Saving Seafood

Ocean Outcomes Selects Kelly Harrell as Next Executive Director

February 15, 2024 — The following was released by the Ocean Outcomes:

Poised for continued delivery and growth of work across Northeast Asia
and Latin America in both small- and large-scale fisheries — the Ocean Outcomes Executive
Search Committee has selected industry veteran Kelly Harrell to inherit leadership of a team that
is poised for significant impact over the coming years.

“We could not be more excited that Kelly will be leading O2 as our next Executive Director,”
said Board Chair, Gael Almeida. “Her experience and knowledge align well with the vision,
goals, and different projects of O2 and we are sure she will contribute immensely to continuing
the growth and footprint of the organization.”

This experience includes leadership positions in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors with an
emphasis on conservation, fisheries-dependent communities, food systems, and supply chains.
This has given her a deep appreciation for — and ability to thrive in — the nexus at which
fisheries, economies, food systems and communities intersect.

“My career has provided me with diverse experience in fisheries and seafood supply chains;
from fisheries monitoring to seafood quality, working waterfront infrastructure, ecosystem
impacts, fisheries access, market opportunities, and beyond,” noted Kelly. “I am looking forward
to applying this experience and lessons learned from working in fisheries in Alaska and North
America to the global geographies in which O2 is active.”

Her appointment comes at an opportune moment — Ocean Outcomes has just begun
implementation of its new three year strategic plan, and the team is well-funded, adding multiple
new positions in 2024 to support its shared organizational culture and growing programmatic
work.

“O2 has an outstanding team, committed partners, a compelling programmatic portfolio, strong
values, and a robust organizational foundation on which to build,” added Kelly. “It will be my
distinct honor to leverage the incredible work to date and help chart the future course for impact
as the next Executive Director at O2.”

Kelly’s prior positions include Executive Director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council,
Director of Fisheries and Coastal Communities at Ecotrust, Chief Fisheries and Sustainability

Officer at Sitka Salmon Shares (now Sitka Seafood Market), and most recently, Senior Manager
at Saltwater Inc. She possesses advanced education in environmental policy and business
including graduate studies in fisheries at the University of British Columbia and an M.B.A. with
an emphasis on seafood business from the University of Alaska.

Kelly officially starts with Ocean Outcomes on March 1, and is working closely with the O2
team, Board and current Executive Director Rich Lincoln to ensure a smooth and efficient
transition. Rich remains committed to the growth and success of Ocean Outcomes and will
continue to support O2 as a Strategic Advisor.

Kelly and her Ocean Outcomes colleagues will be attending the upcoming World Fisheries
Congress in Seattle and Seafood Expo North America in Boston, at the beginning of March —
we look forward to connecting with many of our partners and clients there.
Media Contact: Perry Broderick | perry@oceanoutcomes.org | +1-503-758-6893

Global Ghost Gear Initiative report provides recommendations for government action

August 11, 2021 — A new report has foundthe best way to reduce the impact of lost fishing gear is to enforce existing rules.

The report, “Ghost Gear Legislation Analysis,” was jointly written bythe World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ocean Outcomes, and Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI). It assesses existing government legislation and policies addressing ghost gear and provides recommendations to governments to strengthen existing efforts and other actions to address lost, abandoned, or discarded fishing gear.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

NFI Red Crab Council Renews Commitment to Improving Chinese Crab Fishery

July 20, 2021 — The following was released by the National Fisheries Institute:

The National Fisheries Institute’s Red Crab Council and its partners –  Ocean Outcomes (O2) and Tao Ran on the ground in China – have renewed their annual contract to keep the comprehensive Red Crab Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) on track.

“For a number of years the Red Crab fishery has faced adversity from things like the pandemic, the market and tariffs,” said Newport International President Anjan Tharakan, the NFI Red Crab Council Chair. “But none of the companies we partner with, and certainly not O2 nor Tao Ran, have lost sight of the importance of working hard towards the most sustainable fishery possible. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again. If nothing, this is one committed group.”

The FIP is focused on improving crab production in Fujian Province, the leading harvesting region in China for red crab.

The NFI Red Crab Council funds the work by assessing a fee on its members based on the number of pounds they import each quarter.

