Saving Seafood

Sharing Information on Fisheries Activities Across International Boundaries Has Benefits

May 13, 2021 — According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one-third of fish stocks are overfished while another 60% cannot sustain increases in fishing, a problem exacerbated by illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. It doesn’t have to be this way, and a recent study suggests that States can better detect and curtail IUU fishing through improved sharing of fisheries information.

One reason overfishing is such a persistent problem is that fishing vessels frequently operate across international boundaries, and many governments lack the technological, operational, and institutional capacity they need to collect, analyze, and share information about what’s happening in their waters.

The benefits of information sharing

The study, by the UK-based Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), found that sharing fisheries data—including which vessels are operating where and how—can make the involved States both more aware of and more able to combat IUU fishing. This finding holds even when only one government shares such information, unreciprocated.

Such cooperation could be enormously helpful, for example, when a vessel flagged to one country fishes in another’s waters and then offloads the catch in the port of a third State. The benefits grow as countries increase the amount of information shared.

Read the full story at Pew Charitable Trusts

RISE to the Challenge: Roadmap Promotes Decent Work for All Seafood Workers

May 5, 2021 — The following was released by FishWise:

FishWise, a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy, released an enhanced Roadmap for Improving Seafood Ethics (RISE) today, an exciting stride toward socially responsible seafood.

Labor issues are a significant and growing concern for the seafood sector, and protecting workers is essential for maintaining public trust and resiliency in supply chains. Overlooking human rights impacts in supply chains can create devastating consequences for the workers impacted and the businesses’ value and viability.

The RISE website (RiseSeafood.org) offers businesses a free one-stop-shop to:

1) learn about human rights risks;
2) find easy-to-use guidance tailored to their operations;
3) and identify organizations that can support them in their journey.

“The seafood industry stands at an inflection point, with social responsibility becoming a business imperative,” said Lori Bishop, Social Responsibility Division Director at FishWise. “Businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, and RISE provides clear pathways to protect workers and lead positive change.”

RISE was created two years ago by FishWise to help the seafood industry build robust social responsibility programs and develop decent work opportunities across the sector. Since then, the Roadmap has supported retailers, suppliers, producers, and the non-profits that guide them. “RISE covers a wide range of recommended actions, which was exactly what we needed when developing the Tuna 2020 Traceability Declaration Social Responsibility Toolkit. Going beyond commitments, companies now have the guidance they need to improve business operations, implement worker-centered solutions, and build responsible tuna supply chains,” said Tom Pickerell, Executive Director of the Global Tuna Alliance.

“As an employee-owned company, care and compassion for those who produce products for Hy-Vee are essential to our business strategy. RISE gives clear guidance for this, providing the foundation for our due diligence efforts going forward. RISE also serves as an important resource to guide our suppliers – so we all remain the best partners we can be within the food chain,” said Jason Pride, Vice President of Meat and Seafood, Hy-Vee, Inc.

Labor rights and associated social issues are also a priority for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with industry to improve responsible sourcing practices. “In working with one of our longest-standing global partners to update their sustainability standard, we used RISE as a resource to build new, social responsibility components being rolled out within the company and to suppliers. The RISE tool offers helpful guidance for companies looking to better integrate social responsibility into their seafood sustainability work,” said Dave Martin, Deputy Division Director, Programs at Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.

Notably, the Roadmap also outlines three ‘Foundations’ (Responsible Recruitment, Worker Engagement, and Decent Work at Sea) – three core issues that all seafood companies have a responsibility to investigate and address to protect rights, mitigate risk, improve conditions, and empower seafood workers.

“Meaningful worker engagement and continuous improvement throughout business operations help create access to decent work – and a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The RISE Foundations are opportunities for real expression of fundamental labor rights and each one is essential to the development of ethical and resilient seafood supply chains,” said Aidan McQuade, Former Director of Anti-Slavery International and RISE consultant.

As seafood companies of all sizes work to raise the bar on social responsibility, RISE offers clear actionable guidance and features a new suite of user-friendly features. Upgrades include:

  • Interactive learning resources
  • A self-assessment tool
  • Language translations
  • Global site search
  • Resource library
  • Stronger alignment with United Nations Guiding Principles, Sustainable Development Goals, and International Labour Organization conventions

“Human Rights at Sea continues to support the development of the RISE platform. We note its increasing functionality as a hub for key information, enabling clearer understanding of headline topics supporting welfare, worker voice, and social justice improvements within global fisheries supply chains as set against international legal standards,” said David Hammond, CEO, Human Rights at Sea.

