Saving Seafood

Leaked WWF report levels harsh criticism of MSC

December 6th, 2016 — A leaked report from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) describes “troubling, systemic flaws” within the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification scheme, casting doubt on the integrity of a program trusted by millions of seafood consumers around the world to identify fisheries that are sustainable and well-managed.

The WWF, which helped found MSC 20 years ago, identified a conflict of interest in MSC’s scheme, which charges a licensing fee of 0.5 percent of wholesale value to companies that use its logo to identify their products as originating from an MSC-certified fishery.

“Circumstantial evidence is accumulating that this creates a conflict with MSC’s role as an independent and impartial standard-setting body,” WWF wrote in the report, which was leaked to the Times of London newspaper.

There are now more than 23,000 products with the MSC ecolabel on sale to consumers in nearly 100 countries, according to the MSC. Revenue from licensing fees on those products amounted to GBP 11 million (USD 14 million, EUR 13 million) in revenue in the last fiscal year – approximately 73 percent of the organization’s total income.

MSC has “aggressively pursued global scale growth” and in recent years “has begun to reap very large sums from the fishing industry,” the WWF wrote regarding MSC.

In addition, MSC has used “questionable practices” that have weakened rules meant to prevent overfishing, potentially making it easier for unsustainable fisheries to gain certification, the report noted.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

 

Danish Fishermen Fear Further Slashing of EU’s Cod Quotas

October 11th, 2016 — A stiff wind buffets Ulrik Koelle Hansen’s trawler as he heads out of this tiny fishing village in search of an early morning catch, but it’s nothing to the battering he predicts if the European Union slashes the fishing quota for cod in the western Baltic, as it did late Monday.

According to scientists and environmentalists, the region’s cod stock is on the verge of collapse. While scientists are pushing for the quota to be cut by about 90 percent, conservation groups want to shut it down temporarily.

“If we do not do something in time to allow the cod to recover, it may mean that we lose the (cod) fishery altogether in the near future,” said Inger Melander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

After all-day negotiations in Luxembourg, the European Union late Monday agreed to set tougher cod catch quotas, but stayed well above targets sought by scientists and environmentalists. The EU fisheries ministers agreed on a 56 percent quota cut for the western Baltic cod caught off Denmark and Germany.

Officials said Denmark pushed hard to safeguard the livelihood of its fishermen to make sure there was enough that they would still be allowed to catch.

As Koelle Hansen sees it, cutting the quota would mean the end for the few fisherman still working out of Bagenkop, a sleepy fishing village of less than 500 people on the southern tip of the Langeland island.

Read the full story at The New York Times 

Aquaculture Stewardship Council – setting global standards for responsible farming

September 15, 2016 — The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is a global, independent non-profit organisation established in 2010 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to manage the global standards for responsible aquaculture with the aim to transform seafood markets towards responsible practices.

The ASC works with aquaculture producers, seafood processors, retail and food-service companies, scientists, and conservation groups around the world using its global influence to fulfil its mission to transform aquaculture towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

The ASC certification programme recognises and rewards responsible farming activities focusing on the preservation and quality of water resources, preservation of biodiversity and the diversity of species, no misuse of antibiotics,  compliance with strict feed requirements and social responsibility.

The ASC logo is a globally recognised mark for responsibly farmed seafood that is fully traceable to a farm that has been independently certified to the ASC standard and cares for the environment, its workers and the local community.

A growing number of companies are making a stand to encourage responsible farming and consumers can be part of that change through their shopping choices. By choosing ASC labelled products consumers can help ensure the health of the oceans, the livelihoods of local communities, and the availability of seafood for the future.

Increased consumer demand for certified seafood influences lower performance farms in greater numbers to undergo the rigorous assessment against the ASC standards, thereby improve their farming practices and reducing adverse environmental and social impacts.

Read the full story at Aquaculture Magazine

JOEANN HART: CO2 and feeling blue

September 14, 2016 — When we swim in the sea there is no visible footprint left behind so it easy to believe we make no mark. But all of us leave a carbon footprint in the ocean. Every time we use fossil fuels to drive our cars, charge our phones and heat and light our homes, we add heat and carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, more than 1.5 trillion tons of it since the Industrial Revolution. The last time so much CO2 was pumped into the air was 250 million years ago, when volcanic eruptions almost wiped out life on Earth. Humanity has survived the current environmental assault so far because of the oceans, which have absorbed about a third of the CO2 and much of the heat. The price we pay for that favor is rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and the destruction of fisheries throughout the world.

We are all at risk, but most especially for a fishing town like Gloucester. Coastal erosion from rising seas threaten not just our homes, but fragile wetlands, the nursery of many marine species. Other dangers from CO2 are not so visible but even more catastrophic. When the CO2 we’ve released into the air falls into the ocean it turns the water acidic, which weakens phytoplankton, the bedrock of the ocean’s food chain. No fish, no fishing industry. Reduced calcification from a lower pH also makes it difficult for shellfish to build their shells. No shells, no clams, no lobsters. Many marine animals can only live at a specific temperature, and as the water warms those populations decline or migrate. Again, no fish, no industry, and for people around the globe who rely on fish as their major source of protein, no food. The World Wildlife Fund believes that climate change is one of the main reasons for the decline of marine species in the last 30 years. Yet fisheries managers are not mandated to address the impact of non-fishing activities such as climate change, oil spills and water pollution. Instead, they focus on catch quotas.

Fishermen shouldn’t have to shoulder alone the consequences of a problem that all of us are responsible for creating. Since we cannot wait for nations to act, it is up to local communities to lower their carbon footprint. Unlike volcanoes, we can control the amount of CO2 we pump into the atmosphere, but to do that we need to restrict our use of fossil fuels. As a community, we already have wind turbines thanks to Gloucester’s Clean Energy Commission. Future options could include offshore wind farms, tidal energy systems and solar parking lots but there is plenty that individuals can do as well. Request a free energy audit from the Mass Save Program (masssave.com), which comes with help in replacing old appliances and insulating homes. Walk more, bike more, then lobby for bike lanes and better public transportation. Buy an electric or hybrid vehicle and take advantage of federal tax credits; install some solar panels and get Massachusetts incentives and rebates. Consider the carbon footprint of groceries. Eating seasonally and locally helps reduce the amount of fuel needed to get food to the table. Even using less plastic can help lower one’s carbon footprint, because plastic is a petroleum product. And in a coastal community like Gloucester, balloons and single-use bags often blow into the ocean where they can become death traps for whales, sea turtles and dolphins, all of whom mistake floating plastic for a dinner of jellyfish. We’re doing enough damage to them as it is with the CO2.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

THE SEAQUALIZER GIVES DOOMED FISH A FIGHTING CHANCE

June 21, 2015 — It’s got to be one of the worst ways to go: pulled to the surface against your will, changes in pressure attacking your body, only to be tossed away, no relief in site.

Fish inadvertently caught by sport and commercial fishers are known as “bycatch” and billions of them die every year. The ones affected by shifting pressure experience barotrauma and often due senseless deaths, but a new device wants to give them a fighting chance.

Hoping to find innovative solutions to the larger problems of bycatch, the World Wildlife Fund launched the International Smart Gear Competition in partnership with industry leaders, scientists, and fishermen. As sophisticated as the competition sounds, its solutions aren’t being made in a James Bond-esque lab: According to WWF, most are being pioneered by the people closest to the problem—fishermen themselves.

One of the most innovative tools to come out of the competition is the SeaQualizer. Created by two fishing buddies from South Florida, this hydrostatic descending device returns victims of bycatch to their native depths. Unlike fish caught in shallow lakes, many deep-water dwellers won’t survive if you simply toss them back, because as they ascend toward the surface, changes in pressure wreak havoc on their internal organs. By the time you reel them in, they’re experiencing barotrauma and will only pull through with assistance.

Fishermen historically helped bycatch recompress by venting, a process that involves puncturing the fish’s swim bladder to release the gas that built up during ascension. It’s as barbaric as it sounds and often leads to injury or death, but until around four years ago fishermen had no alternative—in some places, venting was even required by law.

Read the full story and watch the Youtube video at Wired