“Despite all the external challenges this FIP has faced, we’ve never changed our ultimate objectives,” said O2 Founder and CEO Rich Lincoln. “We have dedicated companies supporting the work and experts on the ground executing it. Continuing this contract keeps us on track to seeing the best science-based strategies driving Red Crab fisheries management in the Fujian region”

The status of the Fujian Zhangzhou Red Crab FIP is updated biannually on fisheryprogress.org.

Julie Kuchepatov shares SAGE advice on how to approach gender equality issues in seafood

January 6, 2021 — SAGE, a nonprofit launched on 13 October, 2020, by Julie Kuchepatov, is working to raise awareness around – and ultimately improve – gender equality in the seafood industry. Kuchepatov, the former director of seafood at Fair Trade USA and a founding member of Ocean Outcomes, hopes to help establish a more inclusive seafood industry through SAGE. SeafoodSource interviewed Kuchepatov about how the seafood industry should approach 2021 with gender equality issues in mind.

SeafoodSource: Having worked at Fair Trade and with various seafood companies across sectors and geographies over the years, you are familiar with the many challenges the industry faces. Why should the industry be thinking about gender equality?

Kuchepatov: Building gender equality and women’s empowerment in the seafood industry is critical. The seafood sector, as with most sectors, has experienced an unprecedented level of disruption due to the global pandemic and decisions are being made in real time about the industry’s future. To build back better, we must develop equitable solutions that include diverse voices to overcome the challenges created by COVID-19.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New SAGE initiative launched to create a more gender inclusive seafood industry

October 13, 2020 — Addressing systemic barriers to gender equality in the seafood industry is one of the prime directives of SAGE, a new nonprofit launched on 13 October courtesy of its founder, Julie Kuchepatov.

Kuchepatov, the former director of seafood at Fair Trade USA and a founding member of Ocean Outcomes, formed SAGE to build a more inclusive seafood industry that will empower and elevate women, who make up 50 percent of the sector’s workforce, yet remain underrepresented in key management and decision-making roles.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Bumble Bee Launches New Project to Improve Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

February 11, 2020 — The following was released by Ocean Outcomes & Bumble Bee Foods:

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, FCF Co, Ltd. and Ocean Outcomes have launched an initiative to improve the sustainability of Bumble Bee source fisheries in the Indian Ocean. The project is the first of its kind in the region for longline vessels catching albacore tuna. To date, no albacore tuna or longline fisheries in the Indian Ocean are certified as sustainable.

The project team hopes to change this in the coming years by improving fishery data collection, reporting mechanisms, monitoring tools and management strategies through a newly launched fishery improvement project (FIP). The objective of the FIP is to improve practices on Chinese Taipei longline tuna fishing vessels so that the fishery is able to achieve a certifiable status within five years.

“We are very excited to formally launch our FIP in the Indian Ocean, expanding the work we have initiated in the Pacific,” said Mike Kraft, VP Global Sustainability and Social Responsibility for The Bumble Bee Seafood Company. “This Indian Ocean FIP will work to improve the sustainability of yet another major source of the albacore used in Bumble Bee’s products.”

Participating FIP vessels catch approximately 6,000 metric tons of albacore tuna from the Indian Ocean annually, much of which is loined in Mauritius and exported to North American markets for canning. Project team members believe this FIP – along with other new and emerging initiatives in the Indian Ocean – can be a catalyst for tuna fisheries in the region to support development of precautionary science-based management strategies, which can help ensure the abundance of albacore species.

“Projects such as this offer a transparent, stepwise approach for fishers to move towards sustainability, which is sorely needed in the Indian Ocean. We’re proud to work with the industry to reduce the negative impacts of fishing and to address the challenges of longline fisheries,” said Daniel Suddaby, VP Strategy and Impact at Ocean Outcomes.

As a first phase of the project, the project team will work to generate better fishery data, which will be used to inform science-based management at the regional level for the target albacore stock and any fishery bycatch species. A key component of this effort will be to increase electronic observer coverage on the fishing vessels, with a long-term goal of 100 percent coverage. Currently, observer coverage is occurring in a small subset of longliners.

