on meeting Sustainable Development Goals established back in 2015. Comprised of 17 separate actionable goals, the current progress, according to the FAO, hasn’t been fast enough.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UN Special Envoy for the Ocean: We can’t let COVID-19 widen the door for IUU fishing

May 26, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new considerations with regards to social distancing and travel restrictions, and these have had a significant impact on the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fisheries activities.

This is a particular worry for developing countries that are vulnerable to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and there’s evidence that these conditions – with fewer active inspectors and observers – are being exploited by unscrupulous operators, according to the U.N. Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean, Ambassador Peter Thomson.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FAO report analyzes climate patterns’ impact on the seafood industry

May 15, 2020 — Climate patterns across various ocean regions have impacted the production, survival, and performance of fish, fisheries, and aquaculture – which in turn directly impacts the populations that rely on the resource for a living.

A new report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD France), says the events of El Niño and La Niña – which are recurring climate patterns made of warm and cool phases across the tropical Pacific, popularly known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) – “generally worsen the effects of climate change on fish, fisheries, and aquaculture.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Assessing El Niño’s impact on fisheries and aquaculture around the world

April 27, 2020 — While considerable resources are invested in seasonal forecasts and early-warning systems for food security, not enough is known about El Niño’s impact on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors, even though its name was given in the 1600s by fishers off the coast of Peru.

To remedy that, FAO is publishing, in partnership with French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD France), the report El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects on fisheries and aquaculture. This report captures the current state of knowledge on the impacts of ENSO events across sectors, from  to safety at sea, from fish biology and fishing operation to management measures.

El Niño is widely known as a climate pattern that begins over the Pacific Ocean but wreaks havoc on ecosystems in land and water far away from its origin. Its consequences include droughts and major harvest shortfalls in large swatches of Africa and Indonesia, forest fires in Australia, and serious flooding in South America.

ENSOs are often simplified to reflect two main phases: El Niño, an anomalous warming phase in the central and/or eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, and an opposite cooling phase called La Niña.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Small-scale fishermen suffering significantly from COVID-19 pandemic

April 27, 2020 — The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the entire seafood industry. Demand for fresh seafood has plummeted as restaurants, hotels, and catering businesses shutter. And trade has faltered as transportation restrictions prevent supply chains from moving product.

But while businesses in the developed world can apply for social safety provisions and major seafood companies’ balance sheets give them a fighting chance to weather the storm, small-scale fishermen face severe risk. Especially in the developing world, where a day’s catch buys that night’s meal, fishermen’s prospects are bleak.

Read the full story at Seafood Source