International & Trade

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS  by John Sackton — March 31 2014 — The MSC has carried out a compliance audit to investigate the integrity of the Russian pollock fishery supply chain, both prior and after certification.  The Sea of Okhotsk pollock fishery received certification in Sept. 2013.  Prior to that there had been reports of companies buying certified Alaska pollock and mixing it with uncertified Russian pollock, and then offering customers low priced 'MSC certified" twice frozen pollock blocks.

The MSC took these reports seriously, and conducted an initial audit which found no violations, but also was inconclusive in certain areas.  They followed this up with a second audit following the certification of the Russian fishery.

Under MSC’s policies,  some products harvested during a fishery assessment period may eventually be sold as MSC certiifed once the fishery is approved, subject to specific constraints. In the case of Russian pollock, most pollock caught in 2013 would qualify for MSC certificates, once the fishery was certified provided the proper chain of custody was in place and the date and place of harvest and other details were known.
 
MSC wanted to verify that these procedures were followed correctly, and that there was not non-compliant Russian pollock coming into the supply chain. 
 
Friday the MSC announced the results of their Russian pollock reconciliation.  They said that 7% (5 out of 75) certificates of compliance were revoked, after these companies refused to provide detailed sales and purchase data that would allow a reconciliation to take place.
 
The remaining 70 companies, located in US, EU, China, Russia, and Hong Kong, complied with the request to turn over their sales data.
 
Under the MSC Chain of Custody,  companies are required to respond to such a request.
 
This was the ground that led to the revocation of the certificates of the five companies that did not comply.  The revocation was done by the Conformance Assessment body, who eventually suspended the certificates.
 
The reconciliation showed that for the 70 companies who agreed to the survey, the majority of fish sold as under assesment by the members of Pollock Catchers Association (PCA), the client group for the Russian SOO pollock fishery, was handled by companies further down the supply chain as non-MSC certified product. Where under assessment fish was sold as MSC certified pollock, following the fishery certification, full compliance with UMAF requirements was demonstrated.
 
The Russian SOO pollock reconciliation exercise was part of the MSC’s ongoing program to monitor the effectiveness of the chain of custody system. The MSC carries out additional assurance – including DNA testing, product tracebacks, and supply chain reconciliations – either in cases where specific traceability concerns have been identified, or to proactively monitor high-risk supply chains.
 
During 2013, the MSC performed tracebacks on MSC-labelled mackerel products following the suspension of seven MSC certified mackerel fisheries in the North East Atlantic. The process involved tracking samples of MSC-labelled products collected in different EU countries (UK, Sweden, Netherlands, and Denmark) back to the level of the fishery and found no cases of substitution or mislabelling.
 
Similar tracebacks were conducted following the MSC’s December 2013 DNA results. DNA testing showed that only 3 products from 320 samples tested were found to be mislabelled. As a result of the tracebacks on these three products, one company had its MSC certificate suspended for mislabelling and another agreed with their certifier to develop a corrective action plan to respond to an incident of substitution between two certified species. Areas of concern identified during the third traceback were passed on to the relevant certifier and further investigation is currently underway.

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

TOKYO, Japan — March 27, 2014 — The greatest threat to Japan's whaling industry may not be the environmentalists harassing its ships or the countries demanding its abolishment, but Japanese consumers. They've lost their appetite.

The amount of whale meat stockpiled for lack of buyers has nearly doubled over 10 years, even as anti-whaling protests helped drive catches to record lows. More than 2,300 minke whales worth of meat is sitting in freezers while whalers still plan to catch another 1,300 whales per year.

Low demand adds to the uncertainty that looms ahead of an International Court of Justice ruling expected Monday on Japan's whaling in the Antarctic Ocean. The whaling is ostensibly for research, but Australia argued in a lawsuit that it's a cover for commercial hunts.

