Bluefin Tuna Fishing Ban Fails in EU

Posted 9/21/2009

Bill aims to save American Samoa tuna jobs

U.S. Rep Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would provide subsidies to companies that deliver seafood to American Samoa to be processed…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/21/2009

High-tech fishing devices wipe out tuna

Environment groups are calling for a permanent ban on ”deadly” artificial fishing devices used to attract huge tuna catches in the Pacific after scientific reports found that stocks of bigeye tuna are collapsing…. Read more (Sydney Morning Herald)

Posted 9/21/2009

Obama announces ocean policy reforms

Posted 9/21/2009

September 2009 Activity Report

Download (DOC)

Posted 9/21/2009

First Global Sustainable Seafood Lunch

On September 30, the first global Sustainable Seafood Lunch will be held, all the way from the US to New Zealand. Restaurants to businesses and even airliners will be coming together with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to highlight the availability of sustainable seafood. The event will take place at your local lunchtime all around the globe…. Read more (Mimi’s blog)

Posted 9/21/2009

Philippines secures funds to sustain tuna industry

Read article on Intrafish.com (subscription required)

Posted 9/21/2009

Maine lobstermen launch collaborative company

Lobstermen from Chebeague Island and other Casco Bay, Maine, communities announced on Monday the launch of Calendar Islands Lobster Co. Calendar Islands is a fishermen-owned, vertically integrated business…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/21/2009

American Samoa eyes stimulis money to overcome economic turmoil

The American Samoa Governor, Togiola Tulafono, is banking that the estimated more than 130 million US dollars in federal stimulus money will spark the local economy because the territory is facing economic turmoil…. Read more (Radio New Zealand)

Posted 9/15/2009

Calvo accused of dumping canned tuna

Spanish canned tuna company Calvo is in hot water with Costa Rica over allegations of unfair trade practices…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/15/2009

Fishes: Pole-and-line Pacific skipjack on shelves by 2011

Posted 9/15/2009

Bluefin fishing in Pacific curtailed

Read article on Intrafish.com (subscription required)

Posted 9/15/2009

Friend of the Sea seeks purse seiners

Read article on Intrafish.com (subscription required)

Posted 9/11/2009

Sodexo commits to MSC in North America

Sodexo on Tuesday announced that by 2015 all of its contracted wild seafood purchases in North America will originate from Marine Stewardship Council-certified fisheries…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/11/2009

Fishing Finder: TBF succeeds in push of Vessel Monitoring System in Costa Rican waters

New regulations enacted by INCOPESCA, the Costa Rican fisheries agency, will require electronic vessel monitoring systems (VMS) on all commercial vessels larger than 56 feet that operate in Costa Rican waters. These rules were published on Aug. 5 and all affected vessels must have operational systems within six months of that date…. Read more (ESPN)

Posted 9/11/2009

Spain backs red tuna protection measures

Posted 9/11/2009

Q&A: Pascale Etrillard, Connetable

The French market for sustainable seafood appears to be maturing as consumer expectations grow. Connetable, which has specialized in canned fish for more than 150 years, has tapped into this burgeoning opportunity, recently launching a range of Marine Stewardship Council-certified canned fish products…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/11/2009

U.S. approves open-ocean aquaculture in Gulf

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday announced its intent to establish a regulatory framework for open-ocean aquaculture in federal waters, designed to simplify and accelerate the permitting process and protect the marine environment…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/11/2009

Demand up for pole-and-line tuna

Posted 9/3/2009

Greenpeace confiscates banned tuna fishing device

Posted 9/3/2009

Pew urges NMFS to protect bluefin tuna

The Pew Environment Group on Tuesday joined 14 fishing and conservation organizations and the public in urging the National Marine Fisheries Service to reject its proposal allowing commercial longline fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico to keep more bluefin tuna than currently permitted…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 9/3/2009

Greenpeace: More than 70 million cans of pole-and-line tuna ordered

Posted 9/3/2009

Taiwanese ships caught illegally transferring tuna at sea

Two Taiwanese longline tuna fishing vessels have been caught illegally transferring fish at sea by Greenpeace…. Read more (WorldFishing.net)

Posted 9/3/2009

Pending EU rule to have big impact on developing countries

Posted 9/3/2009

Expansion In Ghana Of Pole And Line Tuna Fisheries

Trading Ltd of Mundon UK , the exclusive European agent for Myroc foods Ghana are pleased to announce Myroc have purchased their first two tuna fishing vessels to help support a steady supply of “frozen on board ” tuna fish to their tuna canning and pouch factory. Bill Hollis said, this new development is very exciting as it will help continuity of supply to the factory avoiding disruption to production. They should both set sail within the next week or so. We are also delighted that one of the new fishing vessels is a pole and line fishing boat meeting the demands of the market. About half of Myroc’s production is made from pole and line caught tuna, these vessels all of which are have on board brine freezing capacity. Myroc supplies both canned and pouch tuna too many well known importers brands in the European market for industrial and retail use. Myroc products have a sailing time from Ghana to Europe of just two weeks and a flexible attitude to customers demands Myroc is a great choice for a supply partner. (Source: Hollis Trading Ltd Press Release)

Posted 9/3/2009

Photo gallery: Greenpeace catches longliners

Posted 9/3/2009

Demand up for pole-and-line tuna

Posted 8/30/2009

Delegates gather in Philippines to talk tuna

This weekend’s Tuna Festival is something of a tourist attraction for General Santos City in the Philippines. But this year the celebration takes on a more serious note as it runs concurrently with the Tuna Conference…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 8/30/2009

Tuna measure ‘highly unlikely’ to meet goals

A new conservation and management measure in the western and central Pacific are “highly unlikely” to restore bigeye and yellowfin tuna to sustainable levels…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 8/24/2009

