Saving Seafood

IOTC: Indian Ocean yellowfin catch must be cut by 30 percent to save the stock

March 9, 2022 — The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Scientific Committee has published a new report that provides results on the yellowfin tuna stock assessment in the Indian Ocean. The report shows the stock is overfished and will require a catch reduction of at least 30 percent.

The report is the first issued by the IOTC Scientific Committee since 2018 and includes projections for reasonable likelihood of stock recovery by 2030 if the 30 percent catch reduction is implemented. That means a catch limit of about 301,000 metric tons (MT) – almost 130,000 MT less than was caught in 2020.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

China protests IOTC yellowfin tuna allocation limits for 2022

January 25, 2022 — Despite the People’s Republic of China maintaining that mainland China and Taiwan are parts of “One China” whose sovereignty cannot be divided, the world’s second-largest economy appears reluctant to entertain such perceptions when it comes to the management of fisheries for both entities.

The country’s delegation to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has disagreed with the commission’s 10,557 metric ton (MT) yellowfin tuna catch-limit for 2022, saying the figure is below the 15,339 MT it expected. The higher quota is based on catch limits being calculated separately for mainland China and Taiwan.

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IOTC publishes 2022 yellowfin tuna catch limits

January 11, 2022 — The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) has, on the recommendation of its scientific committee, set the catch limit for yellowfin tuna at 287,140 metric tons (MT) in 2022.

IOTC Executive Secretary Christopher O’Brien said in early January that 24 of the commission’s members have been allocated varying catch limits in line with committee recommendations, with the European Union, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Yemen taking the lion’s share of the yellowfin tuna catch allocations.

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WCPFC faces test as expiration date nears for Tropical Tuna Measure

November 29, 2021 — The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) 2021 meeting begins 29 November, as it faces the expiration of its Tropical Tuna Measure guiding fishing controls for bigeye, skipjack, and yellowfin tuna in its jurisdiction.

The regional fisheries management organization, which oversees the conservation and management of highly migratory fish stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, will meet virtually through 7 December. In December 2020, the WCPFC’s 27 members agreed to roll over its previous Tropical Tuna Measure, but the measure is set to expire in February 2022.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Hai Trieu Food Earns Friend of The Sea Certification for Sustainable Wild-Caught Yellowfin Tuna

November 8, 2021 — Friend of the Sea, the global certification standard for products and services that respect and protect the marine environment, is pleased to announce the certification of Hai Trieu Food for sustainable fishing practices. Consequently, the company can display the Friend of the Sea eco-label on its products, highlighting its efforts to protect and preserve the environment.

Hai Trieu Food was established in 2006 in Vietnam and, after 13 years in business, has become one of the leading seafood companies in the country. With a seven vessels fleet, Hai Trieu Food specializes in processing and exporting wild-caught yellowfin tuna products with high-quality international standards.

Yellowfin tuna is one of Vietnam’s most important exports, surpassing a total annual value of more than 300 million dollars. However, as the national tuna industry grows, so does the need to protect the country’s magnificent marine biodiversity from the impact of unsustainable fishing practices.

Read the full story at Friends of the Sea

 

NGOs express disappointment after IATTC fails to advance tuna conservation measure

August 31, 2021 — A weeklong Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meeting, held to advance the commission’s protection of bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, has failed deliver any such conservation measure.

With the IATTC unable to reach consensus, discussions on the measure roll over to its next virtual meeting, scheduled to take place on 18 October.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

India objects to IOTC yellowfin tuna stock-rebuilding plan

August 24, 2021 — The interim plan for rebuilding the Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna stock by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) should target cooperation of large-scale industrial fishing fleets, as opposed to small-scale fishers, according to India’s Department of Fisheries.

India has objected to the IOTC’s resolution on the rebuilding of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna. India Fisheries Development Commissioner Intisar Anees Siddiqui, in a letter to the IOTC Secretariat, said the large-scale industrial fishing fleets are to blame for reducing yellowfin tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean and “should bear much responsibility.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Concerns emerge that IOTC yellowfin tuna agreement could flop

July 28, 2021 — Uncertainty hangs over a June 2021 agreement by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) to limit the total Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna catch to 401,000 metric tons (MT) after six members of the commission announced intentions to object to the resolution.

In a statement, the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA) said the move by Indonesia and Oman to formally object to the agreement reached during the 25th session of the IOTC, in addition to the subsequent objections of India, Iran, Madagascar, and Comoros mean the IOTC agreements “may be futile.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

DNA lab test doesn’t detect tuna in Subway sandwiches

June 23, 2021 — After facing a class-action lawsuit claiming that Subway’s tuna sandwiches do not contain tuna and the restaurant chain cannot prove the fish is sustainable, a new DNA lab report shows there is no tuna in the company’s tuna sandwiches.

The New York Times set up an independent lab test of 60 inches of tuna sandwiches from three Subway restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The testing, which included a polymerase chain reaction test that searched for DNA of five different tuna species, detected no tuna in the sandwiches.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Subway Tuna Lawsuit Update: Plaintiffs Say Chain’s Sustainability Claims Are “False and Misleading”

June 22, 2021 — The Subway tuna lawsuit drama continues.

In January a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleging that the sandwich chain’s tuna sandwich is “made with anything but tuna.” Independent lab tests that were reportedly taken from multiple California Subway locations found that the tuna was a “mixture of concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna.” The two plaintiffs, Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin of Alameda County, were hoping to get their claim certified as class action, which would open the case up to others in California who bought tuna from Subway after January 21, 2017.

Read the full story at Seafood News