The stated goal of the research, which began in 1987, is to show that commercial whaling is environmentally sustainable, but a growing question is whether it is economically sustainable.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The San Diego Union-Tribune

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [Cape Cod Times] — March 26, 2015 — The Cape and Islands is the epicenter of the Massachusetts oyster-growing industry, which has seen phenomenal growth in recent years. In 2010, Massachusetts shellfishermen and aquaculturists landed 2.9 million pounds of oysters worth $6.97 million. In 2012, that had boomed to 4.1 million pounds worth $11.6 million.

In 2015, the region will be host to the world's oyster experts and devotees, as the Cape was recently chosen as the site of the sixth annual International Oyster Symposium to be held in October, 2015.

"I thought it was a long shot, but we just heard last week they are coming and that's great for us, and great for them given the innovative things we are doing," said Wendy Northcross, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber was one of the groups represented on a task force that met last summer on the Cape to put together a bid for the World Oyster Society to host the 2015 symposium.

Kahren Dowcett, of Yarmouth, an oyster society board member, presented the Cape's invitation at the oyster symposium held in Vietnam last year. Dowcett said approximately 250 exhibitors drew around 3,000 people to the event.

The oyster society's board approved the Cape's bid in December. Although plans are still being made, Dowcett said the symposium would bookend a Cape Cod Oyster Week that would kick off with the popular Wellfleet OysterFest in October 2015. She said the symposium would largely take place on the Upper Cape with the scientific research centers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Marine Biological Laboratory participating. The oyster society will put out a request for scientific papers to be submitted to a reading committee for selection of what will be presented at the symposium, Dowcett said.

Dowcett made a presentation to the Barnstable County Commissioners last week.

"This could be bigger (than the Vietnam symposium)," said Bill Clark, director of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension Service. "Given that it's here in the U.S. for the first time, it's likely to be a draw."

"It's a big coup for it to be coming to the Cape," said Michele Insley, director of Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, the parent organization for the Wellfleet OysterFest.

"There's a lot of scientists in our backyard, a large oyster community here and on the South Shore and right into Rhode Island."

Insley felt a week focused on oysters with the symposium and OysterFest would be a big draw both for those interested in science and gastronomy. Plus it would bring visitors from other parts of the globe to the Cape.

The World Oyster Society was established in 2005 to promote the sustainable growing of oysters, improve public knowledge of oysters, work on exploring how oysters can improve coastal water quality and the role of natural beds and cultured oysters in the biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. It has more than 400 members in 18 countries with significant aquaculture industries including Japan, Taiwan, China, Australia, Canada, France and the U.S.

The Cape task force will be meeting again in April to continue planning and outreach, Northcross said.

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

March 26, 2014 — China’s seafood exports appear to have softened in the first two months of the year, mirroring a weakening of the country’s overall exports sector.

China shipped 550,000 metric tons (MT) of aquatic products worth USD 2.98 billion (EUR 2.2 billion), in January and February combined, down 7.9 percent and 9.1 percent respectively.

That’s according to data from the country’s customs authorities, which also reported that China’s overall exports tumbled in February by 18.1 percent year-on-year, after jumping 10.6 percent in January. Combined January-February exports were down 1.6 percent on the previous year having jumped 7.3 percent year-on-year in the same period in 2013.

Even while discounting for the Chinese New Year break in production (this year’s festival was celebrated in February), the country’s overall trade figures have been taken as evidence of further weakening of China’s economy, even as Chinese policy makers have talked up the positive effects of a recovery in western demand on China’s export industries such as processed seafood.

Read the full story from Seafood Source

March 24, 2014 — Four leading environmental groups – Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), Oceana, The Pew Charitable Trusts and WWF have welcomed a decision by the EU Fisheries Council to place trade restrictions on Belize, Cambodia, and Guinea for failing to cooperate in fighting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The decision means EU member states are now required to ban the import of fish from Belize, Cambodia, and Guinea and ensure that EU fishing vessels do not operate in the waters of these nations.

In addition to welcoming the ban’s approval by the EU’s 28 fisheries ministers, and praising the Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, for her leadership, the NGOs are calling for greater transparency in the way the EU evaluates third countries’ efforts to fight illegal fishing. They are also calling on the European Commission to close a loophole that allows non-EU vessels fishing in the banned countries’ waters to continue exporting their catches to the EU, and to work with EU member states to strengthen efforts to keep illegally-caught fish off the dinner plates of European consumers.