Tuna scientists find Pacific tuna stocks more threatened than ever

Greenpeace is calling for urgent action to rescue Pacific tuna fisheries after the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC, or the Pacific Tuna Commission) Science meeting concluded that stocks have declined even further…. Read more (WorldFishing.net)

Posted 8/24/2009

Overfishing spurs call to halve bigeye tuna catch

Posted 8/24/2009

Canned sustainable American albacore tuna now on sale in the UK

Canned tuna is a UK food cupboard staple, bought by nearly 90% of households. As the second biggest consumer in the world, the UK can have a massive impact on improving the sustainability of the fishing that fills the cans…. Read more (WorldFishing.net)

Posted 8/20/2009

Mercury report doesn’t involve commercial seafood

Posted 8/20/2009

ISSF sets albacore assessment deadline

As part of its efforts to support scientifically sound conservation and management of global tuna stocks, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) on Monday announced it is calling for a scientific assessment of Mediterranean albacore…. Read amore (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 8/20/2009

MSC-certified tuna gets foodservice launch

Posted 8/17/2009

First tuna purse seine fishery certified as sustainable

Posted 8/17/2009

Going beyond MSC

Posted 8/17/2009

New seafood card for pregnant women

Posted 8/13/2009

Tuna supplies shrink, prices rise

Posted 8/13/2009

Albacore Research in the News

Scientists are set to study the earbones and organs of more than 2000 albacore tuna to better understand the growth, age and breeding patterns of this increasingly important species…. Read more (Hantu Bloggers)

Posted 8/11/2009

Study says seafood may reduce pregnancy depression

Posted 8/5/2009

Industry buoyed by ‘optimistic’ study

Posted 8/5/2009

Colombia Protects Tuna in Eastern Pacific Ocean

A landmark decision that gives hope for the future of the tuna stocks in the Eastern Pacific has been reached after the Colombian government agreed to support an annual ban…. Read more (Happy News)

Posted 8/5/2009

Bluefin tuna study nears completion

An international team of researchers is working on a paper on the state of adult Atlantic bluefin tuna and their prey, particularly herring. The paper will soon be submitted to the journal Marine Biology…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 7/31/2009

Poll: Is the MSC good for seafood?

Posted 7/31/2009

’2048′ author back with new fisheries report

Posted 7/31/2009

Compass ups ‘fish to avoid’ list

Atlantic halibut, redfish, plaice, dogfish and bluefin and bigeye tuna are among the species the Compass Group refuses to sell at its 6,500 sites in the United Kingdom and Ireland to due sustainability concerns, the foodservice operator announced on Wednesday…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 7/31/2009

Morrisons yellowfin importer seeks MSC

Posted 7/29/2009

There’s ‘overfishing’, then there’s ‘overfishing’

Posted 7/29/2009

Greenpeace: CITES listing ‘last chance’ for bluefin

Posted 7/29/2009

FBD: Peruvian government forbids tuna and tuna-like species fishing in the EPO for the next two months

The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) resolution stated a conservation program for yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna, and skipjack tuna in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) between 2009 and 2011…. Read more (Food Biz Daily)

Posted 7/29/2009

EU scientists accused of ‘misleading’ stock assessments

Posted 7/29/2009

Survey shows hankering for sustainable seafood

Posted 7/29/2009

Demand drives tuna fisheries to MSC

Posted 7/29/2009

Report outlines global tuna stocks Report outlines global tuna stocks

A new report by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) details the status of the world’s global tuna stocks. The report covers four of the five species supporting commercial tuna fishing — bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and albacore…. Read more (Viet Fish)

Posted 7/28/2009

More U.K. chefs embrace sustainability

Posted 7/28/2009

Peru bans tuna fishing during 2 months

Tuna and tuna-like species fishing will be banned under the jurisdiction of Peru in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), from 1 August to 28 September 2009…. Read more (LivingInPeru.com)

Posted 7/28/2009

Little change in top 10 U.S. seafoods list

Posted 7/28/2009

Japan Fights Tuna Overcapacity And Stimulates Consumption

Japan’s recent change from fish-and-rice eaters to cheeseburgers has been affecting its tuna industry for a while now. Some local groups such as the Organization for the Promotion of Responsible Tuna Fisheries (OPRT) is trying to promote the benefits of eating tuna meanwhile fights to reduce capacity around the world. Understand the contradiction and how Japan is dealing with sustainability issues in this interview with Yuichiro Harada, Managing Director of OPRT. Despite its “green” name, the Organization is very industry orientated. Japan currently has 1.997 longliners and 246 purse seiners fishing for tuna worldwide…. Read article on Atuna (subscription required)

Posted 7/28/2009

Alaska exports of salmon roe to Japan look much improved this year

A combination of a stronger yen and weakened European demand means that Alaskan exports to Japan of ikura and sujiko (the two main forms of salmon roe) will get a boost this year, and seem likely to surpass the very low levels achieved in 2008. In other news, the Fraser River sockeye run is looking promising, with some BC sources saying it could exceed 10 million fish. Though not large by historical standards, this is much better than the 1 to 2 million fish runs in recent years, and will result in a good commercial fishery…. Read article on Seafood News (subscription required)

Posted 7/28/2009

Tuna firm doubles workforce in Chiapas

MEXICO, June 24 – The Herdez Group has doubled its staff to 900 employees less than a year after opening the tuna plant in Port Chiapas and after only four months of initiating operations there. Company executives hope to staff 1,100 workers by 2011, after an expected investment of more than MXN 200 million (USD 15 million)…. Read more (FIS News)

Posted 7/28/2009

Malta downplays calls for bluefin tuna trade ban

Posted 7/28/2009

Germany joins other EU nations in call for bluefin ban

Read article on Intrafish.com (subscription required)

Posted 7/28/2009

Thai Union Frozen Up On Strong Expected Profits

Pacific Council To Meet On Tuna Quota Management

Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council—which was established by Congress to manage fisheries in the offshore waters of Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and other US Pacific island areas—will convene July 22 to 25, 2009, at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

Posted 7/13/2009

Tuna Dreams & Realities: What Do Pacific Islanders Want?