This FIP is one of two projects between Bumble Bee, FCF and O2 focused on ensuring sustainable Chinese Taipei longline fisheries; the other is for longline vessels in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. Coordination with – and support from – other organizations working on sustainable tuna, such as International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) will be core to the projects’ success. The goal of both FIPs is to achieve a certifiable status by 2024.

To learn more about the Indian Ocean tuna FIP and track its progress, visit www.FisheryProgress.org.

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC and FCF Partner with Ocean Outcomes to Improve Longline Tuna Fisheries

January 15, 2019 — The following was released by Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, FCF Fishery Company, Ltd., and Ocean Outcomes:

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, FCF Fishery Company, Ltd., and Ocean Outcomes have announced a major initiative to improve fishing practices of the albacore longline tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean and Western and Central Pacific Ocean from which Bumble Bee sources.

“As we procure a significant amount of albacore tuna annually to meet demand for our products, we are in a unique position to help ensure the long term sustainability of longline albacore fisheries,” said Mike Kraft, Vice President, Sustainability at Bumble Bee. “All of that tuna comes from healthy stocks. This initiative will launch two Fishery Improvement Projects (FIPs) to help ensure those stocks remain healthy, while working to close identified gaps between current fishery operations and other MSC principles.”

A positive transformation of tuna management and tuna fishing practices is gaining momentum, especially in the purse seine sector, but not all harvesting sectors are as far along. Recent catch sector engagement initiatives – such as the Global FIP Alliance for Sustainable Tuna (GFAST) – have made progress in addressing the challenges of international management of tuna fisheries, but there is clearly an opportunity to increase participation from Northeast Asian longline fleets.

“This bold step by Bumble Bee, FCF and their supplying longline vessels blazes a trail for key tuna catchers to join the sustainable tuna movement,” said Daniel Suddaby, who is leading the project for Ocean Outcomes.

Bumble Bee sources its albacore tuna through FCF, a Taiwanese-founded company that works closely with fishing vessels. FCF, a partner in the initiative, will work with their associated longline fleets towards improved fishing practices.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for FCF to proactively engage the hundreds of tuna vessels we work closely with on a journey towards global best practices,” said Fong Lee, Sustainability Officer at FCF.

“We know sustainable tuna fisheries require robust harvest strategies. And we know transparent monitoring of fishery impacts is critical for addressing any negative effects on surrounding ecosystems. These FIPs will work towards both those goals,” said Suddaby.

As a next step in the initiative, project partners are formalizing both the Indian Ocean Albacore Tuna Longline FIP and the South Pacific Albacore and Yellowfin Tuna Longline FIP. As part of that process they are developing FIP workplans and recruiting FIP participants.

Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, headquartered in San Diego, is North America’s largest branded shelf-stable seafood company, offering a full line of canned and pouched tuna, salmon, sardine and specialty protein products marketed in the U.S. under leading brands including Bumble Bee®, Brunswick®, Snow’s®, Wild Selections® and Beach Cliff®, and in Canada under the Clover Leaf® brand. Bumble Bee’s mission is to provide healthy and nutritious products and meal solutions that are sourced sustainably. The company actively promotes the responsible stewardship of global fisheries resources and is a founder of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)—a global partnership of scientists, tuna processors and WWF, the global conservation organization.

FCF Fishery Company, Ltd. (FCF) is one of the world’s largest marine products integrated supply chain service provider companies specializing in tuna. An industry leader in sustainability and traceability, and FAD-free fishing policy, FCF works closely with governments and non-governing organizations to ensure the environmental sustainability of tuna stock and marine life products around the globe.

Ocean Outcomes (O2) is an international organization which works with local communities, fisheries, and the seafood industry to improve the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture operations.

Industry launch large-scale squid project at China Fisheries Expo

November 7, 2018 — The following was released by Ocean Outcomes:

Four leading seafood buyers, Chinese seafood industry groups, retailers, fishermen, and sustainable seafood enterprises came together today at the China Fisheries and Seafood Expo to celebrate the much anticipated launch of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea Squid FIP.

The fisheries improvement project—or FIP for short—is a precompetitive project aimed to improve the management and fishing practices of Chinese trawl, purse seine, and gillnet vessels targeting Japanese flying squid. JFS are one of the most commercially lucrative species of squid, and in the Chinese side of East China Sea and Yellow Sea alone, annual production can approach 30,000 metric tons.