FishWise developed RISE with grant funding support from Walmart Foundation, which focuses on strengthening worker dignity for people in supply chains by promoting the responsible recruitment of workers and fair and responsible labor practices.

“Enhancing the RISE platform and resources for greater clarity, efficiency, and accessibility comes at a critical moment for the seafood industry to advance actions towards social responsibility and improve conditions for seafood workers,” said Rebecca Westover, Senior Manager, Walmart Foundation. “We are encouraged by FishWise’s efforts to enhance RISE to better meet the needs of seafood stakeholders and drive system change in the seafood supply chain.”

With RISE, companies can build proactive and resilient supply chains equipped to uphold decent work in seafood – ultimately resulting in strong brand integrity and consumer trust.

Visit RISEseafood.org to learn more.

Gender benchmarking shows disparity in the seafood supply chain

April 30, 2021 — A recent benchmarking study by WSI, the International Association for Women in the Seafood Industry, found that seafood supply companies underperform significantly when it comes to gender equality compared to public-facing companies in retail, foodservice, and hospitality.

The organization has long suspected that there is disparity within the supply chain in the way that seafood companies relate to and act upon gender issues, WSI Executive Director Marie Christine Monfort told SeafoodSource.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

IAN URBINA: Out on the high seas, when news happens no one sees it

April 26, 2021 — About 100 miles off the coast of Thailand, three dozen Cambodian boys and men worked barefoot all day and into the night on the deck of a purse seiner fishing ship. Fifteen-foot swells climbed the sides of the vessel, clipping the crew below the knees. Ocean spray and fish innards made the floor skating-rink slippery.

Seesawing erratically from the rough seas and gale winds, the deck was an obstacle course of jagged tackle, spinning winches and tall stacks of 500-pound nets. Rain or shine, shifts ran 18 to 20 hours. At night, the crew cast their nets when the small silver fish they target — mostly jack mackerel and herring — were more reflective and easier to spot in darker waters.

This was a brutal place, one that I’ve spent the past several years exploring. Fishing boats on the South China Sea, especially in the Thai fleet, had for years been notorious for using so-called sea slaves, mostly migrants forced offshore by debt or duress.

Two-thirds of the planet is covered by water and much of that space is ungoverned. Human rights, labor and environmental crimes occur often and with impunity because the oceans are vast. What laws exist are difficult to enforce.

Arguably the most important factor, though, is that the global public is woefully unaware of what happens offshore. Reporting about and from this realm is rare. As a result, landlubbers have little idea of how reliant they are on the sea or the more than 50 million people who work out there.

Read the full opinion piece at the Los Angeles Times

Biden Taps A Former Top Scientist At NOAA To Lead The Weather And Climate Agency

April 26, 2021 — President Biden is nominating Rick Spinrad to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the government’s premier agency on climate science which oversees the National Weather Service.

Prior to his current role as a professor of oceanography at Oregon State University, Spinrad served as NOAA’s top scientist under President Obama and the U.S. representative to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

The nomination comes at a difficult moment in NOAA’s history. The agency has been without an official, Senate-confirmed leader since former President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, after his two nominees to lead the agency failed to garner enough support to win a full vote before the Senate.

If Spinrad manages to win over the Senate, he will have to contend with a challenge beyond the agency’s already-rigorous scientific mandate: restoring public confidence in a traditionally apolitical agency marred by political scandal.

Read the full story at NPR

Researchers rush to understand kelp forests as harvesting increases

April 22, 2021 — The kelp forests of the oceans are a habitat for a wide range of marine species, rivaling even the great tropical forests for sheer richness of biodiversity, according to scientists from the KELPER project, which studies these marine algae ecosystems.

The kelp species, or marine algae, that make up these seaweed strands anchored to rocks on the seafloor are typically Macrocystis pyrifera, or giant kelp, and Lessonia trabeculata, known locally as huiro palo. The largest natural reserves of these algae are found off the coast of Chile and southern Argentina, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Chile is the main beneficiary of this abundance, with an important industry dedicated to kelp harvesting, primarily L. trabeculata, making the country the world’s largest producer of macroalgae.

Algae contain a carbohydrate called alginate that’s used as a thickener in a large number of products in the food industry, such as desserts, ice creams, dairy products, sauces and condiments. It’s also used in the textiles and pharmaceuticals industries, including in the production of creams and toothpaste.

Until 2005, these long strands of kelp were collected on the beach by fisher-gatherers when, after a swell, the waves pulled them up from the seafloor and deposited them on the shore. Since then, increasing demand for alginate — a market estimated at $1 billion a year, according to a KELPER Project report — has driven the industry to start harvesting the kelp directly from the source in the sea, in a practice known locally as barreteo. According to the most recent figures published by the Chilean National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca), 40,261 tons of L. trabeculata were cut from the seafloor this way in 2018.

Read the full story at Mongabay

How COVID-19 Affects the Fishing Industry

April 19, 2021 — The global seafood market is a huge industry that employs millions of people. Valued at $159 billion in 2019, it will grow to almost $200 billion by 2027. The system is a network of formal and informal producers and distributors, retailers and consumers. In low-income countries, the fishing industry is especially important as a way to reduce poverty. Developing countries employ 97% of the people, directly and indirectly, working in the fishing industry. About 90% of the fishing workforce are small-scale fishermen. By exporting seafood, low-income countries can boost their economies through the oceanic sector. The fishing industry also helps to increase nutrition and food security for the impoverished. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has devastated the fishing industry, just as it has most other industries.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Fisheries

The pandemic has disrupted supply chains and lowered demand, reducing profits in the industry. Lockdowns and curfews have also reduced catch sizes, which in turn means that fisherfolk make less per day of work. What they do not sell often goes to waste as cold storage is expensive and not widely available to small-scale fishermen. The most affected groups are small and medium-scale fisheries, especially in rural areas, as they lack the resources that large-scale fisheries have to be able to transition and adapt during COVID-19. Furthermore, they do not have the safety net of social protection programs that large-scale fisheries may have.

Many developing countries with large fishing sectors have been struggling to offset the effects of COVID-19. In Thailand and India, migrant fish workers were met with lockdowns and nowhere to sell their products. Traders in India and Myanmar reported a 15% drop in fish prices post-lockdowns. In China, a shift to frozen and processed seafood left fresh-catch fishers floundering.

Read the full story at Borgen Magazine

Four nations make global call for action to curb marine plastics pollution

April 12, 2021 — Four countries are upping their engagement in the fight against marine litter and plastic pollution by teaming with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to organize a ministerial conference on preserving the oceans through the sustainable production and consumption of plastics.

Germany, Vietnam, Ecuador, and Ghana are organizing the ministerial conference, to be held in September 2021, in line with a decision made during the first session of the fifth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5) – held virtually between 22 and 23 February – as the push for a common position on marine litter and plastic pollution intensifies among global community members.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scientific food systems help biodiversity, livelihoods

March 29, 2021 — The extraordinary recovery of stocks of the prized estuarine hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) fish, following restrictions on fishing imposed by the Bangladesh government, offers a lesson in how a scientifically-managed ‘food systems’ approach can manage trade-offs between livelihoods and conservation.

Almost 20 years ago, hilsa catches had fallen to a low of 199,000 tons annually, a fraction of the numbers seen in the previous decades, leaving half-a-million fishing families across the country struggling to make ends meet.

As a result of the ban on fishing over 22 days in October during the breeding season and 60 days in March and April to protect young hilsa, stocks are expected to recover to 550,000 tons.

Science-based adaptive co-management during the 2016—2019 period resulted in an average weight gain of each hilsa fish to 915 grams from 510 grams, with the result that the income of fisher households increased by 65 percent, leading to improved livelihood resilience and reduced poverty.

The conservation success story of hilsa that sustains the livelihoods of fishing communities in the Bay of Bengal is bound to be a highlight of the UN Food Systems Summit later this year.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Report finds gaps in RFMOs’ measures targeting eradication of tuna IUU

March 26, 2021 — The global fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated tuna-fishing activities has been slowed by significant gaps in the implementation of proposed counter-measures by five tuna regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs), according to a new report by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation.

The report found the implementation of key elements, such as the requirement for advance notice of port entry, denial of port entry or use, minimum inspections levels, and minimum standards for training of inspectors, has been inadequate.

Read the full story at Seafood Source