Research performed by Hannah Parris, from the Australian National University, illustrates the actions and aspirations of six Pacific Island states in developing their tuna industry in an article entitled:

Tuna dreams and tuna realities: Defining the term “maximizing economic returns from the tuna fisheries” in six Pacific Island states The moment is especially important to understand the particularities of those small states due to the imminent necessity of reducing tuna capacity worldwide. While developed nations fight to “freeze” capacity, emerging tuna fishing states intend to extend it. In addition, foreign investments in the tuna industry have better chances to succeed if aligned with their aspirations…. Read article on Atuna (subscription required)

Posted 7/13/2009

America Uses Treaty To Defy New Tuna Fishing Rules

Next year, as Asian and European purse seiners begin reducing their catches of bigeye tuna, the United States will be doing just the opposite—to a chorus of criticism from environmentalists and Pacific islands nations…. Read more (Island News)

Posted 7/10/2009

How Much Fish For Health? We’ll Tell You.

Posted 7/10/2009

Two-thirds of world’s tuna stocks overfished

Read full article on Intrafish.com (subscription required)

Posted 7/10/2009

Obama Might Reverse Samoa Minimum Wage Hike – To Keep Cannery

A minimum wage petition that began to circulate in the territory yesterday calls on U.S. President Barack Obama to reverse the mandated minimum wage increases imposed on American Samoa, because it’s “causing undue economic turmoil and hardship in the territory.”

Additionally, the petition asks Obama for “the provisions pertaining to American Samoa in the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (Public Law 110-28) be repealed” and for the process of setting minimum wage rates in the territory be returned to Special Industry Committees…. Read more (Samoa News)

Posted 7/10/2009

Maldives Gov’t To Discuss Tuna Boat Loan Re-Payment With Banks

To ease the difficulties faced by boat owners in repaying the loans they had taken from banks, the cabinet has decided to negotiate with banks on extending the repayment duration from six years to ten years. The cabinet made this decision at today’s cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Vice President Dr Waheed. The decision was made after discussing the recommendations of the ministerial sub-committee that was appointed to explore the possibility of opening skipjack tuna industry for more investors. The cabinet also decided to allocate from an ADB facility – which was to be dispersed by the Ministry of Economic Development – to small and medium fisheries businesses. A further measure decided by the cabinet was to provide training on long-line fishing to local fishermen by overseas experts. The cabinet also decided to discuss with contracted companies doing skipjack tuna processing to see the possibility of providing more opportunities for small and medium businesses. The cabinet also discussed the participation of the Maldives in the Protocol on the Preferential Tariff Scheme Agreement for OIC countries. The cabinet decided to seek the approval of the People’s Majlis on this matter. The agreement provides for tariff reduction from imports among participating countries. (Source: Isria)

Posted 7/10/2009

India Tuna Exports Keep Growing

Beating the global economic downturn, marine products exports from India increased to Rs 8607.94 crore during 2008-09 even as China emerged the second largest market with exports of the country shown a 15 per cent rise in dollar terms. India exported 602,000 tons of seafood products during 2008-09, showing an increase of 11.29 per cent in quantity and 12.95 per cent in rupee earnings, Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) Chairperson Leena Nair shared Fish, the principal export item in quantity terms and the second largest export item in value, accounted for a share of about 40 per cent in quantity and 20 per cent in export earnings, she said. Nair also revealed that production of coastal aquaculture came down during 2008-09 with production touching 88,803 tons at an estimated value of Rs 1915 crore during the year. The Shrimp production from coastal aquaculture was 75,997 tons from the culture area of 108,000 hectares. Compared to the previous year, the decrease is about 28.4 per cent in production and 10.9 per cent in area. The production of fresh water prawn (Scampi) during the year was 12,806 tons from an area of 1,644 hectares showing a reduction of 53 per cent in production and 63 per cent in area utilization. The Chairperson said the MPEDA has also taken steps for increasing production from aquaculture, including GIS mapping in farm census and Traceablity. This has begun in Andhra Pradesh. “We are testing the results and would extend to other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Orissa,” she added. Exotic shrimp L Vannamei has also been introduced. She said Tuna will be another area of sizeable exports from India. The estimated potential of tuna in Indian EEZ is 213,000 tons. To exploit this resource, MPEDA has begun implementing a scheme for converting existing trawlers to tuna long liners. About 1000 vessels will be converted during this plan period to exploit about 90,000 tons of tuna. “So far 225 vessels have been converted,” she added. The export of tuna has increased from Rs 69.31 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 231.38 crore in 2008-09, a growth of 287 per cent. (Source: Business Standard)

Posted 7/10/2009

Indonesia & Thailand Seek Intensify Coop On Fishing

Eradicating illegal fishing in Indonesian waters and developing a tsunami warning system were among the subjects Indonesia and Thailand discussed during Thai Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Panich Vikitsreth’s two-day visit to Indonesia’s Aceh province last week. Vikitsreth met with Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, as both parties look to cement a stronger business relationship. “The Thai government will continue to provide technical support and exchange technology in agriculture, fisheries and other sectors to improve the lives of the Aceh people,” said Vikitsreth. The waters off Aceh are one of Southeast Asia’s most productive fishing grounds, so Thailand is working to ensure its fishermen operate lawfully there. The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, comes soon after Indonesia’s government passed a law allowing authorities to sink vessels fishing illegally in its waters. “We have discussed with the Aceh governor the rules and regulations and how Thai fishermen fishing in Indonesian waters can comply with the law,” said Vikitsreth. Cooperation between Thailand and Indonesia would also extend to seafood processing and storage technology. Thailand’s fishing industry is more technologically advanced than Indonesia’s, and Thailand’s government is willing to offer training to Indonesian fishermen. (Source: SeafoodSource.com)

The Senate appropriations bill covering the USDA and the FDA has language urging the FDA to pay more attention to seafood fraud, and also asks for more inspections of imported shrimp.