“Squids are one of the most loved seafoods, but compared with many species, squid sustainability efforts are lagging,” said Songlin Wang who is leading the project. “Given squid account for about 5% of global fishery landings, it’s encouraging to see that change.”

In the East China and Yellow Seas, China has important domestic fisheries which target migratory JFS stocks. These supply both a booming domestic market and are exported to the Europe Union, United Kingdom, United States, Japan, and South Korea, among many others, by global seafood companies such as those involved in the project.

However, JFS fishing practices and management need improvement in a number of ways to ensure a continued supply of squid products. For example, China lacks a JFS-specific harvest strategy outside of a summer fishing moratorium banning the use of motorized fishing vessels, and it’s difficult to verify the exact catch locations for some squid products from the region.

“Around a third to half of all squid passes through a Chinese seafood supply chain, whether caught, processed, traded, or consumed,” said Dr. He Cui, who heads CAPPMA, a Chinese national seafood industry group with thousands of members. “Given CAPPMA’s commitment to both domestic and global seafood sustainability, it’s in our interest to ensure a future where all squid stocks are healthy. This project will help us explore a path forward.”

The FIP will work to address areas of concern through implementation of a five year improvement work plan designed, in part, to establish science-based stock assessments and bycatch monitoring protocols, harvest rules fit to JFS 1-year lifecycles, and traceability systems to verify and track locations of harvest.

Since its inception, the FIP has grown beyond founding members Ocean Outcomes, Sea Farms, and PanaPesca to include support from a number of industry stakeholders, including, Quirch Foods, Seachill, China Aquatic Products Processing and Marketing Alliance (CAPPMA), Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and local Chinese suppliers Genho, IG and the Zhejiang Industry Group.

The success and growth of the project were due, in part, to the collaborative forum of the Global Squid Supply Chain Roundtable, facilitated by Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, which heavily featured the East China Sea and Yellow Sea Squid FIP in recent meetings at the North America Seafood Expo in Boston, MA.

“We couldn’t have envisioned the enthusiasm and support for this work when this project began three years ago,” said Dick Jones, who has been working to improve seafood industry practices for decades. “Precompetitive industry collaboration is key to ensuring durable and positive change. This project demonstrates that message is catching on.”

Was Your Seafood Caught With Slave Labor? New Database Helps Retailers Combat Abuse

February 1, 2018 — The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program, known best for its red, yellow and green sustainable seafood-rating scheme, is unveiling its first Seafood Slavery Risk Tool on Thursday. It’s a database designed to help corporate seafood buyers assess the risk of forced labor, human trafficking and hazardous child labor in the seafood they purchase.

The tool’s release comes on the heels of a new report that confirms forced labor and human rights abuses remain embedded in Thailand’s fishing industry, years after global media outlets first documented the practice.

The 134-page report by Human Rights Watch shows horrific conditions continue. That’s despite promises from the Thai government to crack down on abuses suffered by mostly migrants from countries like Myanmar and Cambodia — and despite pressure from the U.S. and European countries that purchase much of Thailand’s seafood exports. (Thailand is the fourth-largest seafood exporter in the world).

For U.S. retailers and seafood importers, ferreting slavery out of the supply chain has proved exceedingly difficult. Fishing occurs far from shore, often out of sight, while exploitation and abuse on vessels stem from very complex social and economic dynamics.

“Companies didn’t know how to navigate solving the problem,” says Sara McDonald, Seafood Watch project manager for the Slavery Risk Tool.

The new Seafood Watch database, which took two years to design, assigns slavery risk ratings to specific fisheries and was developed in collaboration with Liberty Asia and the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership. Like Seafood Watch’s color-coded ratings, the Seafood Slavery Risk Tool aims to keep it simple — a set criteria determines whether a fishery will earn a critical, high, moderate or low risk rating.

A “critical risk” rating, for example, means credible evidence of forced labor or child labor has been found within the fishery itself. Albacore, skipjack and yellowfin tuna caught by the Taiwanese fleet gets a critical risk rating. A “low risk” fishery, like Patagonian toothfish in Chile (also known as Chilean seabass), is one with good regulatory protections and enforcement, with no evidence of abuses in related industries.

Read the full story at National Public Radio