International & Trade

October 31, 2013 — A new stock assessment conducted in September 2013 by the scientific committee of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) concluded that the stock of North Atlantic swordfish, a species caught by U.S. fishermen, remains rebuilt at a sustainable population level.

The assessment reaffirms that the goal of the Commission’s rebuilding program, set in 1999, was achieved and that the stock has continued to grow. The assessment also predicts that current levels of catch are likely to maintain the North Atlantic swordfish in a rebuilt condition into the future.

Read the full story from NOAA Fisheries

November 11, 2013 — Although pangasius is a remarkable source of competitively priced, boneless, skinless, white fish fillets which consumers enjoy eating, many European importers are solely concerned about how little they can pay for it. In order to achieve ultra low prices they are asking for the fillets to be tumbled in polyphosphate solution and then glazed by up to 30 percent.

It is a throwback to the days — hoped to be long gone — when, for example, in order to gain certain contracts, U.K. scampi companies would soak tail pieces in polyphosphate overnight to absorb liquid, then mould them into tail shapes, before freezing, adding excessive glaze and double breading.

Unfortunately competitive Vietnamese pangasius processors/exporters agree to demands for low prices and force the farmers to acquiesce. Twice a year pangasius farmers have to harvest their fish as the water temperature changes with the seasons, which causes them to lose condition. Furthermore, once they have reached their optimum weight of about 2.5 kilograms (kg), it takes an increasing amount of food to keep them alive.

The processors know this and take advantage of the situation to offer prices so low that farmers desperate to harvest their fish accept, but then often don’t re-stock their ponds. It is estimated that 70 percent of independent pangasius farmers have stopped production during the past two years.

The farmers need a factory delivery price of VND 22,000 (USD 1, EUR 0.78) to VND 30,000 (USD 1.40, EUR 1.06) per kg in order to continue rearing fish. With a filleting yield of 30 percent and processing and packaging costs this equates to USD 3.00 (EUR 2.24) to USD 3.50 (EUR 2.61) per kg, yet many importers are buying fish at less than USD 3.00 per kg.

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

November 11, 2013 — The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Magrama) promotes the creation of Omega 3 logo as a distinctive element and value of fishery products.

The purpose of this strategy is to offer greater visibility to the nutrition declaration "High Omega -3 fatty acid content" and "Source of Omega -3 fatty acids," aimed at the consumer's purchasing decision.

"It consists in establishing a distinctive differentiation of fishery products, facilitating the development of more effective generic promotional campaigns," explained the Minister Miguel Arias Cañete on presenting the initiative at the opening ceremony of the III Conference of the Fishery Product Quality.

In this framework, the minister stated that "the research should guide the responsible management of fisheries resources and the innovation must help grant technology improvements to fishing activities and product quality with lower costs."

Read the full story from Fish Info & Services

November 11, 2013 — There may be as many opinions about the safety of imported seafood as there are types of imported seafood. The American palate is currently limited to about 10 favored species, yet in other countries, edible kinds of seafood number in the dozens or perhaps hundreds.

Compared with our taste for meat and poultry, American consumers don’t eat that many seafood-based meals. Statistics from 2012 show that we consumed 14.6 pounds of seafood per capita in this country, compared to 80.4 pounds of chicken, 57.5 pounds of beef and 45.5 pounds of pork, and all those numbers have declined in recent years.

When we do eat seafood, occupying our plates most often will be, in order of popularity, shrimp, canned tuna, salmon, tilapia, Alaska pollock, Pangasius (a type of imported catfish), crab, cod, catfish and clams.

According to NOAA Fisheries FishWatch.gov, shrimp is the number-one seafood import to the U.S. market, with most of that product coming from Asia and Ecuador. Our imported salmon mainly comes from Canada, Norway and Chile; imported tilapia (often found in fish tacos) comes from China, Indonesia, Ecuador and Honduras; scallops come from China, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Argentina and Honduras; mussels from Canada, New Zealand and Chile; clams from Asia and Canada, and oysters from China, South Korea and Canada.

