Saving Seafood

Rich and Poor Divide: Which Nations Benefit From Global Fishing?

August 6, 2018 —With food security and equity growing concerns in global fisheries – and one-third of commercial fish stocks being exploited at unsustainable levels, according to the United Nations – researchers have been tapping new data to get a better grasp of exactly who fishes where and how much they catch.

A paper published this week in the journal Science Advances found that rich nations are catching the lion’s share of the ocean’s fish, even in the waters of lower-income countries. The estimates feed into a bigger debate over how the wealth of the seas could be distributed fairly and sustainably.

In their research, the authors analyzed global fishing activity data to conclude that 97 percent of industrial fishing they were able to track in international waters – the high seas – is conducted by vessels flying the flag of high- and upper-middle-income nations. The vast majority was from five nations: China, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Spain. And even within the territorial waters of developing countries, 78 percent of industrial fishing was done by wealthier nations, the scientists found. Overall, industrial fishing vessels, defined by the study as those at least 24m long (80ft), accounted for about three-fourths of global catch of wild fish from the sea, the authors estimated.

“We suspected before we started that we would see something like this, but quantifying it with numbers moves the conversation forward and allows people to start asking questions about where their countries’ fish is going,” said Douglas McCauley, a marine ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a director of the Benioff Ocean Initiative. McCauley led the study with Caroline Jablonicky, a scientist at the Initiative and the university’s Marine Science Institute.

Read the full story at Oceans Deeply

Japan to Propose Bluefin Tuna Catch Quota Increase At WCPFC Meeting

August 2, 2018 — SEAFOOD NEWS — The government plans to propose raising catch quotas for Pacific bluefin tuna — a popular component of high-grade sushi — in September, following an international body’s recent estimate that it is feasible to increase catches by up to about 15 percent from 2019, thanks to a recovery in the stock.

Overfishing has drastically declined bluefin stock to about 10 percent of its peak level of 168,125 tons in 1961. Since 2015, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission has set caps on catches to strengthen the management of the resource. The commission has 26 member countries and regions, including Japan and the United States.

The WCPFC has set a mid-term target of increasing stocks of adult Pacific bluefin tuna weighing 30 kilograms or more, from the latest estimate of about 21,000 tons to 43,000 tons in 2024. At the same time, the commission has adopted a policy of allowing higher catch quotas once the probability of achieving the target reaches 70 percent or more.

An international organization comprising experts in such fields as fishery survey announced in mid-July that the probability of achieving the target would be 74 percent if total catches — which combine small-sized fish weighing less than 30 kilograms and large ones of 30 kilograms or larger — increase by 15 percent from 2019.

This has led Tokyo to plan to propose increasing catch quotas at a September committee meeting of the WCPFC in Fukuoka Prefecture, in the hope of obtaining understanding from respective countries and regions. The government is working out details of the proposal, such as a specific increase in catch quotas for both small and adult fish.

Bluefin tuna caught in the Pacific Ocean accounts for 60 percent of the Japan market. The nation’s catch quota is set at 4,007 tons for small fish — about half of the average in previous years — and 4,882 tons for adult fish, which is equivalent to this category’s average.

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have also plunged due to overfishing, but strict regulations — such as prohibiting fishing small ones in principle — have subsequently been successful, resulting in a decision to raise catch quotas.

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

Greenpeace Japan: Eel sourcing “like a black box”

June 27, 2018 — Greenpeace Japan is highlighting the prevalence of illegally-sourced eel in Japan’s supply chain and is calling for more traceability in advance of the midsummer day of the ox, a holiday celebrated by eating grilled eel. This year it falls on two days: 20 July and 1 August.

Greenpeace issued a report on 4 June that shows eels are at high risk from poaching and illegal transactions. The organization conducted a survey on eel procurement at major supermarkets, and found it was rare for the label attached to the grilled eel package to describe what kind of eel it is.

While there are four eels used for grilled eel – Japanese eel, European eel, American eel and bicolor eel – because grilled eel is a processed item, writing only “eel” is no problem in terms of rules. Although in 2013 the Fisheries Agency requested voluntary labeling of Japanese eel, few supermarkets do so. Akiko Tsuchiya of Greenpeace Japan said retailers should be required to label what species is contained in all boxes of grilled eel.