The tuna dispute, which remains without a full solution since it started 19 years ago by a judge in San Francisco, returned to the radar on the agenda of unresolved problems between Mexico and United States, following the Mexican complaint before the World Trade Organization (WTO). Government representatives from both Mexico as well as the USA have been negotiating the past few days to ensure that the dispute is brought before the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) instead of the WTO.

The initial request was filed by Mexico to the WTO under the administration of former President George W. Bush, last October. However, it was only recently that Washington requested Mexico’s to transfer the issue from a multilateral (WTO) to a bilateral (NAFTA) perspective. White House trade representative Ron Kirk said recently that the tuna issue raised by Mexico to the WTO “should be clearly resolved in the context of NAFTA and its dispute resolution mechanism”. Kirk, who announced last week a complaint with the WTO against China for alleged restrictions on exports of raw materials, denied that there is a double standard in seeking to resolve the dispute with China in the WTO, while that of Mexico before the NAFTA. However, several countries joined the process initiated by Mexico at the WTO in Geneva, which is seen as confirmation of the multilateral nature of the tuna issue. Even though the U.S. embargo on Mexican tuna -initiated in 1991- was suspended in 1997, the U.S. regulation supporting imports of tuna with the “Dolphin Safe” label prevents the full commercialization of the product in US. The label is statutory since 1990. However, since the past decade Mexico implemented an international tuna and dolphin conservation program, which has reduced the killing of this species at “biologically insignificant” levels according to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). In contrast, alternative methods of tuna fishing known as Fishing Aggregating Devices (FADS) has been identified as the reason for the collateral death of other marine species, according to environmental groups. Despite the requests, so far the Mexican government has shown no sign of intending to withdraw their complaint before the WTO and move it to NAFTA.

The tuna dispute within the WTO could take over an additional year before achieving a final solution. (Source: El Financiero)

Posted 7/7/2009

Indonesia, Thailand seek greater collaboration

Posted 7/7/2009

Gov’t Loans To Expand Hook & Line Fisheries

Philippines, July 7, 09 – The Department of Agriculture (DA) has extended a loan of P15 million (USD 310,000) without interest for a mature tuna producer in General Santos City to upgrade its fishing fleet, officials said Friday.

The DA in Central Mindanao inked the loan agreement with JK Fish Trade, which is owned by Jeremy S. Kintanar, under the Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (Acef).

Kintanar said his company was able to avail of the loan by providing an equity of P10 million (USD 205,000).

The entire fund will be used to make two additional hand-line tuna boats replete with 30 pakuras or smaller boats that hunt adult tuna stocks in the high seas, he said.

JK Fish currently operates two hand-line tuna boats, which employs the hook-and-line fishing method to capture large tuna usually marketed in fresh form to domestic and international markets. (Source: Sunstar)

Posted 7/7/2009

NFI calls for responsible journalism

The National Fisheries Institute on Monday released an open letter to media outlets urging them to provide fair and balanced coverage of the seafood industry and to view with skepticism information originating from environmental groups…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 7/7/2009

Tuna RFMOs talk cooperation

Elena Espinosa, Spain’s minister of environment and rural and marine affairs, called for the need to eradicate illegal tuna fishing and to promote RFMOs (Regional Fishery Management Organizations) as supporters of sustainable tuna fishing at last week’s Second Joint Tuna RFMO meeting in San Sebastian, Spain…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 7/7/2009

Ventura County Star: Some marine sites could be shut; input sought

The battle over the high seas is coming to Oxnard on Wednesday.

An open house will be held Wednesday to provide information on the establishment of marine protected areas off the South Coast. Six maps will be on display detailing spots that would be partially or completely closed to fishermen in the coming years, with the hope that the closure would help build fish populations…. Read more (California Fisheries Coalition)

Posted 7/6/2009

U.S. Imports Of Ecuadorian Tuna Pouch 30% Down

Ecuador major tuna product marketed in the United States, tuna in pouches, had its imports 30% down in the first quarter of 2009. From January to April, the U.S. imported 3.345 M/T of the product, while during the same period last year the quantity reached 4.647 M/T. Imports of tuna in pouches from Ecuador had been stable for the past three years; however, the South American country has been reporting lower exports of all tuna products since the beginning of 2009. According to Ecuadorian local media, the tuna sector is facing the problem of diminished credit availability, since companies will not continue receiving bank loans as they did in 2008. In addition, Ecuador negotiations to overcome the trade tariffs over canned tuna entering the U.S. are not progressing. As a consequence, the country has substantially increased its share of the European canned tuna market in the past two years. (Source: Atuna)

Posted 7/6/2009

WWF: Tuna Nations Have To Start Scrapping Vessels Now

At the 2nd RFMO-5 meeting in San Sebastian 50 members governments have decided to convene a series of workshops on the crucial and difficult issues of excess fishing capacity, illegal fishing and bycatch of turtles, sharks, juvenile tuna and other marine life. While encouraged by these plans, WWF is hoping the outcome will not mirror the result of the first meeting of tuna RFMOs in Kobe, Japan in 2007 – which produced a Plan of Action followed by little action. “Governments have set the right agenda at this meeting but workshops are not going to bring tuna back from the brink.” said Miguel Jorge, Marine Director at WWF International. “Talk is cheap, what we need is action right away.” WWF warned the meeting that simply capping fishing capacity at current levels would not be an adequate response to the issue of too many tuna boats chasing too few tuna worldwide. “Fishing capacity has to be reduced to a level set by scientific advice and adherence to the precautionary principle,” Jorge said. “It is vital also that reductions in capacity should not become a cover for freezing coastal and island developing states out of a fairer share of their own fisheries.” WWF proposed to the meeting that the capacity issue should be addressed following discussions around fair allocation of the resource with particular attention being paid to the aspirations of coastal and island developing states. The conservation organization also cautioned coastal and island developing states against using this process as carte blanche to ignore the realities of a limited, and in many cases severely depleted global resource. Principles for determining allocations which give a high priority to conservation need to be developed and debated and agreed upon with the utmost urgency. WWF also supports the initiative presented by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) to hold a workshop involving industry, RFMO national and other interested scientists to assess the impacts of purse seine fishing on juvenile tunas and non-target species, and determine best practices to reduce the impact of tuna fishing on the marine environment. WWF is calling on tuna fishing nations not to wait for the results of additional workshops to reducing the number of vessels chasing tuna. “The best available science already tells us that there are too many boats. Nations can stop building new boats and start scrapping vessels now.” Jorge said. Most of these nations will be meeting again very soon at the annual meetings of individual RFMOs, and fair and equitable allocation of the tuna resource between developed and developing nations must be the highest priority. (Source: Atuna)

Posted 7/6/2009

RFMO-5 Summit: Stuck On Overcapacity Issue

The second RFMO-5 Joint Meeting ended last Friday in San Sebastian, Spain, with several steps forward in creating harmonized scientific data and very little progress in overcapacity discussions.

The summit between the five tuna RFMOs – IATTC, ICCAT, IOTC, WCPFC and CCSBT – intended to discuss the developments done after the last meeting in 2007, held in Kobe – Japan, and to establish the “San Sebastian Course of Action” for the coming two years. In order to keep actions regarding the 14 key-areas established as “to be urgently addressed” by the RFMO-5 in 2007 going on, four workshops were scheduled last week. These workshops are to take place before the next Joint Meeting – which will be held in the United States in 2011.The workshops are:

-International workshop on RFMOs management of tuna fisheries;
-Improvement and harmonization of monitoring control measures;
-An international workshop on tuna RFMO issues relating to by-catch;
-A tuna RFMO science coordination working group.

One and a half day of the Summit were dedicated to discuss overcapacity and possible solutions for the issue. Even though presentations pointed out specific and practical measures, most of the discussion taking place was actually political. The open access to oceans up to today have created a situation in which developed nations owned the majority of the tuna fishing fleet worldwide regardless of their location – directly or through joint ventures. In between that process, small islands – which host rich tuna resources within their EEZ – had very little or no access to the profits of the business and are claiming now the rights to develop their own tuna industry fleet. However, most tuna fishing nations don’t see these inequalities as a reason to expand capacity. In other words, they know that what is increased at one end has to be cut from the other. Therefore, although overcapacity is common-sense affecting tuna fishing and the RFMOs believe to have data enough to estimate an optimum catch level, the real issue is in translating that into the number of vessels and allocating fishing quotas. Besides, discussions at the RFMO-5 Summit focused only on to “freeze” capacity, like reflagging vessels to developing nations for example, not in reducing it for good. Expectations are that the workshops will serve as a channel to establish what capacity is and how that should be measured in order to allocate tuna fishing quotas, but as mentioned before, even if the data is correct economical interest will still play the major role in this process. Countries and companies are not willing to give up their fishing rights, and talks about where and how much tuna each one can catch will be tough.The final report of the RFMO-5 Summit is yet to be disclosed.

More information will follow on Atuna.com. (Source: Atuna)

Posted 7/6/2009

U.S scallops may drop MSC bid

Posted 7/3/2009

Spain’s Albacora Group predicts sales rise to €170 million

Posted 7/3/2009

Thai Union New US Tuna Plant To Employ 200 Workers

Hundreds of new jobs are on the way to Lyons as Chicken of the Sea gets ready to open their only facility in Georgia.

The tuna processing and canning plant will employ at least 200 people. More jobs could come as suppliers, from can makers or labelers, move closer to the plant.

“I’ve said for years if it is just 20 jobs, it makes a difference to those families. But we’re looking at 200 plus jobs,” exclaimed Lyons Mayor John Moore. “This is very helpful in our community at this time.”

Company leaders stated the combination of proximity to the Savannah ports and small town hospitality drew them here.

“I’m impressed,” noted Chicken of the Sea International’s CEO Shue Wing Chan. “People are very friendly and very straight forward. I simply like the way we’ve being treated here.”

Chicken of the Sea is remodeling a once-vacant factory to open their only operation in Georgia. Contractors have spent the weeks since the first announcement digging up the floor to run water and gas lines throughout the 220,000 square foot plant.

The only construction they’ll need outside is a 16,000 square foot freezer they’ll keep at 0 degrees, moisture free. The loading and unloading docks will stay at 32 degrees.

The raw tuna will come straight here from the Port of Savannah.

“Once it is converted to finished product, we have all these beautiful highways that can take it to our markets,” explained company engineer Jim Cox.

They said the existing building saved them 9 to 12 months of construction.

