Conservation & Environment

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Michael Ramsingh — November 6, 2013 — An Independent Adjudicator has dismissed an objection to the proposed certification of Alaskan salmon under the Marine Steward Council's standard.

The objection was filed by the the Wild Fish Conservancy, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Skeena Wild Conservation Trust and the Raincost Conservation Foundation.  It was filed in direct response to the early October certification of Alaskan salmon under the Purse Seine Vessel Owners Association (PSVOA).

Now under the MSC's Objections Procedure, objectors have an option to submit a new or amended notice within five working days, by November 12.

The MSC said its objection procedure does not require it to disclose details of any objection that is either provisionally or finally dismissed. 

The Council said its process includes a final optional step in an assessment to provide an orderly, structured, transparent and independent process by which objections to the Final Report and Determination of a Certifier can be resolved.

Additionally, the purpose of the Objections Procedure is not to review the subject fishery against the MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing, but to determine whether the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB) made an error of procedure or scoring that materially affected the outcome of its determination.

An Independent Adjudicator examines the claims made by an objector and determines whether the CAB made an error that materially affected the outcome to inform their decision of whether to dismiss or accept an objection.

Still, even in light of the objection's dismissal, a majority of Alaska's salmon processors have already committed to not carrying Alaskan salmon products labeled with the MSC's eco-label.

"It's important that buyers understand and not be confused by the recent Alaska salmon MSC certification announcement. The PSVOA is the MSC client for Alaska salmon, but this means that even though a portion of the fishery is MSC certified, only about 20% of the salmon harvest could be called out as MSC certified," said Michael Cerne, Executive Director at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI) back in October.  "The announcement of MSC certification of Alaska salmon should not be interpreted as a change in the decision by the dozens of companies to no longer sell and support MSC Alaska salmon."

ASMI added a majority of Alaska's 27 salmon processing companies will not sell MSC certified salmon amounting to about 80 percent of the harvest.

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

November 4, 2013 — This morning, stakeholders met with Senator Begich of Alaska, Massachusetts Senators Warren and Markey, and other members of the New England congressional delegation for a listening session on fisheries. Panel members included a number of industry representatives, fishermen, scientists, and local stakeholders. The panel discussed topics ranging from the ten-year rebuilding requirements in the Magnuson-Stevens Act to the economic condition of the fleet to the development of electronic monitoring technologies.

Conservation Law Foundation’s Peter Shelley delivered this testimony:

I am going to paint a slightly different picture for you this morning. Nothing, however, in what I say should be understood to mean that we are insensitive to or minimize the many personal tragedies associated with the decades of groundfish overfishing.

The US fishing industry was born in New England over 400 years ago and today Massachusetts and Maine still rank as the second and third state in the nation in the dollar value of their landings. Fishing and the ocean have defined New England from its earliest times and all of us are proud of that tradition.

The Magnuson-Stevens Act is working in New England. Most of our fisheries are healthy and sustainable. From 1996 when the Sustainable Fisheries Act went into effect to 2011, gross boat revenues for all fish and shellfish landed in New England grew from $779 million to over $1.04 billion (2010 dollars).

Massachusetts fishermen increased their gross revenues from $316 million to $537 million. All the major ports in Massachusetts from New Bedford to Chatham-Provincetown to Gloucester have shared in these increased revenues. Those revenues multiply significantly once that seafood is landed.

Groundfish permit holders in New England have increased gross revenue from $226 million to $550 million. The accelerated groundfish fleet consolidation that occurred between 1995 and 2009 now appears to have slowed down.

There are also positive signs for some groundfish stocks, and a number of quotas increased last year. With continued rebuilding, these groundfish stocks should support new opportunities to grow and diversify fisheries in New England.

This is happening here because Congress took steps in 1996 and 2006 to force fisheries managers to prevent overfishing, to rebuild overfished stocks quickly, and to use science-based quota setting. Fishermen and fishing communities across New England paid a terrible price because those same actions were not taken earlier when the law allowed more “flexibility” in setting harvest levels.

There is adequate flexibility in the current law to allow the pursuit of more efficient and effective fisheries without compromising the need to rebuild and sustain healthy fish populations. I believe that much of the testimony this Subcommittee will hear across the country will show there is broad and diverse agreement on that.

Read the full story at the Conservation Law Foundation's TalkingFish.org

November 5, 2013 — A report that emerged two weeks ago, Indispensable Ocean, is the product of an extraordinary collaboration. It was a blue-ribbon panel of 20 people, plus a chairman. The full list is here, but some of its notable members include Thiraphong Chansiri, president of Thai Union Foods; Chris Lischewski, president and CEO of Bumble Bee Foods; John Tanzer, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Global Marine Program; and Dawn Wright, chief scientist at the Environmental Systems Research Institute. The report contains guidelines for developing fisheries in a way that yields sufficient supplies, but not at the expense of the long-term health of the oceans' ecosystems.

Whether you believe everything Al Gore has to say about the role of the corporate world in long-term damage to the environment, the issue of sustainability has become more than just a buzzword for CEOs.