The dollar value of approximately 1,500 imported seafood products is more than $10.4 billion and constitutes a “large and growing annual seafood trade deficit,” FishWatch notes.

Perceived risks of imported seafood

Because 80-90 percent of the seafood we consume is imported (with about half of that farm-raised), those who eat it are exposed to whatever level of safety practices exist in the exporting country and onward. A chain of potential risk follows from the catch to the processing facility, to the ships, trains or trucks bringing the seafood here, and to subsequent handling of the product at stores, fish markets, restaurants and in-home kitchens.

Recent recalls of imported seafood and associated foodborne illness outbreaks have combined to raise concerns about how safe it is to consume. There are bacterial hazards such as Vibrio in raw oysters, as well as mercury in fish and adulterants in feed and other contamination tied to industrial pollution.

Recent imported seafood recalls have involved processed products such as smoked salmon, herring and other fish products from Asia and Africa for potential Listeria and Clostridium botulinum contamination and for inadequate processing.

Contaminants are a growing concern. A recent North Carolina study revealed that one-quarter of the seafood imported from Asia and available at retail outlets in that state had detectable levels of formaldehyde.

In China, several antibiotics have been found in farm-raised fish such as tilapia, including leuco-malachite green, which FDA banned for aquaculture use in 1983 because of “serious toxicity.” Three-quarters of the tilapia we eat in this country comes from China.

Read the full story from Food Safety News

November 10, 2013 — Banning the practice of throwing unmarketable or over-quota fish back into the sea is just one of the measures needed to deliver sustainable fisheries according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Research carried out by UEA with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and published today in the journal Fisheries Research reveals that a ban will only help future fish stocks if it is accompanied by other measures to reduce total fishing mortality.

Approximately half of the fish caught in marine fisheries are thrown back into the sea, but very few survive. The practice has bedevilled politicians, fisheries managers, scientists and fishermen for many years.

The move to ban discarding has gained widespread public support through the campaigning efforts of supermarkets, pressure groups, chefs including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and other celebrities such as the band Coldplay and the comedian Ricky Gervais. The new European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) which is expected to enter into force in 2014 intends to ban the wasteful practice for all quota stocks by 2019.

The research team combined information on landings by English trawlers in the North Sea with data on discards collected by onboard observers. They then used this data to assess how a discard ban will impact the catches and profits of different segments of the fleet.

Read the full story from Phys.org

November 6, 2013 — The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Tuesday hailed a multi-partner project focused on improving global sustainable tuna fisheries by reducing illegal catch and supporting biodiversity in the common oceans.

“High-seas fisheries support the food security and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide,” Árni M. Mathiesen, FAO Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture said in a statement announcing that Global Environment Facility (GEF) CEO Naoko Ishii has approved a project coordinated by FAO to boost the sustainability of tuna fisheries worldwide.

According to FAO, around one third of the world’s seven major tuna species are currently overexploited. Given continued strong consumer demand and the overcapacity of fishing fleets, the status of tuna stocks is likely to deteriorate further if fisheries management is not improved.

“Through collective action at all levels and broad cooperation that optimizes the use of scarce resources, this project – and the wider Common Oceans initiative – will help move the world away from ‘the race to fish’ and towards implementation of an ecosystem approach,” said Mathiesen, stressing that it is vital to ensure the future well-being and productivity of these crucial marine ecosystems.

“Early successes will create incentives for donors and agencies to further invest in these types of catalytic projects.” he added.

Read the full story here

October 31, 2013 — While Japan’s fish-rich cuisine continues to gain popularity and recognition abroad, back home the consumption of fish is actually in decline. It seems our fishy friends have something of an aromatic image problem: they smell.

Some Japanese fish farmers, however, are hoping a change of scent will help turn the tide of domestic popularity back in favor of fish. To achieve this fragrant revolution, they are adding fruit to fish feed to give the creatures a more pleasing bouquet.

