Saving Seafood

Enforcement

US Department of Homeland Security adds seafood to list of priorities in Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act

July 10, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in its role as the chair of the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), has added seafood to its list of high-priority sectors for enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA).

The UFLPA was established in 202, and makes importing goods produced with Uyghur labor or labor from China’s Xianjiang province illegal. The DHS’s addition of seafood – alongside aluminum and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – mark the first additions to the list of high-priority sectors under the act since 2022.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Police seize 3,000 pounds of illegal haddock in New Bedford

June 26, 2024 — Massachusetts Environmental Police (MEP) seized more than 3,000 pounds of illegally harvested haddock from a New Bedford processing plant on Thursday in the first commercial-scale bust of the groundfish season, MEP officials said.

Acting Col. Patrick Moran said he was carrying out a routine foot patrol inspecting processing plants on the New Bedford waterfront when he discovered what appeared to be undersized fish in an assembly line ready to be filleted. He ordered the processing plant to temporarily cease operations as he measured the fish, determining about 3,000 of the 11,000 total pounds of haddock were under the legal limit of 16 inches.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NOAA reports to Congress on monitoring of seafood imports

June 17, 2024 — Federal fisheries officials combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries are working to expand partnerships to perform intelligence-led investigations to target future suspected violations, while facilitating the flow of legal seafood into U.S. commerce.

All this and more is included in this latest Report on the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) delivered to Congress, NOAA officials said on May 31. The report offers an overview summary of seafood imports subject to SIMP and enforcement action associated with SIMP imports.

A second report discusses efforts of the Maritime Security and Fisheries Enforcement (SAFE) Act’s Interagency Working Group to investigate and prosecute groups and individuals engaging in IUU fishing.

Read the full article at The Cordova Times

Homeland Security Adds China Seafood Company to Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Enforcement

June 13, 2024 — Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the addition of three People’s Republic of China (PRC)-based seafood, aluminum, and footwear companies to the Uygur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List. Through these actions, DHS is increasing its focus on seafood, aluminum, and shoes—sectors that play an important role in Xinjiang’s economy – and ensuring goods made with forced labor are kept out of the U.S. market.

Effective June 12, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will apply a rebuttable presumption that goods produced by these entities will be prohibited from entering the United States. By identifying entities found to utilize and/or facilitate the forced labor of Uyghurs and other persecuted groups from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), the UFLPA Entity List provides companies with more information about the potential involvement of forced labor in their supply chains.

The entities being added to the UFLPA Entity List today include Dongguan Oasis Shoes Co., Ltd. (also known as Dongguan Oasis Shoe Industry Co., Ltd.; Dongguan Luzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.; and Dongguan Lvzhou Shoes Co., Ltd.), Shandong Meijia Group Co., Ltd. (also known as Rizhao Meijia Group), and Xinjiang Shenhuo Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd.

“The Department of Homeland Security will not tolerate forced labor in U.S. supply chains and will enforce our laws across all industries and sectors,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “We will continue to investigate companies that use or facilitate forced labor and will hold those entities responsible. We urge stakeholders across industry, civil society and our international partners to work with us to eliminate the scourge of forced labor.”

The Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF), chaired by DHS, is taking these steps as part of the United States’ commitment to eradicating forced labor, and promoting accountability for the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com

NOAA Fisheries Releases Reports to Congress on Efforts to Combat IUU Fishing

June 2, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries released a report to Congress summarizing efforts to prevent and deter the import of seafood harvested through illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. Another report summarized our efforts to investigate, enforce, and prosecute IUU fishing.

We use many tools to combat IUU fishing and prevent the movement of IUU fish and fish products through the seafood supply chain. They include regulatory programs, diplomatic efforts, capacity building, and enforcement technical assistance. Efforts range from preventing IUU fishing at its source to detecting and intercepting IUU fish and fish products at the border.

Seafood Import Monitoring Program

The Seafood Import Monitoring Program is both a screening mechanism and a deterrent against the entry of IUU fish and fish products and misrepresented seafood into the U.S. market. The report provides an overview of seafood imports subject to SIMP and associated audit findings and enforcement action associated with SIMP imports. The report also reviews NOAA’s advancement in automated screening and analysis of SIMP imports and the ongoing comprehensive program review.

NOAA Fisheries is committed to the ongoing development of SIMP as part of our comprehensive approach to combating IUU fishing and seafood fraud. To achieve this, we are working to further enhance and strengthen the program’s overall impact and effectiveness through a thorough and detailed program review.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries 

NOAA Enforcement Helps Protect Sea Turtles

May 19, 2024 — National Marine Sanctuaries and Marine National Monuments protect America’s most iconic natural and cultural marine resources. These areas are home to important habitats such as breeding and feeding grounds, coral reefs, kelp forests, and important artifacts.

