Conservation & Environment

January 27, 2013 — McDonald’s has signed on with the Marine Stewardship Council to show that the fish it serves is caught in an environmentally responsible manner. While the fish is not changing, the deal will make the council’s distinctive blue logo familiar to tens of millions of Americans for the first time.

The world’s biggest fast-food company announced last week that its sourcing of fish for the United States market, which is entirely wild-caught Alaska pollock, had been certified by the council, perhaps the best-known organization promoting sustainable fishing around the world.

The most tangible effect of the sustainability imprimatur is that, beginning next month, Filet-O-Fish wrappers sold in the burger giant’s 14,000 American restaurants will display the Marine Stewardship Council label. McDonald’s also announced on Thursday that it would roll out a new promotional menu item in February called Fish McBites — think chicken nuggets, only made from pollock — that would also carry the council’s label.

Judging from photos like this one, it will be impossible to eat a McDonald’s fish product without getting reassurance that your meal is not harming the seas.

McDonald’s did not have to do much to comply with the council’s requirements. Susan Forsell, McDonald’s vice president for sustainability, said that under the company’s own in-house sustainable fisheries program, which began 10 years ago, 100 percent of McDonald’s fish is already purchased from fisheries that have received stewardship council certification.

In Europe, where McDonald’s products rely on both the Alaskan pollock and sustainable European fisheries, the council’s logo already appears on the company’s packaging, Ms. Forsell said.

 

Read the full story at the New York Times

 

 

(Seafoodnews.com ) January 24, 2013 — The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) was awarded the California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for its sustainable fishing loan project, the California Fisheries Fund during a ceremony last night at the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters.

EDF was joined at the awards ceremony by fisherman Steve Fitz, a California Fisheries Fund loan recipient.

The California Fisheries Fund has awarded 14 loans totaling nearly $1.7 million to 11 borrowers, providing fishermen with business opportunities to market fresh, local and sustainable seafood. Loans have been given to fishermen like Bill Blue in Morro Bay who used the funds to replace his more than 100 year old boat to make safer, more efficient trips to support employing his sons and improving his bottom line. Wild Planet Foods in McKinleyville, CA was also the recipient of a loan which it used to help process and market fresh, sustainable seafood.

The most recent CFF loan was awarded a loan to Steve Fitz to catch groundfish in Half Moon Bay, California. With his California Fisheries Fund loan, Mr. Fitz was able to secure the extra financial assistance he needed to buy his uncle's boat, the "Mr. Morgan," and start his fishing business. The loan has not only helped Steve Fitz grow his business but also gave him the opportunity to continue his family tradition of having the only commercial fishing operation in the United States that uses Scottish Seine gear, an eco-friendly fishing technique that gently herds fish into the path of light-weight nets without dragging heavy and destructive gear on the ocean floor.

"My loan from the California Fisheries Fund has benefitted me in several ways and for that I am grateful," said Fitz. "It's allowed me to purchase my boat, start my business, preserve my strong family fishing heritage, upgrade my fishing equipment and bring a higher quality and sustainable product to the dock."

 

Seafood News is a subscription website. This story is reproduced with permission.

 

 

 

 

January 24, 2013 — The following was issued by McDonalds USA:

In recognition of its ten year commitment to sustainable fishing practices, McDonald’s USA (NYSE: MCD) announced today it would become the first national restaurant chain to adopt the Marine Stewardship Council’s blue ecolabel on its fish packaging in restaurants nationwide.
 
As one of the largest single buyers of fish in the US, McDonald’s scale will help assure that growing seafood demands are balanced with MSC’s responsible sourcing practices to maintain the health and sustainability of fish stocks for the future. Sustainable fish sourcing is part of McDonald’s broader commitment to sustainable sourcing and 100 percent of all fish sold in its US restaurants has been certified sustainable.
 
“McDonald’s collaboration with the Marine Stewardship Council is a critical part of our company’s journey to advance positive environmental and economic practices in our supply chain,” said Dan Gorsky, senior vice president of U.S. supply chain and sustainability. “We’re extremely proud of the fact that this decision ensures our customers will continue to enjoy the same great taste and high quality of our fish with the additional assurance that the fish they are buying can be traced back to a fishery that meets MSC’s strict sustainability standard.”
 
McDonald’s, which uses MSC certified wild-caught Alaska Pollock for its Filet-O-Fish sandwich, will begin displaying the MSC ecolabel on product packaging, in-restaurant communications and external marketing beginning in February 2013 – coinciding with the launch of Fish McBites, McDonald’s newest fish menu item, which also uses wild-caught, MSC-certified Alaska Pollock.
 
Collaboration Yields Transformative Impact
According to MSC Chief Executive Rupert Howes, today’s announcement from McDonald’s USA is the culmination of successes stemming from a working, collaborative relationship.
 
“Through this partnership with McDonald’s, millions of McDonald’s US customers each day have an opportunity to recognize and reward sustainable fishing practices that not only preserve fish stocks, but support seafood industry livelihoods and communities that depend on fishing,” said Howes.
 
MSC certification indicates that over 14,000 McDonald’s restaurants across the US have met the MSC Chain of Custody standard for traceability, which is the ability to track the fish all the way back through the supply chain to the fishery.
 
Under the MSC certification program, these fisheries have been assessed by independent scientists against three core principles: the health of the fish stock, the impact of the fishery on the ecosystem and the management system that oversees the fishery.
 
Certification Reinforces McDonald’s Decade-Long Commitment to fishery Sustainability
Today’s announcement represents the latest step in McDonald’s decade-long collaboration with suppliers to improve sustainable fishing practices throughout its supply chain.
 
“World Wildlife Fund supports the MSC as the only credible standard for sustainable wild-caught seafood. McDonald’s decision to display the MSC ecolabel on its seafood products gives consumers a way to contribute to the conservation of the world’s biodiversity,” said Bill Fox, vice president and managing director of fisheries at World Wildlife Fund. “It also demonstrates McDonald’s leadership in feeding a growing population while helping to maintain healthy fisheries.”
In 2011, McDonald’s introduced the same MSC certification for all its European restaurants. McDonald’s USA also worked with the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and Conservation International for more than ten years to support sustainable fishing practices.
 
"McDonald’s has played a leadership role in supporting sustainable fisheries for a decade and has consistently been at the leading edge of activities to improve the management of our oceans,” said Jim Cannon, chief executive officer for the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. “McDonald’s understood the importance of sustainable seafood ahead of others in the business and adopted a visionary approach of supporting the improvement of fisheries rather than just switching to other sources. Sustainable Fisheries Partnership has been proud to work with McDonalds for many years and has seen huge improvements in the quality of fisheries management as a result of our joint efforts."

 
For more information about McDonald’s sustainable sourcing practices visit: AboutMcDonalds.com/sustainability.

January 9, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from the National Geographic online blog post "The Little Fish That Could—Maybe It Will", written by Carl Safina and Elizabeth Brown:

Over the past several months, conservationists, fishermen, and the public have been writing to fishery managers about how to save Atlantic menhaden (also called bunker) – arguably one of the most important fish in the sea. And this week, they scored a victory.

For decades, fishermen on the U.S. east coast have been allowed to catch unlimited amounts of this small, but important, fish. As a result, Atlantic menhaden populations have greatly declined – by around 90 percent. Captain Dale Tripp, a longtime Cape Cod fisherman, said “When we first started fishing for menhaden it was not a problem to go out with just a grappling hook and catch 20 in 20 minutes,” but “Now, you can’t go out with a gill net and catch 20 in two hours.”

The decline has been blamed on the “reduction fishery,” which catches the majority of Atlantic menhaden each year.  They grind them up and use them for fish-oil dietary supplements, fertilizers, and animal feed.

Read the full story at National Geographic 

Analysis: A recent National Geographic online blog post, “The Little Fish That Could—Maybe It Will,” by Carl Safina and Elizabeth Brown, highlighted recently implemented harvest cuts for Atlantic menhaden by the board that manages the species, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).

The post states that “Atlantic menhaden populations have greatly declined – by around 90 percent.” Here, the authors reference a claim that has been broadly circulated through petitions and advertisements by the Pew Environment Group. In doing so, Pew selected a year of record population highs to begin this analysis, creating an overstated picture of population decline, while ignoring substantial periods of the fishery’s history which demonstrate the natural fluctuation of the population.

Current menhaden biomass levels are similar to those seen in the 1960s, which were followed by record high population estimates in the 1970s and 1980s, even without a fisheries management response. A recent analysis by the Providence Journal and Politifact Rhode Island, found Pew’s assertion to be ”mostly false,” stating that “the statement contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.”

"There's no question there's been a decline downward," stated Mark Gibson, deputy chief of the marine fisheries division of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management in the article, "But when you have a fish stock that varies up and down across time, you can cherry-pick your window across time, say it declined and get a whole bunch of people alarmed."

The full time series shows that the menhaden population is highly variable by year, and periods of high population are more likely to be the result of favorable environmental conditions than a reduction in fishing activity.

The relationship between menhaden and environment is recognized both by NOAA’s Chesapeake Bay Office, which writes , “menhaden recruitment appears to be independent of fishing mortality and spawning stock biomass, indicating environmental factors may be the defining factor in the production of good year classes,” and the ASMFC, which concluded that fluctuations in menhaden abundance may be “almost entirely driven by non-fishery sources.”  