Chicken of the Sea hopes to have gas lines completed and their boiler in operation August 15 with processing to begin October 1. (Source: TWOC)

Posted 7/3/2009

Increased Tuna Catch With Aquatice® Attractant

Kiotech finished another successful fishing trial using its Aquatice® pheromone bait attractant. The trial was commissioned by Marukyu Ltd, Kiotech’s Japanese distributor, with a pelagic (surface) long line fishing vessel.

The 150-ton commercial fishing boat operating in the North Pacific is part of the 25 strong long line fishing fleet from the Kessenuma port in Japan. The vessel reported increased catch rates when applying Aquatice® to the conventional baits compared with the catch rates of the other fleet members fishing in formation.

The long lines comprise 3,500 – 4,000 hooks and the bait remains in the water for 4-20 hours. For Aquatice® to be effective it is necessary for the active ingredients to be released slowly over a 15-20 hour period. Kiotech’s pheromone bait attractants are species specific and this brings significant environmental benefits. The quota of the target fish is achieved more precisely whilst at the same time reducing the by catch of unwanted species.

Kiotech plans to carry out its next trial with the Japanese tuna fleet. The global export value of tuna products is about US$5 billion from an annual catch of 4 million metric tons. Approximately 15 per cent of tuna is caught by pelagic long line vessels, which supply the higher value sushi, sashimi and general fresh fish markets. The majority of the tuna will be sold through the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. Japan consumes close to 80 per cent of the world’s supply of fresh tuna. (Source: AAF)

Posted 7/3/2009

RFMO-5 Give Green Light To Global Vessel ID System To Combat IUU

The Unique Vessel Identifiers (UVI) system for tuna fishing vessels and the harmonization of tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations vessel lists project has received thumbs up yesterday at the RFMO-5 Summit in San Sebastian, Spain. This decision was expected.

The UVI system consists of a common database of the global tuna vessel fleet’s information, by which vessels are identified by a unique number. The system can be compared to the license plate system for cars – which is used to check if drivers are insured or have paid their road tax. In this case the system will show if the vessels involved has a proper flag registration and information about its owner and tonnage.

All the five RFMOs – IATTC, ICCAT, WCPFC, CCBST and IOTC – already have their own tuna vessel records, however, a common shared UVI system is regarded as practical and helpful measure towards combating IUU fishing world-wide.

Even though the final resolution is yet to be released, the proposed process of implementation states that the RFMO-5 flag State members will have to provide all the additional information required by Lloyd’s Register (LR-F), the organization responsible for managing the UVI system.

A few of the required information not yet collected by all the tuna RFMOs are:

-Parent company of registered ship owner;
-Vessel communication types and numbers;
-Net tonnage;
-Shipbuilder and its nationality;
-Ship Manager;
-Parallel-in ships true ownership registration details;
-Parallel-out ships true owner details.

“The development of a UVI by the t-RFMOs will facilitate the exchange of vessel information among the t-RFMOs, support broader MCS efforts within and between each t-RFMOs (in respect of catch documentation, transshipment verification, port State measures, VMS operations, etc.) and make a positive contribution to related efforts within the FAO towards this goal”, concluded the proposal. (Source: AAF)

Posted 7/2/2009

Tuna RFMOs meeting in Spain

Posted 7/2/2009

Greenpeace report: eco-labels not credible

Posted 7/2/2009

Skipjack Price Reaches USD 1500 Psychological Barrier

Skipjack prices, CFR Bangkok, have reached USD 1.500 per M/T this week completing a “roller-coaster” year cycle, with prices for 1.8kg and UP reaching the top at USD 2.000 last June and dropping to USD 800 in December 2008. What seemed to be a well balanced recovery during the first quarter of 2009 is now leading to a market scare over again high tuna prices in the near future. Three major factors currently contribute to that: – Lower catches in the Indian Ocean (IO) and Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) and piracy in the northern IO is driving Spanish and French purse-seiners to other areas of less tuna abundance. In addition, intensive FAD fishing in the EPO has affected the bigeye population, reducing catches of the species. Both aspects have decreased the raw material supply from those areas…. Read more on Atuna.com (subscription required)

Posted 7/2/2009

FAD’s Help Double EPO Catching Efficiency

Fishing Aggregating Devices (FADs) increased catch efficiency in 50% in the Easter Pacific Ocean (EPO) and are also responsible for 77% of total discards in 2008. Yesterday, the RFMO responsible for managing the area, the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), has released last year’s data on catches, gears and discards. The total catches of the three major species – Yellowfin, Skipjack and Bigeye – reached 557.029 M/T in 2008, of which 48% (267.385 M/T) were caught in association with floating objects. FADs catch efficiency is double when compared to other methods. IATTC data shows that for every set the average retained tuna was 31 M/T, while fishing for free schools resulted in 14-15M/T per set…. Read more on Atuna.com (subscription required)

Posted 7/2/2009

RFMO-5 Summit: Joint Global Tuna Management Fantasy Or Reality?