For some time now, corporations have been looking for ways to become good environmental stewards without compromising the bottom line, to the point where many consultants have described this balance as the Holy Grail of business — a coveted concept everyone is seeking, but no one is quite sure how to find.

Taking the discussion to the world's oceans, it would make sense, then, to see CEOs of seafood corporations — no strangers to addressing efficiency in their operations — collaborating with leading voices in conservation and environmental protection. The products of such a meeting of the minds would be extraordinary, assuming that these leaders in their respective fields could stand to be in the same room with each other for more than five minutes.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

 

 

November 1, 2013 — Efforts to create the world’s largest marine sanctuary in the Antarctic Ocean have failed for the second time in two years after nations with major fishing industries, led by Russia, blocked any consensus, according to news reports Friday.

The failure by the 25-member Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to reach an agreement after a 10-day meeting in Hobart, Australia, freezes the effort to protect millions of square miles of ocean in the Ross Sea and the East Antarctic Coast until October 2014, when delegates will try again.

"It's very frustrating for most members," Swedish delegate Bo Fernholm told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I think most members were here and thought that we would be able to get the [marine protected areas], at least one this time."

A proposal originally drafted last year by an international NGO called the Antarctic Oceans Alliance and backed by the United States and New Zealand would have set aside 1.4 million square miles of waters, split among 19 areas scattered around Antarctica's periphery. The plan would have doubled the area of protected oceans worldwide and prevented fishing and mineral exploration in those ecosystems, which are home to nearly 10,000 unique species, including Adelié and emperor penguins, colossal squid, Weddell seals, and others.

Read the full story at the Christian Science Monitor

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Seafoodnews.com] — November 4, 2013 — Kerry Coughlin, America's regional director for the MSC, has resigned. She will be leaving her position at the end of November to "pursue new opportunities" and will continue to work with MSC on a consulting basis, according to an email sent to Tom Seaman, Editor of Undercurrent News.

The MSC is advertising her positon on their website, in a job posting prepared in October of this year.  The deadline for applying is Nov. 25th.  Interviews will be held in Washington DC on December 4th and 5th.

Her resignation comes little more than a month after she sent a public letter attacking ASMI's efforts to choose a different certification program.  In the same letter she also attacked the portrayal of MSC on Seafood.com News, and she attacked Alaskan Senators Begich and Murkowski, as well as Alaskan state officials.   "The September 24 U.S. Senate Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard Subcommittee hearing on sustainable seafood certification is a recent and particularly egregious example of biased and inaccurate discussion of the MSC program" said Coughlin.

The spectacle of a London-based NGO attacking US Senators, other government officials, and ASMI was not a supportable position.

This has been a difficult year for the MSC in the U.S. as two major partners – Wal-Mart and Sodexo – were called before a Congressional committee after following advice to limit their purchase of Alaskan salmon due to the fact that 80% of the salmon produced in Alaska is no longer part of the MSC program.  Both companies pledged to revise their sourcing policies to ensure continued purchase of Alaskan salmon.

Furthermore, the National Park Service, and the General Services Administration, also had to renouce efforts to get their seafood vendors to use MSC certified products.  As a result, the fact that sustainable seafood was not synonymous with the MSC certification became a widely shared view in Washington, and among key buyers.  The case for using equivalent programs was strengthened.

Neutral observers have told us that the clash over certification standards for Alaska salmon between ASMI and the MSC has been exacerbated by personality conflicts.

Coughlin took her current position as director for the Americas in 2009, following two years as MSC America's communications director.  Prior to that, she had not had experience in the seafood industry.

In their job posting, the MSC says that among the personal requirements for the position will be "extensive knowledge of the North American seafood and fishing industries, sustainable seafood movement/ NGO sector, with existing contacts and networks highly desirable"

A key task for the position will be "building and maintaining excellent relationships with key stakeholders at all levels within the region and across MSC’s stakeholder community (including within the seafood industry, from harvest through to retail, governments, conservation NGOs and other engaged stakeholders)."

They also require that the candidate have "empathy" for market based sustainability programs, but they do not require prior experience in such programs.

The job description can be found here.

In the email, Rupert Howes, CEO of the MSC, said  “I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kerry for six years of dedicated service to the MSC and for her significant contribution over that period. She has done an outstanding job. We appreciate that Kerry will continue to work with MSC’s Board, myself and senior managers to facilitate a smooth transition as we move forward to recruit a new Regional Director for the Americas.”

Coughlin said, in the same emailed statement, “it has been a privilege to work with MSC and our many partners. The MSC program has experienced tremendous growth during my tenure and I expect will continue to expand in importance as a vital global link for members of the industry and marine conservation community seeking to ensure sustainability of the world’s seafood resources.”

This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.

MATAGORDA, Texas — November 2, 2013 — A deep sea oyster reef restoration being touted as the largest ever in the Gulf of Mexico began in an unlikely place: a quarry in landlocked Missouri.