It is misleading to blame this alleged “decline” solely on the menhaden reduction fishery. A more thorough review of relevant data regarding Atlantic menhaden, as well as comments from the regulatory bodies which oversee this historic fishery make this clear.

 

 

 

December 12, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from James Drake's Outdoors column "Deciding the fate of menhaden" published on Southern Maryland Newspapers Online:

Last year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission began a process for possibly setting a practical catch limit for menhaden. Friday, the commission will meet in Baltimore to determine the future of this fishery.

Menhaden are small, oily, bony fish that are of no culinary interest to humans. They are however of keen importance to striped bass, sea trout, bluefish, osprey, great blue herons and a host of other wild creatures who depend upon them for food.

Often referred to as “the most important fish in the sea,” menhaden are a primary food source for many predators and a healthy menhaden population is indeed of acute interest to us. Without them, the fish we do care about will have little to eat and those game fish populations will then suffer.

 

Read the full story on Southern Maryland Newspapers Online 

Read a letter to the editor in response to the article here 

 

 

 

 

December 12, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from the article "Outdoors: Save the crabs and menhaden" by Jim Brewer, published online in the Charlottesville Daily Progress:

Since 1984, the number of menhaden – referred to as the most important fish in the sea – has fallen by 88 percent. The current population is at an all time low. How has that come to pass? The answer is simple. The menhaden is the only species of fish or animal to be managed exclusively by the General Assembly. All other species are managed by qualified biologists. When you put people in charge who know nothing about what they are doing, bad things usually happen.

Menhaden are so threatened that last fall, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission set a goal to maintain a minimum of 15 percent of an unfished level (the natural level assuming no fishing) with a target of 30 percent. The current level is at 8 percent of that level. Why set minimum levels? Why not maximum levels?

It all boils down to Omega Protein and its commercial menhaden fleet based in Reedville that supports 300 jobs.

 

Read the full story in the Daily Progress

Read a letter to the editor in response to this article here 

 

 

 

 

January 3, 2012 — The following is an excerpt from the article "PolitiFact calls claims of menhaden declines “Mostly False”, is completely wrong" posted on the website Southern Fried Science:

Despite their small size and plain appearance, menhadenhave been called “the most important fish in the sea” because numerous coastal fish species rely on them for food. Although they aren’t typically eaten by humans, there is still a huge fishery for them for bait, aquaculture food, and oil. That fishery has been essentially unregulated, allowing fishermen to take as many as they want. Recently, there’s been a campaign among certain environmental groups to fix this problem and put catch limits in place for menhaden.

I was surprised to see PolitiFact, a non-partisan political fact-checking website, address this issue. I’ve checked PolitiFact pretty regularly for years, and I’ve never seen them cover a topic like this before. They focused on a claim by the Pew Environment Group that “In recent years, menhaden numbers along our coast have plummeted by 90 percent.” While I admit I am not familiar with specific details of menhaden population trends,  anyone who has paid any attention at all to the ocean knows that we’re overfishing at alarming rates. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, approximately 1/3 of all global fisheries are depleted or overexploited, many by more than the 90% referenced for menhaden.

Read the full story on Southern Fried Science

Analysis: The same day the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) was set to place historic restrictions on Atlantic menhaden harvest, The Providence Journal and Politifact Rhode Island released an analysis which accused the Pew Environment Group of bending the truth on the status of menhaden with their widely circulated claim that the stock had fallen 90 percent “in recent years.” Ultimately, because Pew’s assertion excluded much of the menhaden fishery’s historic data, the Journal and Politifact found the claim to be “mostly false”.

However, a recent article posted on the website Southern Fried Science criticizes the Providence Journal and Politifact Rhode Island piece. The article’s author, David Shiffman, alleges that Politifact’s conclusions are “completely wrong,” but he openly admits that he is “not familiar with specific details of menhaden population trends.” The author demonstrates this absence of knowledge throughout his writing, ultimately employing a comparably misguided rationale to that used by Pew. In turn, both Pew and Mr. Shiffman misrepresent the status of Atlantic menhaden.

Mr. Shiffman accuses Politifact of “shifting baselines” to arbitrarily reach their conclusion that Pew Environment Group had misrepresented menhaden-related statistics in a recent ad, but when the full time series of the menhaden fishery is examined, it reveals that Pew Environment has actually manipulating the years to create a dramatic pattern in the menhaden population. If Mr. Shiffman had taken the time to examine the complete timeline of available data, he would find that the alleged 90 percent decline is completely selective, and does not represent the patterns that have occurred over the complete history of the fishery.

Over the 50-plus years that data on menhaden biomass has been recorded by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), biomass has fluctuated based on the strength of menhaden recruitment (the number of menhaden that are born). Current biomass figures are similar to the levels seen in the late 1960s, when biomass was lower, but the levels that followed in the 1970s and 1980s were the highest on record. The full time series shows that menhaden recruitment is highly variable by year, and periods of high recruitment, such as those naturally resulting after years of low recruitment, are more likely to be the result of favorable environmental conditions than a reduction in fishing activity.

Because Pew starts to chart the decline at the record-high biomass in 1983, fluctuations in menhaden biomass that occurred over the total 50 years of available data are left out of the picture entirely. The decline that Pew cites is simply part of an alternating cycle of strong and weak recruitment.

The largest flaw in Mr. Shiffman’s logic is assuming that Pew’s initial argument was true solely based upon the statistic that “approximately 1/3 of all global fisheries are depleted or overexploited.” Tying to compare aggregate global fisheries data to a single fishery is completely illogical, especially when considering that the United States comprises only a very small portion of these globally overexploited populations. “The U.S. is actually a big success story in rebuilding fish stocks,” explained Dr. Ray Hilborn, of the University of Washington, in a September Washington Post article. “In parts of the world, like in the North Atlantic, we’re starting to see reduced fishing pressure after 150 years of being fished hard.” A 2009 Science study by Dr. Hilborn indicated that a majority of the third “of all global fisheries” that are depleted or recovering are found in Africa and Asia, making Mr. Shiffman’s assertion that “anyone who has paid any attention at all to the ocean” should assume that the menhaden population is overfished, despite other contradictory evidence, incorrect. 

 

 

12-27-12 – On the windswept beach at Breezy Point on Thursday afternoon, the researcher cut a small, raw cube out of the side of the giant whale, deposited the morsel in a vial of formaldehyde and screwed the cap shut. It was a messy job.

“The whale is still full of blood,” the researcher, Julika Wocial, explained, “even though it’s dead.”

What began as a post-Christmas drama — the sighting of an endangered finback whale, breathing, just barely, as it floundered in the surf of Rockaway Inlet in Queens on Wednesday – became a grim procedural march after the mammal died overnight.

Read the complete story from The New York Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — December 21, 2012 – Two types of ice seals joined polar bears Friday on the list of species threatened by the loss of sea ice, which scientists say reached record low levels this year due to climate warming.

Ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears, and bearded seals in the Arctic Ocean will be listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell late Friday called the science behind the decision speculative and said the state will consider legal action. The state unsuccessfully challenged the polar bear listing.

The ringed seal population is in the millions and the bearded seal population is in the hundreds of thousands, Parnell said in a prepared statement. Neither is in decline nor will it be by mid-century, he said.

‘‘The ESA was not enacted to protect healthy animal populations,’’ Parnell said. ‘‘Despite this fact, the NMFS continues the federal government’s misguided policy to list healthy species based mostly on speculated impacts from future climate change, adding additional regulatory burdens and costs upon the State of Alaska and its communities.’’

Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

December 20, 2012 — Environmental groups were successful in their battle to achieve a significant reduction in the menhaden catch last Friday in Baltimore. After a year of standing on the soap box and asking interstate fishery management bodies to protect the fish, they watched, along with thousands of recreational fishermen from Maine to Florida, as the Atlantic Menhaden Management Board adopted a 20 percent coastwide reduction in the harvest.

The reduction is based on the average menhaden catch landings from 2009-2011.

It was the first time any catch limits were ever placed on menhaden — or bunker as many call them.

“They’ve always kind of fallen through the cracks,” said Capt. Paul Eidman, of Reel Therapy.

Eidman said he’s been calling for protection on menhaden since the mid-1980s and he’s hoping now that they have it, the menhaden will thrive.

“They’re resilient fish,” Eidman said.

The Board’s chair, Louis Daniel of North Carolina, went on the record to say they “made a conscious decision to address the ecosystem services provided by Atlantic menhaden.”

Representatives of one of the biggest environmental groups in the country, the Pew Environment Group, were appreciative of the outcome.

“Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life — anglers, business owners, birders, scientists, conservationists, and more — have long been urging this sort of action because they know what menhaden mean for their coastal ecosystem and economy,” said Peter Baker, the director of Pew Environment’s Northeast Fisheries Program.

Pew claimed that menhaden numbers had plummeted by 90 percent in recent years. Which, if accurate, is not a good sign because of the role they play in the ocean food chain. Menhaden turn plankton into fat and protein, and make that energy available to a variety of marine life that, in turn, prey on menhaden.

 

Read the full story in the Asbury Park Press