The world’s 5 Tuna RFMOs are gathering this week in an attempt to work together to achieve global management of the world’s stocks, but how far are they from reaching such goal? The Second Joint Meeting of tuna RFMOs ( RFMO-5) is taking place in San Sebastian, Spain, with main objectives consisting in basically three aspects: 1) Review RFMOs’ accomplishments regarding Kobe1 Course of Action, 2) Implement the new “San Sebastian Course of Action” for the coming years and 3) to discuss overcapacity. The Kobe1 Course of Action refers to tuna management decisions made in 2007 at the first RFMOs’ meeting in Kobe, Japan. The actions included 14 key areas and challenges to be urgently addressed through effective cooperation and coordination among the five tuna RFMOs to improve their performance. Most of the areas to be addressed consisted essentially in sharing information and using the same criteria to assess data regarding tuna stocks by all RFMOs. In addition, combating IUU fishing, implement monitoring systems for tuna vessels, studying FADs’ affects on incidental catch and going through a performance review were also some of the measures to be taken into action in the past 2 years…. Read more on Atuna.com (subscription required)

Posted 7/1/2009

Calvo Group launches online seafood community

Posted 7/1/2009

Seven U.S. supermarkets pass Greenpeace ranking

Posted 06/30/2009

Chicken of Sea exec takes over at Empress International

Posted 06/30/2009

Greenpeace United Kingdom recently announced that several UK retailers made the commitment to switch their tuna supply from net-caught to pole-and-line tuna – what atuna.com is calling “an admirable and noble decision”, but one, which might prove not be fully realistic considering today’s tuna catching capacity…. Read more (World Fishing)

Posted 06/17/2009

Obama announces plan to protect O.C. beaches — President appoints task force to create national policy on ocean-quality issues across country

A consortium of conservation organizations is expressing aggravation over the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission’s (IATTC) indecision at its annual meeting in La Jolla, Calif., which concludes on Friday.

Comprised of 16 member countries, the IATTC is responsible for managing tuna fisheries in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO).

“For the past six meetings over more than two years the IATTC has not taken a single decision to manage tuna populations,” said the consortium. “As member countries bicker over the details of how to avoid further depleting stocks, tuna is not recovering. And it is not just conservation groups that say so, but rather the IATTC’s own scientists.”

“So who will look after the future of tuna? If recent history is repeated at the IATTC meeting this week in La Jolla, it will not be the IATTC,” said the consortium.(Seafoodsource.com)

Posted 06/11/2009

It’s show time for the IATTC as an impressive coalition demands it listen to its own scientists recommendations

An impressive coalition of environmental groups, NFI, the tuna industry, and the U.S. government are all demanding the IATTC (Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission) take action to manage big-eye tuna at their meeting this week. Whether they do so will go a long way towards defining if RFMO’s can successfully scientifically manage tuna resources. If they fail, the RFMO process for tuna may begin to unravel, as participants will demand more responsive management structures, and tuna will once again become a battleground for conservationists, as it was during the tuna-dolphin wars. That episode cost the tuna industry about 10% of its market share, and it is not a battle the industry wants to repeat…. Read article on Seafood.com (subscription required)

Posted 06/11/2009

Green groups seek to block MSC certification of whiting

Posted 06/11/2009

M&S switches entire tuna range

Posted 06/11/2009

Greenpeace: Most of French supermarkets’ fish unsustainable

Posted 06/11/2009

Sainsbury’s sees eco-labeled fish sales triple, pass €40 million

Posted 06/11/2009

Hotel, restaurant chain embraces sustainable seafood menu

Posted 06/10/2009

Methylmercury found in Calif. groundwater

University of California Santa Cruz researchers on Tuesday announced they detected a highly toxic form of mercury in groundwater flows at two coastal sites in California…. Read more (Seafoodsource.com)

Posted 06/10/2009

U.K. retailers making major tuna sourcing shifts

Posted 06/10/2009

NFI goes You Tube to refute Danson

Read article on Seafood.com (subscription required)

Posted 06/09/2009

Fishing industry MIA as senate subcommittee considers federal ocean zoning

Posted 06/09/2009

FFA Fisheries Trade News (Volume 2: Issue 5, May 2009)

Special Report: European Tuna Conference 2009. Read newsletter (Download PDF)

Posted 06/09/2009

Report: quarter-million U.S. kids scared off tuna

Posted 06/09/2009

Pirate fishing causing eco disaster and killing communities, says report

The new report confirms uncontrolled waves of violent, eco-damaging and illegal fishing activity worldwide, but with some of the biggest offences connected to the European market. Read more (The Guardian UK)

Posted 06/09/2009

Greenpeace re-releases Spanish retail report card

The organization graded Lidl the highest for its sustainable seafood purchasing policy, followed by Alcampo, El Corte Inglés, Eroski, Mercadona and Carrefour. Read more (The Guardian UK)

Posted 06/08/2009

Dismantling starts of American Samoa cannery

The Samoa Packing cannery has begun dismantling equipment from its Atuu plant in American Samoa and putting them in containers to be shipped out…. Read more (Radio New Zealand International)

Posted 06/08/2009

World tuna stocks: falling, falling, falling

Several tuna fisheries have collapsed and others are in steep decline as overfishing continues and world tuna stocks fall…. Read more (Manilla Times)

Posted 06/08/2009

ISSF: Retweet for tuna

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is tapping the social networking Web site Twitter to raise awareness of tuna overfishing…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Posted 06/08/2009

North Pacific Albacore ‘White Paper’

The purpose of this ‘White Paper’ is to review and analyze a range of reasonable management options for consideration in maintaining or reducing catch and/or effort in the U.S. North Pacific surface albacore fishery…. Read more (Download PDF)

Posted 06/08/2009

High street outlet stops selling tuna

Posted 06/08/2009

Twitter for tuna

Posted 06/05/2009

Tuna group keeps pressure on IATTC

Posted 06/05/2009

Fishing frenzy: Is the U.S. a rogue nation in an increasingly conservationist fishing world?

