Source: Univision

Mexico has announced that it will defend the favorable ruling by a panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding the conflict with the U.S. on Mexican tuna.

Following the US decision to file an appeal in the WTO dispute, the Mexican Ministry of Economy released a statement that it will submit a counter-appeal to the WTO “in the next five days” by presenting a new defense of its arguments against the United States’ restrictions and “discrimination” to Mexican tuna by the ‘dolphin-safe’ labeling.

“This measure affects Mexico more than any other exporter,” the Mexican Ministry explained the move in its announcement.

On September 15th, a WTO panel found that the US measures were a governmental regulation that was more trade-restrictive than necessary and thus in violation of the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

Although the panel recognized the U.S. right to aim at preventing non-observed mortalities and injuries to dolphins through its labeling measures, it made this conclusion after a lengthy discussion of the label’s effectiveness and whether mortalities and serious injuries occur with other practices in other regions. On the basis of that discussion it found that the label was not able to achieve this objective and was therefore more trade restrictive than necessary.

After the U.S.’s decision to appeal, the Mexican Secretariat of Economy said that it would “carefully review” the arguments presented by the U.S. against the panel’s ruling. The restrictive and discriminatory effects of the U.S. labeling measures have limited Mexican tuna exports to the US market despite the Mexican fleet’s compliance “with the highest international standards for the protection of dolphins”.

The ‘dolphin-safe’ provisions “are more trade-restrictive than necessary to achieve a legitimate objective, taking into account the risks that non-fulfillment would create,” the WTO judges said in a statement announcing their ruling.

Mexico will defend the favorable ruling of the panel and will point out that the labeling is “an unnecessary obstacle to the trade in tuna,” which violates the WTO multilateral rules.

In the appeal process, Mexico will request to review the unfavorable issues, particularly the “discriminatory aspects that affect Mexico more than any other exporter.”

According to the Secretariat, regardless the outcome of the negotiations, there are aspects that have been asserted by the WTO that cannot be modified, such as the fact that “Mexico fishes tuna under the most advanced international standards for the protection of dolphins.”

Another aspect is that some fishing methods endorsed by the U.S. actually do cause “death and harm to dolphins and other marine species.”

Based on the scheduled deadlines, the Mexican Secretariat of Economy expects that “the final decision of the WTO Appellate Body will be known in late April.”

Mexico filed its complaint against the U.S. at the WTO in October 2008 for denying the use of….

West Coast Governors Alliance on Ocean Health (WCGA) is pleased to announce the following two updates…. Read more (Commercial Fishermen of Santa Barbara)

SET-listed Thai Union Frozen Products Plc (TUF), the world’s largest canned tuna company, expects annual revenue to rise to US$8 billion by 2020 on continuous growth in global food demand…. Read more (Bangkok Post)

18 January, 2012 – Tuesday’s news that the Alaska salmon fishery is no longer pursuing Marine Stewardship Council re-certification will have no immediate impact on the Alaska pollock fishery…. Read more (SeafoodSource.com)

Pacific Island tuna treaty negotiations with the United States have concluded in Nadi with breakthroughs on conservation and access fees…. Read more (ABC Radio Australia)

California Department of Fish and Game News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – January 17, 2012

Contact:
Jordan Traverso, DFG Communications, (916) 654-9937

MarineBIOS, Marine and Coastal Map Viewer

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) today announced a new marine and coastal map viewer, called MarineBIOS. This interactive map is a new tool for accessing California statewide marine spatial planning data. Users can visually explore and retrieve pertinent marine and coastal spatial planning information compiled for past and present DFG projects, including Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning.

Located at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/gis/viewer.asp, the website is an in-depth source of information about California’s MPAs, as well as some of the more common spatial planning data that was used to create those MPA regulations. For example, users may look up information on the distribution of kelp canopies, benthic and intertidal habitats, important marine managed areas or points of interest relevant to marine user groups.

The site is a strong starting point for potentially adding data and customized tools in support of DFG projects and constituents.

