International & Trade

September 23, 2013 — The following was released by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea:

Copenhagen 23 September (ICES) – The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has today awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award to Odd Nakken from Norway at the ICES Annual Science Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland. A retired marine scientist and former director of the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in Bergen, Norway, Nakken is one of Norway’s leading experts on the ocean. He has been involved with and has contributed to ICES work since the 1960s, including serving as Norwegian Delegate to ICES from 1986-1992.

Over the course of his career, Nakken made a great impact on fisheries and their survey methodologies and assessments, as well as on training of young scientists. As an adjunct professor at the University of Bergen, Nakken was known to never lose his interest in following up and supporting young scientists.

“Like any great leader, Nakken has been succeeded by an abundance of researchers who have worked with him or been influenced by his work. ICES has been privileged to have such a scientist and leader contributing to its activities”, stated Ed Houde, Chair of the ICES Awards Committee, adding that Nakken’s reach goes beyond the science community: he is well-connected to and a strong communicator with the fishing community — a rare competence amongst scientists.

During his time as the director of IMR from 1986-1992, Nakken restructured the institute, guiding it to become a modern and functional organization. He also established a Centre for Aquaculture at the institute, enabling aquaculture to become one of IMR’s core scientific areas.

The ICES Outstanding Achievement Award is the highest expression of recognition for an individual’s contribution to ICES. Over 600 participants are gathered at the ASC in Reykjavik this week to exchange ideas and discuss emerging topics such as climate change effects on living marine resources as well as ocean acidification and its implications for marine ecosystems.

Read a PDF version of the press release here 

 

September 19, 2013 — Promoting sustainable fisheries and combatting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing globally is a world-wide job. Representatives from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, New Zealand, Australia and the United States gathered in Honiara, Solomon Islands July 29 – August 9 to participate in a series of three workshops to discuss these challenges in the Coral Triangle region — one of the world’s most important marine hotspots for biodiversity.

The Coral Triangle is a geographic area encompassing almost 6 million square kilometers of ocean and coastal waters in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. The Coral Triangle is within the Exclusive Economic Zones of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Timor-Leste, and the Solomon Islands. Threatened by over-fishing, destructive fisheries practices and IUU fishing, the region is home to some 363 million people, one-third of whom are directly dependent on coastal and marine resources for their primary source of protein and their livelihoods.

“There is a lot at stake for us here”, said one of the IUU fishing workshop participants from the Solomon Islands. “We depend on the ocean for over 90% of the protein we consume so at risk is our food security and sustenance. We see large suspicious fishing vessels off our coast all the time and all we can do is sit and watch them because we don’t have the resources or enforcement capacity to deal with them”, he said. Another participant commented on the use of dynamite fishing, a highly destructive method whereby fishermen drop explosives in the ocean and collect the dead fish that float to surface. “People hike into the woods in search of explosive remnants from World War II and detonate them in coral reefs, unaware of the impact this has on the environment and their own livelihood. They don’t know or ever see the magnitude of the destruction underneath them”, he said.

The three-workshop series in the Solomon Islands brought together over 50 experts to discuss these and other challenges in the Pacific side of the Coral Triangle region and consider possible solutions. The first workshop provided a forum for local fisheries management officials and experts to discuss innovative tools to promote sustainable fisheries. A second workshop tackled IUU fishing, bringing together fisheries enforcement personnel, monitoring and surveillance network organizations and experts to identify and address common IUU challenges between the Coral Triangle Initiative’s Pacific countries. Last but not least, a third workshop focused on building partnerships to increase the capacity of fisheries observers to effectively collect critical fisheries catch and bycatch data needed to develop and implement appropriate fisheries management measures within the region.

These three workshops support the broader Coral Triangle Initiative goal to support biodiversity and food security in the region. To learn more about NOAA’s engagement in the Coral Triangle, visit the Coral Reef Conservation Program and NMFS Office of Law Enforcement webpages.

Read the story from NOAA Fisheries

September 18, 2013 — In European waters, there is currently a long-term program developing near-shore and offshore wind farms, to provide green energy for our growing demands. These inevitably take up considerable space, and operate with large exclusion zones around them. This gives rise to potential conflicts with other marine users, particularly fishermen. 

