February 1, 2024 — More than 30 major seafood companies, industry associations, and pre-competitive collaborations have signed onto a letter to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization calling for action on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights during its ongoing annual meeting.
The SPRFMO is hosting its 12th annual meeting from 29 January to 2 February in Manta, Ecuador.
January 26, 2024 — The following was released by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership:
More than 30 major seafood companies, industry associations and pre-competitive coalitions expressed their support for addressing illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights violations to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO), which begins its annual meeting in Ecuador today.
“We wish to see the Commission accelerate the fight against the IUU fishing in the Convention area by implementing appropriate procedures and measures to identify infringements and violations by vessels on the high seas,” the companies wrote, in a letter submitted to the Heads of Delegation of Members and Cooperating Non-Contracting Parties (CNCPs) to the SPRFMO.
The letter asks the State Members and CNCPs to take the following actions at the 12th Annual SPRFMO meeting, which takes place all week in Manta, Ecuador:
1. Support the introduction of labor issues to the SPRFMO agenda, including the creation of a specialized working group and the establishment of the first Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) on guidelines for crew members’ safety and equitable treatment, as proposed by the US, Ecuador, Australia and New Zealand.
2. Amend the jumbo flying squid CMM to progressively increase onboard observer coverage to 20%, as proposed by Australia and New Zealand.
3. Fully discuss and consider the five proposals on increasing monitoring, control and surveillance to combat IUU fishing in the jumbo flying squid fishery.
The 17 State members of the SPRFMO Commission, including the US, China and EU, will meet from January 29 to February 2 to consider proposals to improve the jumbo flying squid Conservation and Management Measures. If adopted, these actions will improve transparency and controls to prevent IUU fishing in the world’s most important squid stock.
January 25, 2024 — Over the past few years, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has moved from obscurity to recognition as a global threat, a U.S. national security concern, and the topic of a New York Times best seller. Multiple international bodies have developed agreements to combat it. The president of the United States directed executive agencies to address it. Given all this awareness and activity, it would be reasonable to think that global efforts are having an impact in countering IUU fishing.
Measurable improvement on a global scale, however, remains elusive. The IUU Fishing Risk Index benchmarks countries based on their vulnerability to, the prevalence of, and their response to IUU fishing. The 2023 biannual index report showed a slightly worse overall score compared to 2021 but broadly presented no notable global shift or improvement.
At some point, U.S. and global efforts must turn the tide on illegal fishing. Could 2024 be that turning point?
January 22, 2024 — The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) – both of which operate under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Defense – have jointly launched the “Global Fishing Forecast Grand Challenge,” which will award USD 1 million (EUR 918,000) to entities or individuals who can develop effective strategies for forecasting global maritime vessel traffic involved in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.
“The objective of the NSIN/NGA Global Fishing Forecast Grand Challenge is to elucidate IUU fishing activities by transitioning the analytic paradigm from detection to anticipation, via the development of novel and effective forecasting capabilities,” NSIN said.
December 31, 2023 — World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiators have struggled to conclude talks on ending harmful fishery subsidies, and as each day goes by, the 31 December deadline to agree on a draft text – set by Icelandic WTO Ambassador Einar Gunnarsson, who has been chairing the talks – looms larger.
The ongoing talks aim to build upon a deal the WTO reached in 2022, which prohibited subsidy support for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, by adding rules on subsidies that lead to overfishing and overcapacity in global fishing fleets.
November 13, 2023 — The U.S. Coast Guard is taking more aggressive action to police the Pacific Ocean in an effort to curb illegal fishing conducted by China’s distant-water fleet.
The USCG has opened the Illegal Unreported Unregulated Fisheries Center of Expertise (IUUF COE) in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., to serve as the center for U.S. efforts to combat illegal fishing activity in the Indo-Pacific region. It also created a specialized environmental response unit, the Marine Environmental Response Regional Activities Center (MER RAC), to advise partner nations in preventing and countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in their home waters. And it recently completed an operation to counter IUU fishing off the coast of Peru.
October 17, 2023 — A joint operation between the U.S. and Canada recently completed a high seas patrol to detect illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the North Pacific, and discovered more than 3,000 illegally possessed or stored shark fins.
The joint operation, dubbed Operation North Pacific Guard, ran earlier this year. It was the first time that Canada took the lead in the mission, which has taken place each year since 2019.
October 15, 2023 — The following was released by Lund’s Fisheries:
Lund’s Fisheries takes allegations of this type seriously, which is why we engaged in numerous productive discussions with Ian Urbina and the staff of the Outlaw Ocean Project beginning in January 2023. In good faith, we conscientiously shared documentation, procedures, policies and industry knowledge surrounding domestic and international fishing, foreign processing and imports. We will continue to address Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, and forced labor allegations with industry members, NGOs, and our government to strengthen the seafood supply chain and provide consumers with the utmost confidence.
Upon hearing questions and criticisms raised about Rongcheng Haibo, we initiated an internal investigation, and resolved not to renew existing contracts with Rongcheng Haibo until that work was complete. Although our investigation did not find any evidence of illegal activity or forced labor in the operations of Roncheng Haibo Seafood, we are maintaining our cessation of new business pending further investigation.
Lund’s Fisheries requires a Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) from all of our foreign suppliers. SMETA is the world’s most widely used audit in assessing standards of labor, health and safety, environmental performance, and ethics. The SMETA audit is designed to help protect workers from unsafe conditions, overwork, discrimination, low pay, and forced labor. The SMETA process is what companies use to evaluate their suppliers, specifically when referring to forced labor risks. In addition, we also engage with each supplier, requiring that they sign a supplier declaration agreement, wherein they must agree to not employ forced labor. We analyze and evaluate all the documentation they provide to us, including their SMETA audit reports, annually, to verify the results.
As a proud member of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership’s Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable, Lund’s Fisheries is committed to working towards sustainable fisheries and combatting IUU fishing and human rights violations globally.
Lund’s Fisheries is a family owned and operated, vertically integrated seafood harvester and processor which operates 19 fishing vessels on the East and West Coast of the United States and 5 seafood processing facilities in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California. Our US plants produce a variety of Marine Stewardship Council-certified whole and cleaned calamari products, sea scallops, and multiple species of finfish.
Lund’s Fisheries will celebrate our 70th anniversary next year. Our relationships with our customers, employees, consumers and partners are our first priority, and we take great pride in maintaining the integrity of what we do each day.
September 28, 2023 — Soon after NOAA released a report identifying China as one of several nations it alleges have habitually engaged in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, Chinese officials pushed back on such claims by bringing Beijing-based diplomats on a guided tour of fishery facilities in the southeastern province of Fujian.
In combination with the report, NOAA handed China – alongside Mexico and Russia – a negative certification for failing to properly combat IUU fishing activities. The certification could lead to import bans, as well as the U.S. denying the countries’ vessels access to American ports.
September 5, 2023 — Last week, NOAA Fisheries (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) released its regular report on international fisheries management, citing several nations for IUU fishing and bycatch of protected living marine resources. For the first time, the report also included forced labor and shark catch in its IUU (Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated) fishing identifications.
The biennial report is part of the NOAA’s statutory requirement to the U.S Congress under the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act. Countries negatively certified for IUU fishing under the report could be denied U.S port privileges. The report also helps the U.S government to collaborate with identified countries in dealing with their problematic fisheries issues.
In this year’s report, seven nations were identified for IUU fishing and two nations for shark catch without having a regulatory program comparable to that of the U.S.
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