“Ensuring compliance within the fishing community is integral to conserving our protected marine resources. Monitoring sea turtle conservation measures is a high priority,” said Manny Antonaras, Assistant Director of NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, Southeast Division. “In the Southeast, we focus on protecting endangered sea turtles throughout our region, including marine sanctuaries, by monitoring for illegal fishing gear. We rely on our strong relationships with state and federal partners to aid in sea turtle focused patrols and operations such as our recent efforts.”

or the second consecutive year, NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement organized and led a joint operation aimed at protecting endangered sea turtles in and around the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This is a key protected area in the Southeast. The operation brought together federal and state partners from NOAA’s Gear Monitoring Team, U.S. Coast Guard, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. U.S. Coast Guard personnel were new additions to this year’s training and helped expand enforcement presence during the operation. The goal was to enhance our turtle excluder device (TED) inspections that protect sea turtles and ensure commercial shrimp boats are fishing with allowable gear.

Read the full article at NOAA Fisheries

Feds pinch Southeast Alaska skippers for illegally transporting crab

May 1, 2024 — Three men are charged in federal court for illegally transporting Alaska crab to sell in Washington. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Alaska says Kyle Potter and Justin Welch caught crab in Southeast Alaska this spring and moved them to Seattle at the direction of Potter’s dad, Corey.

The federal indictment says Corey Potter owns the two fishing vessels involved, which were run by his son, Kyle, and Welch. One of the boats is the 97-foot Arctic Dawn, which has been docked in Petersburg this spring but is registered to a Kodiak residence.

The two captains participated in the Southeast Tanner and golden king crab fisheries in February and March, harvesting over 7,000 pounds. Corey Potter allegedly directed the two captains to transport the crab to Seattle to fetch a higher price. By the time they arrived, a lot of the king crab was already dead and about 4,000 pounds of Tanner had to be thrown out because of bitter crab syndrome. Bitter crab is a common parasite and is sorted out at Alaska ports when fishermen sell their catch. It causes the crab to taste bad but isn’t harmful.

Read the full article at KTOO

NOAA wraps up forced labor initiative with Seafood Labor Summit

April 10, 2024 — NOAA Fisheries concluded a 15-month initiative designed to tackle labor issues in the seafood industry with a Seafood Labor Summit where participants identified actionable steps moving forward.

In 2022, nearly 100 people representing the U.S. government and the seafood industry came together to launch the Collaborative Accelerator for Lawful Maritime Conditions in Seafood (CALM-CS), a public-private initiative to address labor abuses in the seafood sector and promote legal and safe working conditions.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

California fines San Diego fishermen USD 145,000 in poaching ring bust

April 1, 2024 — The U.S. state of California has busted a poaching ring based out of the city of San Diego that was illegally catching and selling bluefin tuna, yellowtail, and mahi.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said the poaching ring engaged in commercial fishing with “no regard to limits, documentation, or adhering to the highly regulated business practices of the commercial fishing industry.” In total, the fishermen involved were fined USD 145,000 (EUR 135,000) for the infractions, which included buying and selling more than 5,500 pounds of illegally caught fish that were sold for more than USD 26,000 (EUR 24,200).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NFI Shares Seafood Industry Labor Principles Following India Shrimp Labor Abuse Reports

March 27, 2024 — Late last week, following the multiple reports on human rights and environmental abuse within India’s shrimp industry, the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) Executive Committee of the Board of Directors adopted and shared the “Seafood Industry Labor Principles, A Commitment By NFI Members.”

“There is no place for labor abuse in the seafood supply chain,” the document reads. “Every worker should have freedom of movement and no worker should be coerced to work.”

The Associated Press, Outlaw Ocean Project, and Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL) all released reports last week exposing alleged labor abuse within India’s shrimp industry. Choice Canning Company, which has been exporting seafood products from India for the past 67 years, was named by a whistleblower in the report put out by Outlaw Ocean Project. According to the whistleblower, a 45-year-old American named Joshua Farinella, some Choice Canning workers were prohibited from leaving the facility. As general manager of Choice Canning’s plant six miles northeast of Amalapuram, Farinella also found himself covering up overcrowding when inspectors came, and even sending out shrimp that knowingly tested positive for antibiotics.

Read the full article at Seafoodnews.com