The United States, which likes to think of itself as the most enlightened of fishing nations, is coming under heavy criticism in the Western Pacific for contributing to the demise of some of the world’s last great tuna stocks–a remarkable accusation for an administration that prided itself on taking conservation and climate change seriously…. Read more (Honolulu Weekly)

Posted 06/05/2009

New film “End of the Line” scares people about seafood, yet is embraced by Waitrose in UK

A new film called “End of the Line” is being released next week. The film is based on Charles Glover’s book of the same name. It is designed specifically to scare people away from eating seafood, and is full of selective and questionable facts. Yet Waitrose, one of the largest UK retailers, has signed on as an active sponsor and is promoting, because they say not enough UK consumers recognize the need to buy sustainable fish. We look at the scare marketing strategy and find it comes up short – because it forces those who use it to reject any facts about seafood that don’t fit into their biases. It then becomes useless as a starting point for a discussion about improving fisheries…. Read article on Seafood News (subscription required)

Posted 06/04/2009

Waitrose calls for more sustainable fishing awareness

Posted 06/04/2009

News Summary, June 4, 2009: Today’s Main Stories: Showdown on future of tuna conservation coming at IATTC meeting in California. Failure to enact curbs could lead to widespread breakdown of RFMO authority.

The question of effective fishery management measures for big-eye tuna is coming to a head at the upcoming IATTC meeting. First, the primary problem with Big-Eye is in the Eastern Tropical pacific, but if the IATTC fails to act for the third year, it will likely doom other conservation measures for that species across the Pacific as well…. Read article on Seafood News (subscription required)

Posted 06/03/2009

Fishermen, environmentalists talk sustainability

Kick-started by a new sustainable initiative from the French government, fishermen and environmentalists met last week to discuss a range of fishing-related subjects…. Read more (Seafoodsource.com)

Posted 06/03/2009

Pacific nations: Give us our fair share of tuna revenue

Posted 06/03/2009

MSC chief nabs WWF award

Posted 06/03/2009

NOAA awards WWF grant

Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday announced it awarded the World Wildlife Fund a USD 364,000 (EUR 250,000) grant. The money will support the 2009 Smart Gear Competition, which awards prizes for innovative gear designs that reduce fisheries bycatch…. Read more (Seafood News Source)

Posted 06/01/2009

Marine protection act falls short of its goals

Californians concerned about protecting our ocean should pay attention to the ongoing Marine Life Protection Act process that’s supposed to improve ocean health, biodiversity, and marine ecosystems off the coast of California…. Read more (Santa Cruz Sentinel)

Posted 06/01/2009

Betrayal at its worst in MLPA process

Fishing interests involved in the Marine Life Protection Act process and those following it closely were outraged this week by a decision made by those running the show…. Read more (CFC Web Site)

Posted 06/01/2009

Eastern Pacific Ocean Tuna Red-listed

The tuna industry takes an unprecedented step toward sustainability…. Read more (Huliq News)

Posted 06/01/2009

Bumble Bee says no to American Samoa canner

The American tuna canning company, Bumble Bee, has no interest in taking over an American Samoa cannery from Samoa Packing…. Read more (Radio New Zealand)

Posted 06/01/2009

Sainsbury’s selling 100% sustainable tuna

Posted 06/01/2009

Restructuring sees Calvo sales leap to €415 million

Posted 06/01/2009

Morrisons launches MSC-labeled tuna

Posted 05/28/2009

Chinese company to build tuna cannery on Papua New Guinea

Posted 05/28/2009

Buyers biting on Greenpeace pole-and-line tuna petition

Posted 05/26/2009

Market demand sees Faroese fisheries seek MSC status

Posted 05/26/2009

Greenpeace report fails all Canadian retailers

Posted 05/23/2009

Canada’s largest supermarket going 100% sustainable seafood

Posted 05/23/2009

MSC, Scottish government partner

Posted 05/23/2009

Market demand sees Faroese pelagic fisheries seek MSC status

Posted 05/20/2009

‘American milestone’ as four stocks declared rebuilt

Posted 05/20/2009

Pew wades in on European fisheries policy debate

Posted 05/19/2009

Study: 80,000 deaths from omega-3 deficiency

Posted 05/19/2009

U.K. to push for big salt reductions in canned seafood

Posted 05/15/2009

Thousands lose jobs due to higher federal minimum wage

…Chicken of the Sea, the company, announced this month that it will close its canning plant in American Samoa in September…. Read more (Reuters)

Posted 05/15/2009

Stagnant tuna market causes Daito Gyorui slump

Posted 05/15/2009

ASDA: Loss of Alaska salmon MSC label would be ‘disappointing’

Posted 05/15/2009

Strong-arm sustainability

Posted 05/12/2009

Which Fish Is the Best Fish? Consider Omega-3s, Sustainability, and Mercury

“Eat fish,” the advice so frequently offered by health experts, sounds simple. In practice, it isn’t. When you step up to the seafood counter, you come with an array of priorities that don’t always dovetail: promoting heart health, sidestepping contaminants like mercury, and avoiding the purchase of fish produced in an unsustainable way…. Read more (US News & World Report)

Posted 05/12/2009

Albacore tuna fishery goes for MSC eco-label

A New Zealand troll-harvested albacore tuna fishery will undergo sustainability assessment by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an environmental certification firm for wild-capture fisheries…. Read more (FIS News)

Posted 05/12/2009

M&S launches ‘Eat Fish’ promotion

Posted 05/08/2009

StarKist: No changes in Samoa — for now

Posted 05/08/2009

Tuna coop defends fleet size

Posted 05/07/2009

UPDATE 1-Thai Union Frozen Q1 profits up, plans new US plant

BANGKOK, May 6 (Reuters) – Thai Union Frozen TUF.BK (TUF), Thailand’s biggest canned tuna exporter, said on Wednesday its first-quarter earnings rose 13 percent and it planned to spend $54-$60 million on a new U.S. plant and plant upgrades…. Read more (Reuters UK)

Posted 05/06/2009

Chicken of the Sea closing American Samoa tuna cannery, opening U.S. plant