For its report, Greenpeace bought eel at the 18 shops and had an external DNA laboratory conduct genetic testing. The organization said the most confusion was between Japanese and American eel. The tests found one product labeled as grilled Japanese eel was actually American eel. Greenpeace said that it is proof that the supply chain from the glass eels to the shop is wrapped in darkness.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Carryover frozen halibut brews competition in Alaska

June 20, 2018 — As the fleet fished on a halibut quota of 16.63 million pounds, dockside offers ranged from $4.25 to $5.50 per pound for fish 20 pounds and under to 40 pounds and up. That’s down significantly from the 2017 spread of $6.40 to $6.90 per pound when the fleet fished on a quota of 18.3 million pounds.

This year’s pricing trend flies in the face of market dynamics of years past, when diminished supplies translated to higher prices all the way through the distribution chain.

Whether the volume of supplies and price point have reached the equilibrium of what consumers will pay for a slice of halibut on their plates remains to be seen. In the meantime, Bob Alverson, manager of the Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association in Seattle, noted that processors have reported carryover inventories of frozen Pacific halibut from 2017 are competing with volumes of fresh Atlantic halibut funneling into markets along the East Coast.

The fall in ex-vessel prices for blackcod tells a slightly different story. The 2018 quota has been set at 25.8 million pounds, up from the 22.58 million pounds of 2017. Alverson noted that strong year classes of fish spawned in 2014 and 2015 have begun recruiting into the fishery — good news in the health of the resource.

However, the extra quantities of the 2- to 3-pound fish coming across the docks has precipitated decreased pricing in export markets to Japan and throughout Asia.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

Breakthrough in omega-3 understanding could revolutionize feed industry

May 31, 2018 — A new study, led by the University of Stirling in Scotland, has led to a major discovery about the way in which omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are produced in the ocean.

According to lead scientist Oscar Monroig from the university’s Institute of Aquaculture, the breakthrough challenges the generally held principle that marine microbes, such as microalgae and bacteria, are responsible for virtually all primary production of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for human health, and have been proven to be particularly useful in combating and preventing cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases.

Instead, an international team of scientists from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Japan, and Australia found that omega-3s can be created by many marine invertebrates.

“Our study provides a paradigm shift in understanding, as it demonstrates that a large variety of invertebrate animals, including corals, rotifers, molluscs, polychaetes and crustaceans, possess enzymes called ‘desaturases’ of a type that enable them to produce omega-3, an ability thought previously to exist almost exclusively in marine microbes,” Monroig said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Scientists say fish feel pain. It could lead to major changes in the fishing industry.

May 24, 2018 — The idea that fish suffer runs counter to almost everything Americans have been taught about creatures of the sea. That their brains are not complex enough to experience pain. That their behaviors when stressed — such as wriggling violently on a hook — are just unconscious reactions, disconnected from the suffering of sentient beings. That they’re, more or less, unfeeling little meat sticks that don’t deserve animal welfare protections.

The accumulated research on fish pain has recently hit the public with the impact of a blunt object. In January, Hakai magazine published a comprehensive feature under the headline, “Fish Feel Pain. Now What?,” which Smithsonian magazine republished under the more provocative title, “It’s Official: Fish Feel Pain.” This month, the storytelling studio Topic ran a deeply reported story “How to Kill Fish,” in which author Cat Ferguson argues that the Japanese technique called ike jime is not only more humane than other forms of slaughter but also produces superior-tasting fish.

So why is the public only now interested in a subject that researchers have been covering for two decades? Is it another manifestation of a food culture that demands only the finest ingredients?  Or maybe Americans — or some at least — are now ready to face the consequences of a world that acknowledges fish pain? What would it mean for the commercial fishing industry? For regulators? For recreational anglers?

For starters, the U.S. government might have to amend the Animal Welfare Act and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, both of which exclude fish. Weekend anglers might have to kill their fish first before throwing them in a cooler. Fish farms might have to adopt new methods of slaughter. Commercial trawlers, the boats that roam the world’s oceans, might have to upgrade their equipment to kill fish humanely.

In other words, there would be a lot of resistance to changing the way fish is caught, transported and killed. It might be possible for fish farms and weekend anglers to change their ways, says David Krebs, founder of Ariel Seafoods in Destin, Fla., but it would be impossible for commercial boats, which can net a million or more fish at one time.

“You have a [catch] come on board with two million creatures, and you’re going to take each one of them and say, ‘Let’s change how you’re dying.’ It’s impossible,” Krebs says. “You’re not changing the way that the Russians are trawling or the way that the Japanese are trawling.”

Read the full story at the Washington Post

Grant awarded to investigate Japanese “ear-hanging” scallop production in Maine

May 11, 2018 — The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), a U.S. nonprofit organization established in the 2014 Farm Bill, has awarded a USD 300,000 (EUR) grant for pioneering new scallop production techniques in the state of Maine.

The grant, announced 23 April, is going to Brunswick, Maine-based Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), which will manage the program. CEI offers business advisory services to small businesses as well as financing and project management.

The purpose of the project is to investigate the economic viability of the Japanese “ear-hanging” scallop production technique in Maine. The grant, which will fund a three-year program, will cover market analysis and hiring a consultant with a background in wild scallops.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

 

Hearings Coming About Increase in Baby Eel Fishing Quota

May 3, 2018 — BREWER, Maine — A proposal to allow Maine‘s elver fishermen to catch more of the baby eels will be up for a public hearing in the state next month.

Fishermen harvest elvers in rivers and streams in Maine so they can be sold to Asian aquaculture companies for use in Japanese food after they’re raised to maturity. Maine’s the only state in the country with a significant fishery for elvers, and fishermen are limited to 9,688 pounds per year.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is considering increasing that total to 11,749 pounds per year. The eels are currently worth more than $2,000 per pound at docks so the increase would mean access to millions of dollars in revenue.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at US News

 

These machines from Japan could put scallop farming in Maine on the map

April 30, 2018 — A project in Maine, boosted by a new grant, would establish the first semi-automated commercial scallop aquaculture operations outside Japan.

The $300,000 grant to CEI, a Brunswick business development organization, from the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research of Washington, D.C., will help fund efforts to test the economic viability of cultivating scallops on ropes at aquaculture sites in Maine’s coastal waters.

As part of that effort, Bangs Island Mussel in Portland and Pine Point Oyster in Scarborough are testing out machinery made in Japan that should help automate much of the labor-intensive process of attaching and growing scallops on ropes vertically suspended in the water.

Testing and possibly modifying the machinery is just one of multiple angles in trying to develop a market for farmed scallops from Maine, according to Hugh Cowperthwaite of Brunswick-based Coastal Enterprises Inc.

CEI, which is administering the three-year grant, also plans to conduct market research to gauge the potential demand for scallops grown in such a manner, and to write a “how-to” manual for interested aquaculturists, Cowperthwaite added. Rope-grown scallops likely would have to serve a specialty market to be economically viable, he said, because they cannot match the high volume and relatively low production expense of the Northeast’s wild scallop fishery.

Read the full story at the Bangor Daily News

 

Plastic-eating Microbes Won’t Solve Our Ocean Debris Problem

April 24, 2018 — Japanese scientists announced this past week that they had not only discovered bacteria that naturally digest the PET plastic used to make many water bottles, they had also genetically modified them to make them better at breaking down plastic. Headlines made it seem like our plastic pollution woes were over.

The world produces more than 40 million metric tons of PET plastic every year and, here in the U.S., less than a third of that gets recycled. At the same time, the amount of plastic floating around in the ocean is growing.

But Ramani Narayan, a university distinguished professor in chemical engineering and materials science at Michigan State University, says that touting plastic-eating bacteria as the solution misses the point.

“It is implied that the technology to break down this PET plastic and similar plastics, is the bottleneck in managing PET waste. And that this new enzyme is the breakthrough we have been waiting for,” Narayan said.

Read the full story at WCAI