One suggestion for optimizing use of the space and reducing conflict, is to permit the co-existence of aquaculture operations. Several studies have been undertaken by German researchers, but with no commercial interest of their ideas to date.

However, a recent study undertaken for the Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB), “Aquaculture in Welsh Offshore Wind Farms,” has brought the idea a step closer to reality.   

It looks at the species and techniques that would be feasible colocation partners for the renewable energy sector. Undertaken with European Fisheries Funding, the study offers suggestions and blueprints for both single species and multi-trophic aquaculture operations. 

The study suggests that at present, the most economically viable candidate is the blue mussel. A small trial using seabed cultivation has already been carried out within the North Hoyle array by Welsh mussel company Deepdock Ltd, who showed that such an operation is both practical and viable, with no negative impacts on the wind farming operation.  

Read the full story at Seafood Source 

 

September 16, 2013 — Ten different commercial species common in almost all fisheries of the EU will be included, as well as others imported from Asia with the purpose of increasing ‘consumer confidence’, improve quality standards and implement food security policies.

The project is financed by the EU and brings together research centres both in Europe and China, Philippines and Vietnam, plus small companies involved in extraction and processing of fish.

The head of the bio-bank in Vigo, Angel Gonzalez said it had become necessary to research and thus mitigate the impact of parasites, which is the purpose of the bank that will not only store biological material, but also will share it with other institutions. All the data plus physical samples will be stored in ultra-freezing bio-security containers to ensure at all moments the traceability of the samples.

Read the full story at Merco Press 

September 17, 2013 — Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk pollock fishery has been cleared to be certified to the Marine Stewardship Council standard as a sustainable and well-managed fishery.

Independent Adjudicator (IA) Michael Lodge on Monday released his final decision in the objection filed by the At-Sea Processors Association (APA) in the fishery, and accepted the responses of the Conformity Assessment Body (CAB).

Consistent with MSC requirements, the CAB will have to submit its amended report to Lodge to confirm that the changes made during the objection process are correctly reflected. Once that happens, the public certification report will be published and the CAB will certify the fishery.

“The objection process is completely independent of the Marine Stewardship Council and underscores the impartially and scientific rigor of the MSC program,” said Dr. David Agnew, MSC standards director. “WWF and APA objected to the certification. WWF withdrew its objection earlier in the year, following changes made to the fishery’s plans for data collection. As a result of the additional work required by the Independent Adjudicator under the APA objection, the scientific basis of the determination has been improved and the client action plan further strengthened. With this final decision, the CAB and independent adjudicator have determined that the fishery passes the MSC standard. MSC recognizes the importance of the contributions made by all parties and their commitment to sustainable fisheries.”

Read the full story at SeafoodSource.com

September 16, 2013 — In the 1950s and early 1960s, haddock stocks in North Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) areas 3Ps and 3LNO supported a substantial Newfoundland fishery. It was reported in 1955, for example, that the landings of haddock from NAFO 3Ps totalled 58,000 tonnes.

Haddock on the south coast of Newfoundland in NAFP Division 3Ps is under moratorium and catches are limited to small amounts of by-catch in other groundfish fisheries.

 The last Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) assessment on the species was completed in 2001.

Thanks in large part to acoustic surveys conducted in 3Ps in 2012 and 2013 by the Centre for Fisheries Ecosystems Research of the Fisheries (CFER) of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, which suggested that the haddock might be making a comeback in 3Ps, the provincial government is providing $25,000 for CFER to pursue research into the abundance of haddock off the south coast of the province.

Dr. Sherrylynn Rowe is a research scientist with the CFER.

While the CFER's 2102 survey focused on cod, Dr. Rowe said that research scientists aboard the 'RV Celtic Explorer' were surprised with the notable catches of haddock in 3Ps.

Read the full story at The Coaster

September 16, 2013 — Mike Crates, a long-serving fish blocksman (filleter/cutter) from Wales, has finally been crowned the British Fish Craft Champion after 41 years of competing in the annual event. To do so, Crates had to enter six of the individual competitions which make up the championship and obtain the highest overall score.

From being junior champion in the early 1970s, Crates has won many of these individual competitions over the years and has been runner up to the overall champion on many occasions. One year, he had only entered five competitions, but was so far ahead of the other contestants that had he entered another competition he would have become champion without even taking part in that event.  

Crates, who is 56 years old, has been working with fish since he left school at 15. He was taken on, with no academic qualifications, by John Adams, a past president of the National Federation of Fishmongers (NFF), who owned a fresh fish retail outlet in Penarth in south Wales.

In 1973, Adams took over E Ashton (Fishmongers) Ltd in nearby Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, and Crates went with him. Ashtons, now run by John Adams’s son Jonathan, current president of the NFF, is one of the largest fish retail outlets in the U.K. and sources fish and shellfish from all over the country. It also purchases fresh fish from around the world including Alaska, Norway, Chile, the Seychelles and various Arab countries.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

COPENHAGEN — September 16, 2013 — The following was released by The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea:

The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), in cooperation with the Icelandic Marine Research Institute (MRI), will hold its Annual Science Conference at the Harpa Conference Centre in Reykjavik, Iceland, 23–27 September 2013.

Over 600 scientists from around the world will present the latest research in emerging topics such as climate change effects on living marine resources as well as ocean acidification and its implications for marine ecosystems. In addition, 18 theme sessions will cover a wide range of other issues from the future of sustainable harvesting strategies to the pelagic fish complexes and their distribution in the North Atlantic.

The conference will kick off Monday 23 September at 13:00 at Harpa with an open lecture by Professor Ragnar Arnason from the University of Iceland on global fisheries and fisheries management. Global fisheries are faced with a number of formidable challenges ranging from effects of climate change on fishing conditions to the competition faced by fisheries from other activities such as recreational fishing, ocean mining, pollution, and utilizing marine resources. Dr. Arnason will assess these and other challenges to global fisheries and sustainable fisheries management in his lecture.

Journalists are invited to attend a press conference on Monday 23 September at 11:00 in Room Kaldalon in the Harpa Conference Centre.

The full conference programme is available on the ICES website.

Read a PDF version of the release here

Read a summary of the 2013 theme sessions here 

September 12, 2013 — Commercial fishing has beaten truck driving and farming to claim the dubious honour of Australia's most dangerous job.

Fishing tops a list of risky occupations mainly because of the dangers of working on the high seas.

"Working out at sea is widely known as the most dangerous job in the world, and 17 times more dangerous than mining," a statement from lifeinsurancefinder.com.au said.

Truck driving comes in second on this year's list, followed by farming, mining and construction.

In sixth place are tree loppers, who face "the threat of overhead electric wires, unsteady branches and working with chainsaws" on a daily basis, the site said.

Rounding out the top ten is military work, firefighting, airline pilots and garbage collectors.

Read the full story at 9 News National

 

September 10, 2013 — A proposal by the United States and New Zealand to create a huge ocean reserve in Antarctic waters has been sharply reduced in scale after opposition from Russia and other nations with large fishing industries. Environmentalists warned that the ambitious project was being badly undermined.

The Ross Sea marine protected area that the two governments proposed last year was to have set aside about 875,000 square miles of the Southern Ocean where commercial fishing would be sharply limited. The area’s relatively pristine ecosystem is crucial to the survival of thousands of species, including whales, seals and penguins, as well as the small fish and crustaceans on which they depend.

On Friday, though, New Zealand announced that the overall size of the proposed reserve was being reduced by 40 percent to gain the support of member nations on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, the international body that sets conservation policy for the Southern Ocean, of which the Ross Sea is a part. Commission delegates are scheduled to meet next month in Hobart, Australia, to consider the proposal.

It was clear in July that the American-New Zealand proposal was on shaky ground after a commission meeting in Bremerhaven, Germany, broke up without agreement. Supporters of the proposal expected delegates there to work on ironing out details, and were stunned when Russia and Ukraine raised legal and procedural questions that halted the discussion, and questioned the commission’s authority to create such reserves. Norway, China and Japan led other fishing nations in calling for smaller reserves, and for “sunset clause” provisions that would allow for the possibility of eventual commercial exploitation of the areas.

Most of the fishing activity in the Ross Sea now is directed at the slow-maturing Patagonian toothfish, often marketed as Chilean sea bass. But there is growing interest in harvesting krill, the tiny creatures that are a pillar of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, and many fishing nations do not want to seal off any future possibilities as fish stocks elsewhere in the world are depleted.

Read the full story at the New York Times