Saving Seafood

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

JERRY FRASER: Don’t look up: 30×30 dusts off an old scapegoat

March 24, 2021 — It’s nice to know that among some in the science community, the threat of covid-19 is viewed as being on the wane.

Last week, the journal Nature postulated that “after a year of pandemic-induced delays, 2021 is set to be a big year for biodiversity, climate and the ocean.”

While I look forward to bidding good riddance to the pandemic, it’s hard to image that a “big year” for Nature’s editorial writers will be anything but a pain in the butt for commercial fisherman.

One reason for the excitement at Nature and elsewhere is the expectation that the advance of the 30×30 agenda, which calls for protecting 30 percent of the ocean by 2030, will resume.

In the words of the Pew Charitable Trusts, “The call for 30 percent marine protection is part of securing a healthy ocean where marine parks enhance fisheries and sound fisheries management enhances biodiversity conservation.”

If you’re wondering what a marine park is going to look like, it’s a stretch of ocean that will host recreational and indigenous fishermen, wind farms, ecotourism, and in some cases, oil wells. In rare instances, there could be a token commercial fishing vessel, its permits held by an NGO.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

Targeted Ocean Protection Could Offer 3x The Benefits

March 23, 2021 — The new paper is the most comprehensive assessment to date of where strict ocean protection can contribute to a more abundant supply of healthy seafood and provide a cheap, natural solution to address climate change, in addition to protecting embattled species and habitats.

As reported in Nature, researchers identified specific areas of the ocean that could provide multiple benefits if protected. Safeguarding these regions would protect nearly 80% of marine species, increase fishing catches by more than 8 million metric tons, and prevent the release of more than one billion tons of carbon dioxide by protecting the seafloor from bottom trawling, a widespread yet destructive fishing practice.

BLUEPRINT TO PROTECT NATURE

The study is also the first to quantify the potential release of CO2 into the ocean from trawling. It finds that trawling pumps hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 into the ocean every year.

“Ocean life has been declining worldwide because of overfishing, habitat destruction, and climate change. Yet only 7% of the ocean is currently under some kind of protection,” says lead author Enric Sala, an explorer in residence at the National Geographic Society.

“In this study, we’ve pioneered a new way to identify the places that—if protected—will boost food production and safeguard marine life, all while reducing carbon emissions,” Sala says. “It’s clear that humanity and the economy will benefit from a healthier ocean. And we can realize those benefits quickly if countries work together to protect at least 30% of the ocean by 2030.”

To identify the priority areas, researchers analyzed the world’s unprotected ocean waters, focusing on the degree to which they are threatened by human activities that can be reduced by marine protected areas (for example, overfishing and habitat destruction).

Read the full story at Futurity

How sea-level rise could affect Pacific nations’ fishing rights

March 12, 2021 — Small island states in the Pacific are opening a new front in the fight against rising seas, to secure rights to an ocean area bigger than the moon and home to billion-dollar fish stocks.

States from Kiribati to Tuvalu are mapping their most remote islands, scattered across the ocean, in a bid to claim permanent exclusive economic zones (EEZs), stretching 200 nautical miles offshore, irrespective of future sea level rise.

As global warming pushes waters higher, Pacific nations fear some of their islands could be swamped, shrinking their EEZs and rights to fishing and mining within their boundaries – so they are trying to lock in existing zones now.

“There’s a sense of urgency,” said Jens Krüger, deputy director of the ocean and maritime program at the Fiji-based Pacific Community, a development organization.

“Sea level rise and climate change are threats that can devastate our islands.”

Read the full story at the Christian Science Monitor

JULIE KUCHEPATOV: Northern Lights: The women behind our seafood

March 8, 2021 — Fifty percent of people involved in global seafood production are women. But you may not know it because few women occupy leadership positions in the sector and seldom participate in critical discussions and decision-making about precious fisheries resources.

Seafood and Gender Equality was founded in 2020 to address a critical need for gender equality in the seafood sector, build women’s empowerment, and encourage the industry to evolve into a more diverse, inclusive and equitable career choice for people of all genders. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, gender equality means that the different behavior, aspirations, and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favored equally.