A Japanese fisheries ministry report notes that despite a doubling in the global consumption of seafood over the last 50 years, per capita consumption in Japan has fallen compared with figures from 1989. Meanwhile, per person consumption of meat in Japan has exceeded that of fish since 2009, the report points out, citing an increased appetite for chicken and pork.

The report, using figures from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, shows that Japanese individual consumption of seafood and fish products is still nearly three times the global average, but it is decreasing and has now fallen behind average consumption in Portugal and South Korea.

Amid a continuing Westernization of the Japanese diet, some fish farmers claim the problem is consumers are simply turning their noses up at fish.

Read the full story at the Wall Street Journal

November 1, 2013 — The U.K. seafood industry is on the up — that’s the conclusion from a new study into the country’s largest seafood companies.

A new pricing guide released by business analysts Plimsoll Publishing evaluates the largest 595 seafood companies operating in the U.K. market using their latest available accounts and finds the total sector has grown by 1 percent. However, within that modest growth some 147 firms have seen their value rise by 20 percent, 59 of which have seen their value soar by 50 percent.

Overall the U.K. seafood market has a value of just over GBP 9 billion (USD 14.4 billion, EUR 10.6 billion), David Pattison, senior analyst on the project, told SeafoodSource.

In terms of growth it is a very mixed picture, explained Pattison. Some companies are showing 20 percent growth figures, yet the overall industry average is showing a decline of 0.3 percent with 88 businesses seeing their value fall by as much as one-third. This shows that competition in the market is “intense,” he said.

Read the full story from SeafoodSource

November 1, 2013 — Fish sauce is the essential condiment of Southeast Asian cuisine. Made from fermented anchovies, it gives Vietnamese and Thai dishes their distinctive sweet-sour taste. More than 95% of Vietnamese households use fish sauce daily, tossing it into everything from noodles to dipping sauce.

In previous decades, housewives bought unmarked jars at the local market. Today, they’ve developed fierce brand loyalty. Three sauces manufactured by Masan Consumer Corp. make up 76% of the domestic market, which this year is forecast to top $400 million. New York-based private equity firm KKR recently increased its stake in Masan to $359 million—the largest investment a private equity firm has ever made in Vietnam.

But Cuong and the other approximately 90 Phu Quoc producers want consumers to see their fermented condiment as much more than a household staple.

This year, Phu Quoc fish sauce became the first product from Southeast Asia to receive Protected Designation of Origin certification from the EU Commission. To earn the prestigious label, a food product must be made entirely within a defined geographical area, using skills and ingredients from the region. European PDO products, including Prosciutto di Parma, Balsamic vinegar and Champagne, often enjoy a global reputation.

“We think of ourselves like a fine Bordeaux,” Cuong told me. “The things that make Phu Quoc fish sauce special—the anchovies, process, and climate—are quite different in Phu Quoc than in other fish sauce producing areas. The new designation recognizes these terroirs.”

The readiness with which Cuong tosses out terms like terroir indicates that Vietnamese producers are becoming more conscious of branding, especially for export markets.

The French word terroir describes the set of regional characteristics that give a wine or food its distinctive character: physical conditions (climate, geography), production methods, and intangible qualities like a sense of authenticity and identity. While Westerners typically associate the concept with French wine, the same idea has been ingrained in Vietnamese culture for centuries as dac san (“specialty”), but with much less aggressive marketing.

Read the full story at The Atlantic

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — November 1, 2013 — The nations that make decisions about Antarctic fishing failed Friday for a third time to agree on a plan that would create the world’s largest marine sanctuary.

The U.S. and New Zealand had proposed creating a reserve in the pristine Ross Sea. At 1.34 million square kilometers (517,000 square miles), the sanctuary would have been twice the size of Texas.

The proposal, a decade in the making, had been scaled back from earlier plans. Many countries hoped that would be enough to entice previous objectors Russia and Ukraine to agree. Those countries are among several that have fishing interests in the region.

But the 24 nations and the European Union failed to reach a required consensus as time ran out Friday on a 10-day gathering of national delegations in Hobart, Australia.

The countries also failed to agree on a second proposal to create smaller reserves in East Antarctica.

Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe