Saving Seafood

Opinion

Op-ed: Alaska’s seafood industry must improve its leadership position with better products

June 25, 2024 — Joseph Sabbagh is the president of Calabasas, California, U.S.A.-based Sax Maritime Associates, which has been offering consulting services to those invested or considering investing in the seafood industry since 1985.

I view the Alaska seafood industry as a microcosm of the entire seafood industry in the U.S. However, it has a major advantage with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI). I cannot think of any seafood marketing organization that has done a better job at creating and promoting a seafood brand in the U.S. than ASMI. It has embedded Alaskan seafood as a favorite seafood choice in the minds of American consumers. It has the budget to do that, and unlike too many other industry or state marketing groups, it has spent that money wisely for the most part. Yet, despite its best efforts, being a favorite choice in the minds of consumers has not been enough to open their wallets over the last few years.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Outlook for Gulf Fisheries not highlighted in Status of Stocks

June 11, 2024 — In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. fisheries were so overfished that fishermen were steaming farther and longer to fish, only to return with smaller catches. Now, decades after laws were successfully put in place to revive our fisheries, fishermen are once again finding it harder and harder to find fish, and many economically important fish stocks are depleted and are not rebuilding. This lack of rebuilding and chronically depressed stocks doesn’t just impact me personally; it affects my whole community.

Perhaps most concerning is that the federal agency with the power to save our fisheries isn’t telling the whole story when it should be sounding the alarm.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Bristol Bay salmon would benefit from added protection in federal law

May 29, 2024 — As we write, tens of millions of salmon are swimming their way back to Bristol Bay. And for the second year running, those who work the 15,000 jobs the salmon provide each year can celebrate that the proposed Pebble mine no longer threatens to contaminate the headwaters of the greatest wild sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

At least for now.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued Clean Water Act protections for this amazing fishery in January 2023. That news was welcomed by residents of the region and scores of businesses that are reliant upon the Bristol Bay fishery, along with its $2.2 billion annual economic impact. Since then, Pebble and the state of Alaska have filed four lawsuits in an attempt to keep this ill-conceived, acid-producing mine on life support. Math and science aren’t on their side — not only would the mine irreversibly harm a fishery that could, if not contaminated, continue to produce and provide jobs for centuries to come, but the state of Alaska made a basic math error in one of its lawsuits, leading it to inflate the amount they’re suing American taxpayers for by $630 billion. Clearly, those seeking to exploit Bristol Bay at the risk of its sustainable fishery aren’t taking “no” for an answer.

Read the full article at the Alaska Beacon

Op-ed: Human rights issues in the farmed seafood industry and the role of certification

April 23, 2024 — Chris Ninnes is CEO of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and previously served as deputy CEO and director of operations at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

He has been chair of the ISEAL board since 2018 and chair of the Certification and Ratings Collaboration’s (CRC) Steering Committee since its inception in 2015. The Collaboration consists of the ASC, Fair Trade USA, MSC, Seafood Watch, and Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, working together to coordinate tools and increase impact so that more seafood producers move along a clear path toward environmental sustainability and social responsibility.

Ninnes’ op-ed was originally published on the ASC website.

The recent investigations uncovering human rights abuses in the farmed seafood industry, most recently in the shrimp industry in India, are very unsettling to read. While we all agree that these abuses should have no place in any industry, the reality is more stark and uncomfortable.

Human rights abuses can be found everywhere, and no system alone is perfect at eliminating all of them. The CRC’s data tool, which was originally developed to collate information about the environmental performance of seafood production from member assessments, now contains a global overview of key social metrics related to their occurrence. Shockingly, there is evidence of forced labor, child labor, or human trafficking within 65 percent of the countries assessed that are involved with 98 percent of seafood production. The frequency of these abuses differs by country, but such evidence is much harder to collect.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Offshore wind turbines won’t reduce carbon dioxide emissions. This is why

April 22, 2o24 — Offshore wind farms are touted as the energy wave of the future. As we venture further into the era of renewable energy, offshore wind farms have been celebrated as beacons of progress, promising to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and curb carbon emissions. This narrative, championed by government officials and wind farm companies alike, paints an effervescent picture of a sustainable future. Yet, the gap between this optimistic vision and the sobering reality is wider than many might expect. The reality is that offshore wind may increase the total amount of emissions, perhaps even exceeding current levels as the unpredictability of wind forces existing fossil fuel plants to work overtime.

