Saving Seafood

International & Trade

It Rained Fish In Mexico, Officials Say. No, It’s Not The End Times (We Think)

September 29, 2017 — Sure, it’s been known to rain cats and dogs during some heavy thunderstorms. And if we’re to believe The Weather Girls — and who wouldn’t? — it was even raining men that one time in 1982.

But fish? That feels like a new one.

Yet during a light rain Tuesday morning in Tampico, Mexico, it appears that’s precisely what happened: Several fish fell from the sky, slapping the pavement right in front of a few startled onlookers, at least one of whom recorded some video.

That’s according to Pedro Granados, the director of civil protection in Tamaulipas state, who noted the reports and videos his agency had received from local residents.

“Not to say there were a lot of fish — one here, one there,” Granados told local media. “It has to be said, they’re very small fish, which weigh a few grams. It’s strange, not normal.”

Read the full story at NPR

Caribbean fishers count the cost in wake of Irma

September 27, 2017 — Several Caribbean island nations unfortunate enough to find themselves in the path of Hurricane Irma in early September are now assessing the vast toll the storm took on their economies, with Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos reporting severe damage to their fishing industries.

The hurricane is estimated to have cost the Caribbean more than EUR 8.4 billion (USD10 billion) in damage overall, along with dozens of lives.

Barbuda recorded the first three fatalities of Hurricane Irma, including a two-year-old boy. The island also suffered most severely in regard to its fishing fleet, with at least 44 percent of its fishing vessels suffering serious damage when the hurricane made landfall on the island on 6 September. Of those vessels, only about 10 percent were insured, according to information shared with SeafoodSource by Antigua and Barbuda Senior Fisheries Officer Ian Horsford. He cited a 2005 survey that indicated just 9.6 percent of Barbuda’s fishing vessels were insured up to then.

Prior to Hurricane Irma, which resulted in the total evacuation of this island’s inhabitants to neighboring Antigua, there were 96 active fishers operating there on 54 vessels – mainly modern fibreglass pirogues powered by outboard engines, most of which were less than 10 meters long.

Horsford estimated 26 percent of Barbuda’s population of 1,600 were dependent on the fishing industry for a living, including dependants of the fishermen. The fishing industry on that island targets mainly spiny lobster and conch, with production of lobster over the past five years ranging from 12 to 35 metric tons and bringing in revenue to the island ranging from approximately EUR 125,000 to 312,000 (USD USD148,000 to 370,000).

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Vatican official laments lack of fair trade label for commercial fishing

September 21, 2017 — VATICAN CITY — An upcoming world congress by the Catholic organization Apostleship of the Sea will focus on the plight of fishermen, who frequently face exploitation in carrying out their work, according to one Vatican official.

He lamented that no ‘Fair Trade’ certification exists for their product.

“We have to be educated,” Fr. Bruno Ciceri told CNA Sept. 20. “Frozen food here is cheap, but it’s because people are exploited, because there is forced labor, because there are trafficked people that work aboard these fishing vessels.”

Referring to the label given to products from developing countries that adhere to ethical standards of trading, he said, “We talk a lot about ‘Fair Trade.’ I don’t know the day when we will have ‘fair trade’ also in fishing. That will make a difference.”

Fr. Ciceri is a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He is also the Vatican delegate for the Apostleship of the Sea, which provides pastoral care for seafarers and their families.

Read the full story at the Catholic News Agency

Oceana claims four countries violated EU law by fishing illegally in African waters

September 14, 2017 — Environmental nonprofit Oceana is claiming vessels from the European Union’s distant-water fleet have been fishing unlawfully in the waters off the coasts of Equatorial Guinea and Gambia.

Using Automatic Identification System (AIS) data collected by satellite and terrestrial receivers tool Global Fishing Watch, Oceana said it tracked 19 vessels from Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain fishing unlawfully for more than 31,000 hours in African waters between April 2012 and August 2015.

The European Union has signed fisheries partnership agreements with several African countries, offering financial and technical support in exchange for fishing rights. However, its agreements with Gambia and Equatorial Guinea are “dormant,” signifying countries that signed fishing partnership agreements “without having a protocol into force, for structural or conjonctural reasons.” Under rules set by the European Commission, EU vessels are not allowed to fish in waters of countries with dormant agreements.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Time for seafood to bridge the gender gap, urges Iceland’s fisheries minister

September 13, 2017 — Gender equality and ensuring that women are given the same career opportunities and means to engage with the seafood industry as men is a major challenge that warrants urgent prioritization, according to Iceland Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir.

Speaking at the World Seafood Congress 2017 (WSC) taking place in Reykjavik, the minister applauded the seafood industry for its continued progress, including adding to the volume and quality of the seafood available to the market and making an increasingly important contribution to global food security. But she called on everyone involved in seafood “to do what they can” to overcome the gender gap that remains in the sector.

Globally, is currently estimated that just one percent of CEO positions in seafood are held by women, despite women accounting for more than 50 percent of all its jobs.