The three countries were initially amongst eight countries identified by the European Commission in November 2012 for inadequate monitoring of their fishing fleets, neglecting to impose sanctions on illegal fishing operators, and failing to develop robust fisheries laws. In 2013 the Commission announced that Fiji, Panama, Sri Lanka, Togo, and Vanuatu had improved but that Belize, Cambodia and Guinea had not. Today’s Council decision confirms the Commission recommendation that the countries be formally blacklisted or “red-carded” and prevented from trading fish with the EU.

IUU fishing depletes fish stocks, damages marine ecosystems, puts legitimate fishers at an unfair disadvantage and jeopardises the livelihoods of some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. IUU fishing is estimated to cost between seven and 17 billion euro annually, representing 11 to 26 million tonnes of catch. The EU IUU Regulation aims to deprive market access for illegal fish, by requiring “catch certificates” for imports into the EU, as well as banning the entry of fish from countries and vessels involved in illegal fishing.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS by Michael Ramsingh and John Sackton – March 21, 2014 — The US Dept. of Commerce has thown another unwelcome curve ball at the US shrimp industry, by attempting a duty calculation method that increases penalties against Vietnam, Thailand and India in the latest prelminary review.

The US Dept. of Commerce has thown another unwelcome curve ball at the US shrimp industry, by attempting a duty calculation method that increases penalties against Vietnam, Thailand and India in the latest prelminary review. 
 
The Department of Commerce has announced an increase in the preliminary shrimp duty rates over prior final rates for major U.S. shrimp suppliers in Thailand, Vietnam and India, primarily as the result of the Department’s use of a new calculation methodology, which is called “Differential Pricing.”
 
Differential pricing is a new methodology used by the Dept. of Commerce that allows them to measure differences in prices among various consumers, regions, and time periods.  Where needed the DOC can construct export prices on the basis of their own analysis, and then mark transactions to these constructed prices.  The result is that they abandon their previous method of simply taking the average export price and the average cost.
 
Vietnam was hardest hit in this year’s preliminary margin determination for the period February 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013.  Exporters were levied rates between 5 and 10 percent; a significant increase from Commerce’s 2013 final determination in the prior review that awarded zero percent rates across the board.  Exporters Minh Phu Seafood and Stapimex saw their duty margins rise from zero to 4.98 percent and 9.75 percent, respectively.
 
In India, rates were also increased across the board.   Most notably, Devi Fisheries went from a de minimis rate of 0.23 percent to 1.97 percent.  Falcon Marine Exports, meanwhile, went from a zero percent rate to 3.01 percent.
 
Similarly, Thai exporters saw their shrimp antidumping duties tick up from zero percent in 2013 to 1.1 percent industry-wide, including Pakfood.  Marine Gold was left out of the 2014 preliminary review because it was excluded from the antidumping order as of February 1, 2012.
 
Since the rates are preliminary they do not apply retroactively, nor will they affect the cash deposit rate on current shipments.  All cash deposit rates will continue in effect according to the final results of the most recent administrative review.  However, if the preliminary rates are finalized with no change, then importers in the current review period will owe duties at the increased rates at the conclusion of the reviews.
 
In its most basic description the Department’s differential pricing formula measures differences in prices among consumers, time periods and regions.  It substitutes for the “Targeted Dumping” methodology that Commerce used only when an allegation of targeting was first filed by a member of the domestic industry.  No allegation is now required.
 
However, both of Commerce’s antidumping methodologies are considered controversial, and both the Court of International Trade and the World Trade Organization are now considering challenges to the methods in cases other than the shrimp cases.  It is much too early to know how these will be resolved.
 
Should Commerce uphold these higher preliminary rates in its final determination, cash deposits with the new duties would take effect on the publication date of the final results, which will occur sometime  this summer.
 
Click here for Commerce's notice on preliminary Vietnamese duty rates.
 
Click here for Commerce's notice on preliminary Thai duty rates.
 
Click here for Commerce's notice on preliminary Indian duty rates.

