Saving Seafood

Landmark climate report paints dim picture of ocean health

September 26, 2019 — Rising sea levels threaten New York and other major cites, the world’s glaciers are melting at alarming rates and global fisheries are shrinking. These are just some of the impacts that emissions of greenhouse gases have already triggered across the planet, according to a new landmark report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

More than 100 authors from 36 countries assessed the latest scientific literature related to the ocean and cryosphere in a changing climate for the report, referencing about 7,000 scientific publications for the report titled — “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.” It is the last of three special reports from the IPCC following on climate change.

“The open sea, the Arctic, the Antarctic and the high mountains may seem far away to many people,” said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC. “But we depend on them and are influenced by them directly and indirectly in many ways – for weather and climate, for food and water, for energy, trade, transport, recreation and tourism, for health and wellbeing, for culture and identity.”

Read the full story at IntraFish

The oceans are taking a beating under climate change, U.N. report warns

September 25, 2019 — The planet is in hot water — literally — and that will have dire consequences for humanity, warns a new United Nations report on the state of the world’s oceans and ice.

Over the next century, climate change will make the oceans warmer and more acidic. Melting ice sheets will drive up sea levels at an accelerating pace. Marine heat waves will become 20 to 50 times more frequent, harming sensitive ecosystems. And the total biomass of animals in the sea could drop by as much as 15%, according to the sobering assessment by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“The oceans and ice are in trouble, so we’re all in trouble,” said Michael Oppenheimer, a climate scientist at Princeton and a lead author of the report.

But while some damage is inevitable at this point, the report makes clear that society’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades will determine how bad things ultimately get.

Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times

At G7, U.K. Urges Increase in Global Ocean Protections

August 30, 2019 — The following was released by Pew Charitable Trusts:

It’s rare that a world leader could make significant news at a major summit without drawing media attention, but that’s exactly what happened this week at the Group of 7 (G7) meeting in Biarritz, France.

During remarks at the close of the summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the Aichi targets—goals set nearly a decade ago as part of the United Nations’ Strategic Plan for Biodiversity—must be “replaced with new, more ambitious targets to help us get back the biodiversity that this planet is losing, and has lost.” The United Kingdom Department of Environment has since emphasized how the prime minister urged countries at the G7 to back Britain’s call to protect 30 percent of the world’s ocean by 2030. Fortunately, a roadmap for just such an ambitious target has existed since 2016, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature first issued the science-based 30-by-2030 recommendation to restore and strengthen the health of our marine environment.

Along with urging other world leaders to embrace marine conservation, Johnson is showing his eagerness to extend the U.K.’s global leadership on ocean protection. Since announcing its Blue Belt policy in 2015, which aims to safeguard 4 million square kilometres of British ocean territory, the U.K. has designated a massive marine protected area (MPA) in the Pitcairn Islands, enhanced protections for the remote South Sandwich Islands. It has also established a network of MPAs around Great Britain. As a result, the U.K., in partnership with its Overseas Territories, is very close to fully protecting 30 percent of its waters.

Read the full release here

FAO paper predicts impact of climate change on world’s fisheries, aquaculture

August 20, 2019 — Climate change will decrease the world fisheries’ overall maximum catch potential between 2.8% and 12.1% by 2050 based on different greenhouse gas emission scenarios, with the tropics, especially the South Pacific region, getting hit the hardest, says a team of technical experts organized by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

It’s not just the oceans either. As water becomes more scarce, inland fisheries will be undervalued. Pakistan, Iraq, Morocco and Spain are all highlighted as countries that are currently facing high stresses that are projected to become even higher in the future.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Ocean-wide biomass declines projected due to climate change

August 13, 2019 — Climate change will cause fish biomass to decline 5 percent for every one degree Celsius of warming, according to the most comprehensive analysis of marine ecosystem models to date.

The study, which was authored by 35 researchers from 12 countries, combines multiple climate and ecosystem models to create an ensemble model that estimates future global marine biomass — the total weight of all the fish, invertebrates, and marine mammals in the ocean.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Negotiations halfway complete on UN high seas treaty, with far-reaching impacts for seafood industry

August 8, 2019 — Time is running out for the fishing and seafood industries to weigh in on a United Nations treaty that will govern fishing and other activities on the high seas.

The treaty is being developed as part of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and is formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement. It could raise costs for fishermen by adding administrative and reporting requirements for those who fish outside of countries’ national waters.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FAO expects uncertainty to restrain 2019 global seafood trade, despite strong demand

July 25, 2019 — In its annual outlook for the world’s seafood market, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) predicted a “flat or marginal growth” in seafood supply over 2019, with global seafood demand continuing to grow.