“This map viewer marks a significant milestone in our effort to manage and make available planning data for marine and coastal constituents,” DFG Director Charlton H. Bonham said. “It’s also cost-effective as it was done in-house, using existing department technology and expertise.”

DFG’s Marine Region and Biogeographic Data Branch collaborated to develop this new website by building on existing DFG Geographic Information System capability. This map viewer was developed entirely in-house and is part of a larger program called Biogeographic Information and Observation System (BIOS) that provides data-rich web map viewers for DFG, its constituents and partners. More information about the DFG Marine Region is available at www.dfg.ca.gov/marine. The DFG Biogeographic Data Branch website is located at www.dfg.ca.gov/biogeodata.

The major Alaska salmon producers: Trident Seafoods, Icicle Seafoods, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Peter Pan Seafoods, Alaska General Seafoods, E & E Foods, Kwikpak Fisheries and North Pacific Seafoods, have decided not to continue with the Marine Stewardship Council certification program for Alaska salmon beyond October, 2012…. Read more (SeafoodNews.com)

Food and beverage company Dongwon Group is interested in acquiring Spanish canned tuna producer Luis Calvo Sanz, SA. (Grupo Calvo)…. Read more (FIS News)

View Newsletter

The paleolithic diet is pretty popular among Americans right now. The basic idea is that humans during the Paleolithic (about 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago), were healthier (and presumably skinnier) than we are now, and so if we eat what THEY ate (based on “hunter-gatherer” diets rather than our modern agriculturally based model), we might be healthier too. The diet consists of veggies, fruit, grass fed meat, and nuts, but with very little dairy or grains. And the diet is VERY heavy in FISH…. Read more (Scientific American)

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Source: The Washington Post

In an effort to sustain commercial and recreational fishing for the next several decades, the United States this year will become the first country to impose catch limits for every species it manages, from Alaskan pollock to Caribbean queen conch.

Although the policy has attracted scant attention outside the community of those who fish in America and the officials who regulate them, it marks an important shift in a pursuit that has helped define the country since its founding.

Catch limits are intended to protect the 528 species in federally managed fisheries.

Unlike most recent environmental policy debates, which have divided neatly along party lines, this one is about a policy that was forged under President George W. Bush and finalized with President Obama’s backing.

“It’s something that’s arguably first in the world,” said Eric Schwaab, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s assistant administrator for fisheries. “It’s a huge accomplishment for the country.”

Five years ago, Bush signed a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which dates to the mid-1970s and governs all fishing in U.S. waters. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers joined environmental groups, some fishing interests and scientists to insert language in the law requiring each fishery to have annual catch limits in place by the end of 2011 to end overfishing.

Although NOAA didn’t meet the law’s Dec. 31 deadline — it has finalized 40 of the 46 fishery management plans that cover all federally managed stocks — officials said they are confident that they will have annual catch limits in place by the time the 2012 fishing year begins for all species. (The timing varies depending on the fish, with some seasons starting May 1 or later.) Some fish, such as mahi-mahi and the prize game fish wahoo in the southeast Atlantic, will have catch limits for the first time.

Until recently the nation’s regional management councils, which write the rules for the 528 fish stocks under the federal government’s jurisdiction, regularly flouted scientific advice and authorized more fishing than could be sustained, according to scientists.

Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group, said the law’s ban on overfishing forced fishery managers to impose limits that some commercial and recreational fishers had resisted for years.

“This simple but enormously powerful provision had eluded lawmakers for years and is probably the most important conservation statute ever enacted into America’s fisheries law,” Reichert said.

And unlike many environmental regulations, which are written and enforced by Washington officials, the fishing limits were established by regional councils representing a mix of local interests.

“Because the final decisions were left on the local level, you have a higher assurance of success,” said James L. Connaughton, who helped prepare the reauthorization bill while chairing the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “If it had been imposed in Washington, we’d still be stuck in 10 years of litigation.”