That is where years of research, planning and precise engineering led Mark Dumesnil, an associate director of restoration for the Nature Conservancy in Texas, as he sought to restore what was once a nearly 500-acre oyster reef and is now no more than hard sand and shell remains, with not one oyster in sight.

And so, about seven years after Dumesnil was first tipped off by wildlife ecosystem experts that restoration of Half Moon Reef might be possible, 36 barges carrying 93,000 tons of Missouri limestone traveled for 12 days down the Mississippi River, arriving in the Gulf in late October. Scientists, engineers, researchers and laborers will spend some eight weeks dropping the boulders onto a 54-acre plot 8 feet underwater as part of a $5.4 million, two-phase project designed to revitalize a damaged ecosystem.

The project also will provide a robust natural barrier from hurricanes and teach scientists whether reefs can rebuild in drought conditions, becoming another mechanism for marine habitats to withstand devastating dry spells.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at KSTP

WILMINGTON, Del. — November 2, 2013 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the southern population of the black sea bass has recovered, but fishermen along the North Carolina coast aren’t sure their numbers ever dwindled.

The Star-News of Wilmington reports while catch limits for black sea bass more than doubled last month, one charter boat operator says he’s been catching sea bass for most of the season.

“Being on the water every day off Wrightsville Beach, I haven’t ever really seen them not be recovered,” said Capt. Trevor Smith, owner of ProFishNC Charters. “We’ve been catching just a ton of sea bass pretty much all season long. They’re almost a nuisance, there are so many of them.”

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the Rocky Mount Telegram

November 1, 2013 — The California Current System along the U.S. west coast is among the richest ecosystems in the world, driven by nutrient input from coastal upwelling and supporting a great diversity of marine life. Like coastal regions in general, it is also heavily impacted by human activities. A new study led by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reveals areas along the west coast where human impacts are highest on marine predators such as whales, seals, seabirds, and turtles.

The study, published October 28 in Nature Communications, found that many of the high impact areas are within the boundaries of National Marine Sanctuaries. This means there are good opportunities for improving management strategies, according to first author Sara Maxwell, who led the study as a graduate student in ocean sciences at UC Santa Cruz and is now a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station.

"The sanctuaries are located close to the coast in areas where there are a lot of human activities and a lot of marine life, so it's not surprising that we see a lot of impacts there," Maxwell said, noting that oil spills were a big concern when the sanctuaries were established, and many do not limit activities such as fishing, although they are actively engaged in managing industries such as shipping.

"With the sanctuaries already in place, we have an opportunity to increase protections. The results of this study allow us to be more specific in where we focus management efforts so that we can minimize the economic impact on people," she said.

Read the full story at the Terra Daily 

October 31, 2013 — Chances are, you've eaten a Gorton's fish stick at some point in your life. And now, thanks to a partnership with the New England Aquarium, the chance that the fish in that stick was sustainably fished is much higher.

Gorton's is the largest seller of frozen seafood in the U.S. Five years ago, the company undertook a partnership with the New England Aquarium to look at shifting their suppliers toward sustainable fishing practices. The focus was on increasing the portion of supply from fisheries that meet the certification standards of the Marine Stewardship Council and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

Read the full story from the Huffington Post

October 26, 2013 — The following was released by Pew Charitable Trusts:

Government ministers from 130 countries issued a joint declaration today emphasizing the critical role marine protected areas—both within and outside areas of national jurisdiction—play in restoring and revitalizing the health of the world’s oceans. The statement was issued following their meeting at the Ajaccio Ministerial Conference for Ocean Conservation on the island of Corsica in Ajaccio, France.

With less than three percent of the oceans currently safeguarded in marine-protected areas, the governments’ declaration reaffirms their strong commitment to at least meet the internationally agreed-upon target of protecting 10 percent of the world’s oceans and coastal areas by 2020. Many scientists argue that a far greater proportion of the global ocean should be fully protected.

The ministers urge the Member States of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, or CCAMLR, to establish the world’s largest marine protected areas in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. This includes the Ross Sea, one of the most pristine marine environments left on Earth. CCAMLR is currently meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, until November 1 to make a decision on that designation. 

The declaration also points to the importance of protecting marine life on the high seas, which comprise about 64 percent of the oceans and contain a great wealth of biodiversity, and calls for the international community to adopt a decision at the United Nations General Assembly to launch negotiations on a new protocol for protecting marine biodiversity in these waters.

In recent years, Pew, through its Global Ocean Legacy project, has played an instrumental role in working to create the world’s first generation of great marine parks in areas under national jurisdiction. In 2012, Australia created the Coral Sea Marine National Park. Two years earlier, the United Kingdom designated the Chagos Marine Reserve in the Indian Ocean, one of the largest, fully protected marine reserves in the world. In 2006, the United States created the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.
Leading marine scientists also voiced their support for such efforts by recently signing a statement calling for the establishment of the first generation of great marine parks around the world.

The Ajaccio ministerial conference concluded a weeklong gathering of nearly 1,800 delegates from around the world at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) in Marseille, France.

Read the release from the Pew Charitable Trusts