“It will benefit us all – men, women, the seafood sector as a whole. So please let’s all take significant steps to fix the gender gap,” she said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Brexit Leaves French Fishermen On The Hook

September 12, 2017 — France’s busiest port, Boulougne-sur-Mer, sits just across the English Channel from Britain, in the Calais region.

Seagulls glide above scores of brightly painted boats docking to unload the catch of the day — mainly sole but also cod, roussette, crab and scallops.

It’s all sold at a bustling seaside market where Marie-Laure Fontaine sells seafood from a fishing boat called Providence.

“Sole and cod and turbot, we get these all from British waters,” Fontaine says. “And this is a worry.”

Up to 80 percent of fish caught by fishermen here comes from British waters, which are about a two-hour boat ride away.

French fishermen have been nervous since Britain voted to leave the European Union last year. That’s because when the divorce is final, the U.K. will also leave what’s called the Common Fisheries Policy.

“After that, the U.K. will be an independent coastal state, like Norway or the Faroe Islands or Iceland,” says Barrie Deas, chief executive of the U.K.’s National Federation Fishermen’s Organisations. “The U.K. will determine its own fishing quotas and access arrangements. So I think it’s realistic for the French to be worried.”

Read and listen to the full story at NPR

WCPFC committee, IATTC reach agreement to rebuild Pacific bluefin tuna population

September 5, 2017 — Representatives from countries that fish for Pacific bluefin tuna have reached an agreement on a long-term plan to restore the species’ population.

However, while conservationists applauded the pact, they said they now want to see the countries follow up their words with action.

The pact between members of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s Northern Committee and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission was announced at the conclusion of the Northern Committee’s 13th Regular Session the morning of Friday, 1 September in Busan, South Korea. Details include:

  • Establishing a target goal of 20 percent of Pacific bluefin tuna’s historic population by 2034. Conservation officials said that would represent a seven-fold increase in the biomass over the next 17 years.
  • Maintaining catch quotas for the next seven years, and approving any increases in the limit only if there was a high probability it would not impact the targeted population goal.
  • Developing a plan by 2020 to reduce the amount of illegally caught Pacific bluefin tuna from entering the market.

The Northern Committee will recommend the WCPFC approve the measure at a meeting in December.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Tuna-fishing nations agree on plan to replenish severely depleted Pacific bluefin stocks

September 1, 2017 — TOKYO — The world’s Pacific bluefin tuna won something of a reprieve Friday, when tuna-fishing countries reached an agreement to gradually rebuild severely depleted stocks while still allowing nations such as Japan to catch and consume the delicacy.

Japan — by far the world’s biggest consumer of bluefin, eating about 80 percent of the global haul in the $42 billion tuna industry — had been resisting new rules, while conservationists have warned about the commercial extinction of bluefin in the Pacific Ocean.

Proponents of limits hailed the deal as a compromise that everyone could live with.

“It’s definitely a good first step towards the recovery of the species,” said James Gibbon, global tuna conservation officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “But it is only the first step. There are a lot of commitments that the countries agreed to, and we need to make sure they stick to them.”

At the week-long meeting in Busan, South Korea, the two bodies charged with shared management of Pacific bluefin — the northern committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission — hammered out a plan to try to put the fish back on a path to sustainability. Countries represented at the meeting included the United States, Canada, China, South Korea and Japan.

The Pacific bluefin population has been depleted by more than 97 percent from its historic high, because of overfishing.

Read the full story at the Washington Post

Sea Shepherd Activists Halt Pursuit of Japanese Whalers

August 30, 2017 — The environmentalist group Sea Shepherd has called off its annual pursuit of Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean, according to the group’s founder, who said it cannot keep up with Japan’s surveillance technology.

“What we discovered is that Japan is now employing military surveillance to watch Sea Shepherd ship movements in real time by satellite,” the group’s founder, Paul Watson, said in a statement. “If they know where our ships are at any given moment, they can easily avoid us.”

Sea Shepherd, a self described “eco-vigilante” group founded in 1977, has spent years patrolling the remote Southern Ocean, investigating and documenting illegal fishing and whaling operations, putting it directly at odds with Japanese vessels. In addition to filming the operations, the group uses confrontational tactics that include shooting water cannon and stink bombs at the Japanese vessels.

Mr. Watson maintains that his group acts within the law. “We never caused a single injury to any person in all of these years,” he said in an interview. “The criminals are quite plain to see.”

Since 2005, Sea Shepherd has patrolled the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, a protected area where whaling is prohibited. A few nations, including Japan, have special research permits that allow for some whaling.

Read the full story at the New York Times

Japanese scallop village struggling for labor despite profits

August 28, 2017 — A village in the far north of Japan is the nation’s richest thanks to its scallop harvesting industry; however, the operations may be threatened by a lack of labor, reports the Straights Times.

Sarufutsu village boasts some of the highest average incomes of any town in Japan, thanks to the earnings of fishermen working with scallops pulled from the Sea of Okhotsk.

But the new JPY 2.4 billion ($21.9 million) scallop factory is not running at full capacity because it cannot get enough workers for lower-paying but important jobs.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News