This article was based on Commentary from Warren Connelly and Jarrod Goldfeder from the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

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

 

March 14, 2014 — China banned shellfish imports from most of the West Coast in December over concerns about contamination.

The move has cost the shellfish industry in Washington hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But there are signs of a thaw in the icy trade relations.

Chinese officials have agreed to meet with U.S. officials to discuss China’s shellfish import ban.

On March 21st representatives from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will be in Beijing.

They’ll be discussing China’s remaining concerns about shellfish imports from the U.S. West Coast.

Read the full story and listen to the audio at Northwest Public Radio

March 18, 2014 — Representatives of the Thai seafood industry and the Thai government met with reporters and the public today in a special seminar during Seafood Expo North America to respond to criticisms that the government has not done enough to fight forced labor and human trafficking in the fishing industry.

In a two-hour series of presentations on 17 March, the panelists described new policies, training programs and laws governing fisheries management, all designed to improve tracking of vessels and workers, ensure workers are paid adequately and on time, and that workers are not subjected to physical violence.

"We are making forced labor and child labor a government top priority," said Saroj Thanasunti, deputy chief of mission of the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, who opened the seminar.

The industry's image has suffered a series of blows, most notably from the nonprofit group Environmental Justice Foundation, which has published several reports since June 2013 alleging workers, particularly immigrants from neighboring Myanmar, are lured onto fishing boats where they are forced to work long hours for little or no pay. Often, according to the foundation's reports, workers are transferred from one fishing vessel to another at sea, so they do not have a chance to escape during a return to port, and some workers are beaten and cast overboard if they object to their treatment.

In 2013, the U.S. State Department released its annual Trafficking in Persons report, which placed Thailand on its Tier 2 Watch list. This means Thailand has shown an effort to control trafficking, but there is still a substantial problem there. It was the fourth year in a row that Thailand was given this designation, which means this year the department must decide whether to upgrade Thailand to Tier 2 or higher, or downgrade it to Tier 3, which would open up the country to trade sanctions.

In his remarks, Thanasunti acknowledged that the government has not yet stopped the problem, but added that he felt the new measures being put in place have already accomplished a great deal.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

 

March 12, 2014 — The snow crab poses a huge commercial potential, which Norway and Russia are just about to start exploring.

“We who live by the Barents Sea are very lucky that the alien, invasive species that have settled here are of the valuable sort”, says Konstantin Sokolov of the Russian research institute PINRO. “Other places, like for example the Black Sea, have had invasions of species like jellyfish”.  “And if we see that the population of crabs becomes too large, we have the possibility to increase fishing to bring it down,” Sokolov says.

There is already a market for snow crab in the world. Both in Canada and Alaska the snow crab is regarded as a valuable resource. Canada last year caught more than 100,000 tons of crab.

The snow crab is such a new species that no regulations of commercial fishing have yet been established, neither in Russian nor in Norwegian waters. In 2013 a few vessels started fishing snow crab in the international waters of the Barents Sea. The Norwegian vessel “Arctic Wolf” caught 60 tons of crab during two trips in April 2012, Kyst og Fjord reported.

According to Konstantin Sokolov, Russia plans to open up for snow crab fishing in Russian Economic Zone in 2014.

Read the full story at the Barrents Observer

CANADA — March 16, 2014 — From a basket hoisted on the back of his trawler, fisherman Freddy Gutmann proudly picks up a giant geoduck clam fresh from the frigid waters off the northwestern Canadian coast.

This one is a great specimen," Gutmann says as sea water gushes from the massive mollusk that measures an impressive 20 centimeters (eight inches).

Gutmann has good reason to be in high spirits since within 24 hours, the super-sized shellfish — shunned by Western chefs — will be served at top restaurants in Hong Kong, Beijing or Tokyo for a steep price.

Without missing a beat, the 35-year veteran of the Pacific waters off northwest Canada swiftly fills three orange cases with his sorted and cleaned catch so they can be rushed to the airport in Vancouver — and on to Asia.

Read the full story by the Agence France-Presse at Yahoo News