The forecast, created by the team of seafood analysts in the FAO’s Globefish unit, predicts that total global wild catch will drop by approximately 3.4% in 2019, as catches of cod, mackerel and octopus remain low, while the world’s tuna fisheries have also been less productive than they were during the first half of 2018.

Meanwhile, global aquaculture production is set to increase by 4%, although supply is likely to remain tight for major species such as salmon, according to Globefish.

The team has estimated that 177.8 million metric tons of fish will be produced worldwide in 2019, of which roughly 89% will go towards direct human consumption. This, in turn, means that global per capita seafood consumption is estimated at 20.5 kg.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

High Stakes for China as WTO Fishing Subsidies Cap Looms

July 8, 2019 — As the World Trade Organisation confronts a deadline this year to reach an agreement to eliminate subsidies that are decimating global fish populations, perhaps no nation faces higher stakes than China.

China operates the planet’s largest fishing fleet, catches the most seafood and hands out the most money in fuel subsidies and other support that enables industrial trawlers to travel to the furthest reaches of the ocean. As a result of the expansion of global fishing fleets to meet rising demand, 33% of fish populations are being harvested at biologically unsustainable levels while 90% are fully exploited, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

Researchers in 2016 pegged total annual fishing subsidies at US$35 billion (in 2009 dollars). They categorised US$20 billion of those incentives as harmful with as much as 85% of that money going to industrial fishing operations. A 2018 study found that in the absence of US$4.2 billion in subsidies, more than half of high seas fishing would be unprofitable. Furthermore, China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Spain account for 80% of fishing outside territorial waters. Researchers estimate that China alone was responsible for 21% of high seas fishing in 2014 and nearly 19% of global fish catch averaged between 2014 and 2016.

In 2001, the WTO formally recognised the need to reform fishing subsidies and member nations four years later called for the abolition of incentives that contribute to overfishing. Negotiations languished for a decade but took on new urgency in 2015 after the UN adopted a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Among them was SDG 14.6, which calls for the prohibition by 2020 of subsidies that contribute to overcapacity, overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Still, WTO’s last biennial meeting in December 2017 ended without an agreement on fishing subsidies. However, the 164 WTO member states, which must approve decisions by consensus, did agree to redouble efforts to reach an agreement by the end of 2019.

This year, negotiators have been meeting monthly at WTO headquarters in Geneva to try to break the stalemate. An agreement to ban fishing subsidies would have a profound impact on ocean health and national economies. Unlike other international agreements, such as the Paris accord on climate change, WTO actions are binding and carry the weight of law.

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive

New FAO boss was key China emissary on fisheries deals

June 28, 2019 — The new head of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has played a central role in expanding China’s global seafood reach and will now get to shape key global policies on agriculture, aquaculture, and fisheries.

China Vice Minister for Agriculture Qu Dongyu won the support of a majority of FAO nation-states, defeating France’s Catherine Geslain-Laneelle 107-71 in an election during the 41st session of the FAO Conference, which took place 22 to 29 June.  Qu becomes the ninth director-general of the Rome, Italy-based organization.

Qu will replace Brazilian Jose Graziano da Silva, who reportedly lobbied Latin American nations for Qu. Qu’s election is a clear indication of China’s power as a purchaser and investor in agriculture and fisheries commodities globally. According to French news reports, China used its role as a key customer of Latin American commodities such as soy, seafood, and meat to deliver votes for Qu.

The new FAO director has become familiar with many of the world’s agriculture and fisheries ministers during his many trips around the world as a Chinese minister. As China’s vice minister for agriculture, Qu represented China in World Trade Organization talks on fishery subsidies (which were held up in part over objections from India and China over the scale and timing of subsidy cuts by developing nations).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Study questions just how much seafood the US actually imports

June 25, 2019 — A recently published study has called into question a cornerstone policy argument for segments of the American seafood industry.

For years, government officials, aquaculture proponents, industry experts, and even environmentalists have consistently cited that 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. comes from foreign markets. However, three researchers say that oft-repeated statistic is misleading, and that the actual figure is closer to 65 percent.

The issue Jessica Gephart, Halley Froehlich and Trevor Branch have with the 90 percent figure is that it creates an assumption all imports contain only foreign caught fish.

“Although this may seem logical, it is not always the case; large quantities of seafood landed in the United States are exported for processing and shipped back into the United States,” they wrote in an opinion piece for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

They also note that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s calculations estimate imported products only account for 70 percent of U.S.-consumed seafood.

Read the full story at Seafood Source