Women play a significant role in U.S. fisheries and can be found fishing from Alaska’s Bristol Bay to the Gulf of Maine, and they are particularly concentrated in pre- and post-harvest activities. Women in U.S. fisheries have been celebrated by organizations, such as the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute in its Strong at Sea campaign and in online publications like MarthaStewart.com.

While there is much to celebrate, the information on how many women make a career in this industry and how they participate is spotty, difficult to find, and not updated regularly. But we know that men continue to dominate.

“Knowing how women participate directly in fishing and within fishing families and communities is critical to predicting and understanding responses to fishery changes — from individuals, to families, all the way up to communities,” said Marysia Szymkowiak, lead author of a recent NOAA study on women’s participation in global fisheries.

Read the full opinion piece at National Fisherman

From science to fake news: How ocean misinformation evolves

February 25, 2021 — The following was released by Sustainable Fisheries UW:

We have seen this cycle play out in fisheries with the headline that there won’t be any fish in the ocean by the year 2048. It started in 2006 when a group of scientists published a paper with the fun fact that at the rate of fisheries decline from decades ago, there would be no fish by 2048. It was a small part of the paper, meant to highlight a broader point that past fisheries management had been poor. However, the press release that accompanied the paper touted it as a significant finding leading to context-lacking news stories, hyperbolic headlines, and a pervasive notion that there won’t be any fish in the ocean by 2048. The paper’s original authors have stated that their findings are misconstrued and have worked to publish papers correcting them.

Brandolini’s law states that, “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude larger than to produce it.” Fifteen years later, the 2048 myth continues to appear in articles across the internet.

The evolution of a bycatch myth

Now a new myth is rising to prominence: that global bycatch rates are as high as 40%.

Some background: The global authority on world fisheries, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), defines bycatch as, “the total catch of non-target animals.” This is the widely accepted definition.

Bycatch can be a useful indicator of fishery impacts on the broader ecosystem and provides important data that fishermen and fishery managers use to improve sustainability. Different fisheries have different rates of bycatch with varying degrees of impact. However, an important nuance is that bycatch is used or discarded. Used bycatch is generally accepted as sustainable so long as the non-target species isn’t a threatened species. Discards are wasteful and an unfortunate reality of food production. The most recent research showed that about 10% of fish have been discarded at sea over the past decade.

So how did 10% get inflated to 40%?

In 2009, three people working for NGOs (World Wildlife Fund & Dorset Wildlife Trust) and one unaffiliated person decided to write a paper arguing that the definition of “bycatch” needed to be redefined to include ALL catch from unmanaged fisheries. From their paper:

“The new bycatch definition is therefore defined in its simplest form as: Bycatch is catch that is either unused or unmanaged.”

The authors define “unmanaged” as catch that “does not have specific management to ensure the take is sustainable;” in contrast, a managed fishery will have “clearly defined measures specifically intended to ensure the sustainable capture of any species or groups of species within any fishing operation.” An example they gave in the paper is that, because a 1993 study showed that members of the Indian bottom trawling fleet used nets with illegal mesh, “such a fishery cannot be considered managed, as defined in this paper, [thus] the entire catch of the Indian bottom trawl fleet is considered bycatch.” By their definition, they calculated 56.3% of India’s total catch as bycatch.

Adding up all this calculation for each country brought them to declare 40.4% of the world’s catch as bycatch.

Researchers making arguments in the scientific literature is nothing new. Still, it is surprising to see peer-reviewers and editors accept a paper arguing for redefining a widely accepted and common term that would necessitate a paradigm shift in fishery management. Especially with assumptions that a 1993 finding applied to a 2009 definition.

Regardless, their new definition has not been adopted. FAO still uses the widely accepted definition of bycatch, and I could not find a single authoritative body that uses the WWF & Dorset definition.

However, if you thought the redefined, inflated numbers would lose the nuance of “unused or unmanaged” and would be used as a call to action by advocacy groups, you are correct.

Read the full article here