Studies in the Netherlands, Ireland, Colorado, and Texas have all found that adding wind farms causes existing fossil fuel plants to produce more CO2.  As the amount of wind farms increases, the total CO2 released also increases, making emissions as high or even higher than they would have been with no wind farms. No study has contradicted this finding.

When discussing electricity, it is important to remember two fundamental characteristics. First, electricity cannot be stored at reasonable cost or in any significant amount. Second, the amount of electricity being produced must, at each instant, equal the amount being consumed, or the system will collapse. This means that the output of the fossil generating plants must vary their output to match the wind gusts and lulls.

Read the full article at northjersey.com

Banning fishing won’t protect local kelp forests from marine heat waves

April 16, 2024 –I recently read an impassioned Sentinel Guest Commentary (April 4) urging support for the creation of new marine protected areas (MPAs) that would ban all fishing in the waters off of Natural Bridges past Four Mile Beach out to three miles offshore and in the kelp beds between Pleasure Point and Capitola. While I strongly agree with the writer’s general sentiment that we need to protect the ocean from various threats, I feel compelled to highlight some specific inaccuracies in their scientific justification for these proposed MPAs.

As a marine scientist and ocean lover, I am not used to pushing back against efforts to protect the ocean. But, nothing is more frustrating than seeing good scientific research being misrepresented to bolster a preconceived agenda. So I got involved with a community group called Allwaters (allwaters.org) that is standing up for the responsible use of science and common-sense ocean conservation that maintains access for sustainable fishing. My experience in fisheries science has taught me that ocean conservation and responsible fishing practices can support each other.

Despite the previous writer’s claim, there is little scientific evidence to support the idea that MPAs will protect Central California kelp forests from marine heat waves. A study published last month in the Journal of Phycology looked at MPAs around the world and found that kelp suffered during warm water events whether it was in an MPA or not.

Read the full article at the SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Op-ed: Research papers misrepresent impacts of marine protected areas

April 10, 2024 — Ray Hilborn is a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the Volvo Environmental Prize and the International Fisheries Science Prize and has published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

A paper from Ocean University of China Researcher Mark John Costello, “Evidence of economic benefits from marine protected areas,” published on 27 March in Scientia Marina, which concluded marine protected areas (MPAs) boost overall economic performance of fisheries, contains many factual errors and violates the standards of a review of the subject.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Op-ed: Marine protected areas in British Columbia only good for bragging rights

March 25, 2024 — Ray Hilborn has a doctorate from the University of British Columbia and is a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Washington State Academy of Sciences. He has been awarded the Volvo Environmental Prize and the International Fisheries Science Prize, and has published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Marine fisheries in British Columbia, Canada, not only provide excellent seafood for Canadians, they also employ thousands of people and support small coastal communities, and yet these fisheries are seen to be in trouble, the industry is vilified, and immediate action is demanded.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

The President Shouldn’t Be Able to Seize Land Unilaterally

March 20, 2024 — On March 22, the Supreme Court will consider acting on a constitutional challenge to what is among the most misunderstood and abused federal land statutes: the Antiquities Act of 1906. If the Supreme Court does not act on American Forest Resource Council v. United States of America, it will green-light a vast expansion of executive power over all federal lands, waters, and natural resources, ultimately putting their fate in the hands of one person: the president.

Passed during President Theodore Roosevelt’s second term, the Antiquities Act gave presidents authority to declare “historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments . . . which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with proper care and management of the objects to be protected.”

The original purpose of the Antiquities Act was to protect archaeological sites, or “antiquities,” and other specific, definable objects and landscapes in federal ownership at risk of theft or desecration. Four months after the passage of the Antiquities Act, President Roosevelt declared Wyoming’s Devils Tower our first national monument. The designated area covered 1,304 acres.

Yet, over the last century, presidents have expanded the use of the Antiquities Act to make its original purpose and intent unrecognizable. For example, President Obama issued 34 monument proclamations directing the management of over 550 million acres of federal lands, waters, and resources.

Read the article at The National Review

 

Op-ed: Why are seafood sales declining?

March 2, 2024 — Ken Salzinger is the founder and owner of Kenmar Sales and Consulting and the author of the “Ken’s Catch” newsletter. He can be reached at kensalz@comcast.net.

Why are seafood sales declining?

If you follow what some of the pundits are saying, it is due to inflation and that seafood product prices are higher than other proteins. Others say that seafood is not top of mind when it comes to cooking at home or even at a restaurant. Some have alluded to the possibility that due to the amount of seafood imported into this country, it is unsafe to consume. Are they correct? In my opinion, no.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource