Saving Seafood

Hawaii’s fishing industry faces lasting impacts as pandemic drags on

September 18, 2020 — With restaurants and hotels shut down, Hawaii is seeing a shortage of fish that is impacting the price of popular products like ahi and could have lasting effects on the industry.

“The boats are going out on fewer trips. They are carrying a lot less weight than usual because of all that’s happening,” said Long Tran, as he watched a load of tuna come off the boat Tuesday morning at Pier 38.

Tran buys fish for Poke by the Pound and says the price fluctuates naturally with the seasons.

He said the pandemic will likely have lasting consequences for the industry.

Ultimately, those changes will affect his bottom line.

“The fish is going to continue to be in shortage, but we will be running in the red all the time, so we will basically have to call our fish vendors out to do what they can for us,” Tran said.

Fresh Island Fish owns their own vessels and their fish goes directly to their plant. That product goes straight to the restaurants and to the customers.

Read the full story at Hawaii News Now

Pacific Ocean Aquafarms launching offshore yellowtail farm project in California

September 9, 2020 — Long Beach, California, U.S.A.-based Pacific6 has filed a permit application to build an offshore yellowtail farm four miles off the coast of California.

Pacific6 is the same group that purchased the assets of Catalina Sea Ranch, the only permitted aquaculture facility in U.S. federal waters, in May 2020. It has since formed a collaborative group with Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute (HSWRI), a San Diego, California-based nonprofit research institute that works in cooperation with, but is independent of, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

MAINE: Dutch company chooses Down East town as home for its multimillion-dollar fish farm

November 21, 2019 — A Dutch company has reportedly selected the Washington County town of Jonesport for a multimillion-dollar, land-based aquaculture facility to grow yellowtail, a type of fish beloved by chefs and sushi aficionados.

Kingfish Zeeland settled on the historic fishing community roughly 20 miles from Machias after exploring other potential sites along the Maine coast, according to reports in local and seafood industry media. Kingfish Zeeland’s envisioned yellowtail facility is at least the fourth major land-based aquaculture operation proposed in recent years in Maine, which is experiencing a surge in “farming” for fish, shellfish and other marine products.

Company representatives were expected to discuss their plans Wednesday night during a special town meeting in Jonesport. The company did not respond to a request for additional information Wednesday, and a member of the Jonesport Board of Selectmen said town officials are waiting for Wednesday’s meeting before commenting.

“We are anxious to hear their presentation,” Selectman William Milliken said.

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald

Yellowfin and Bigeye Catch Limit, FAD Data Improvements, and Increased Observer Coverage Top Conservation Group’s “Asks” for Sustainable Atlantic Tuna Fisheries

November 14, 2017 — WASHINGTON — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation: 

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has released its position statement in advance of the 25th Regular Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in Marrakech, Morocco, on 14-22 November 2017.

“ICCAT made substantial headway last year by agreeing to maintain total allowable catch levels for yellowfin and bigeye tuna stocks, which have experienced overfishing in recent years,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “But ICCAT’s science committee estimates that catch limits for bigeye and yellowfin were still exceeded in 2017, by 11 percent and 16 percent, respectively. The situation must be addressed.”

ISSF is asking that ICCAT adopt stock-specific measures in line with its science committee’s advice and that it allocate the yellowfin catch limit by gear type so that ICCAT member countries can know their individual limits. ICCAT must also ensure that fishing capacity of purse seine fleets is in line with catch limits and adopt in-season catch monitoring to avoid exceeding those limits.

FAD Management

ISSF also asks that ICCAT immediately address persistent gaps in FAD data reporting and ensure that requirements for non-entangling FADs are met. Further, ICCAT should implement its FAD Working Group recommendation to extend 100 percent observer coverage on large-scale purse seine vessels to the entire year.

“FAD sets account for nearly 50 percent of tropical tuna catches in the Atlantic Ocean,” Jackson continued. “We have to improve the monitoring and management of FAD usage in all ocean regions, and that starts with RFMO contracting parties complying with required data reporting. ICCAT scientists cannot effectively analyze and provide management recommendations on FADs without access to the best information.”

Longline Observer Coverage

Troublesome data gaps also persist for the longline sector. ICCAT scientists have highlighted that the current 5% observer coverage requirement is inadequate to provide reasonable estimates of total bycatch. And data on observer coverage in longline fisheries indicates some fleets are not meeting even this 5% mandatory minimum. This lack of data on longline catches and interactions with non-target species hinders scientific input on effective conservation measures. It must be rectified.

ISSF urges ICCAT to implement its scientific staff’s recommendation to increase the minimum level of observer coverage to 20% for longline fleets, and other major gears. At the same time, ICCAT must strengthen compliance by identifying and sanctioning non-compliance through its Compliance Committee. ISSF is also recommends that ICCAT develop binding measures to ensure the safety of human observers.

Other priority improvements in the ISSF position statement include:

§  Adoption of interim Harvest Control Rules (HCRs) for North Atlantic Albacore that have been tested by the science committee and execution of an independent peer review of the management strategy evaluations set in place last year.

§  Adoption of measures to strengthen the region’s existing shark finning measures and reduce catches of northern shortfin mako sharks, and require that accurate data are collected and submitted on catches of all oceanic sharks.

§  Development of E-monitoring and E-reporting standards for longline vessels, as soon as possible.

§  Adoption of further amendments to modernize the ICCAT VMS measure and bring it in line with global best practices.

Read the full position statement in English, French or Spanish.

About the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is a global coalition of scientists, the tuna industry and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) — the world’s leading conservation organization — promoting science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing bycatch and promoting ecosystem health. To learn more, visit https://iss-foundation.org/, and follow ISSF on Twitter,Facebook and Instagram.