But the changes have not come without a fight, and an array of critics are seeking to undo them. Some commercial and recreational operators, along with their congressional allies, argue that regulators lack the scientific data to justify the restrictions. And they suggest that the ambitious goals the law prescribes, including a mandate to rebuild any depleted fish stock within a decade, are arbitrary and rigid.

Source: Business Mirror

The two-year ban on purse-seine tuna fishing in the Pacific Ocean high sea pockets has been extended for another three months following the deferment until March of last month’s scheduled annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission or WCPFC, a tuna industry leader here said.

Marfenio Tan, director of the Socsksargen Federation of Fishing and Allied Industries Inc. (SFFAII), said the eighth regular session of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean or WCPFC8 was moved to March 26-30 in Guam from its Dec. 5-9, 2011 schedule in Koror, Palau.

He said the postponement of the meeting extended for another three months the resolution of the purse-seine fishing ban in pockets of the Pacific Ocean that practically slowed down the tuna fishing industry here in the last two years.

“The WCPFC will convene on the last week of March in Guam and part of the discussions will center on whether the fishing ban will be extended or [purse-seine fishing in the Pacific] will be totally banned,” Tan said.

The WCPFC, a treaty-based organization that leads the conservation and management of fish stocks in the Pacific Ocean, imposed a two-year fishing ban starting on Jan. 1, 2010 in two pockets of the high seas in the western and eastern areas to replenish the dwindling stocks of the highly migratory tuna species.
Pocket one covers Palau, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, which are the areas closest to the Philippines and where local purse seine tuna fishing companies operate.

In an official notice dated Dec. 22, 2010, to cooperating non-members and participating territories, WCPFC executive director Prof. Glenn Hurry noted that the WCPFC8 meeting will take place on March 26-30 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Guam with logistical and administrative support from the US and Guam officials.

The notice did not cite the reasons for the postponement of the meeting but a report posted last week at the global tuna resource website www.atuna.com said WCPFC8 “has been shifted to Guam after a fire in November at Palau’s main power plant.”

The incident, which forced electricity rationing in Palau’s capital of Koror, reportedly prompted the commission to move the meeting to Guam in March.

The national government earlier constituted a team composed of officials from the departments of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry, Mindanao Development Authority and fishing industry leaders to push for the country’s agenda in the WCPFC meeting, among them the lifting of the fishing ban.

The team was tasked to present the country’s position in the discussions on the stock status of key tuna species and evaluation of the WCPFC’s Conservation and Management Measure (CMM) 2008-01, which provided for the two-year fishing ban.

The Tuna Canners Association of the Philippines ( TCAP)  earlier reported that the country’s tuna production dropped by 20 percent in the first three quarters of 2011 as a result of the continuing fishing ban.

Around 2,000 workers from tuna fishing companies in General Santos city affected by the fishing ban had been so far displaced and availed of livelihood and emergency employment assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment since early 2010.

Source: Newstrack

A certain omega-3 fatty acid, which is present in marine fishes like salmon or tuna plays a vital role in determining male fertility, a new study has revealed.

A University of Illinois study reported that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is necessary to construct the arch that turns around, immature sperm cell into a pointy-headed super swimmer with an extra long tail.

“Normal sperm cells contain an arc-like structure called the acrosome that is critical in fertilization because it houses, organizes, and concentrates a variety of enzymes that sperm use to penetrate an egg,” said Manabu Nakamura, a U of I associate professor of biochemical and molecular nutrition.

The study shows for the first time that DHA is essential in fusing the building blocks of the acrosome together.

“Without DHA, this vital structure doesn’t form and sperm cells don’t work,” said Timothy Abbott, a doctoral student who co-authored the study.

The scientists became intrigued with DHA’s role in creating healthy sperm when they experimented with “knockout” mice that lack a gene essential to its synthesis.

“We looked at sperm count, shape, and motility, and tested the breeding success rate. The male mice that lacked DHA were basically infertile,” Nakamura said.

“But when DHA was introduced into the mice’s diet, fertility was completely restored. It was very striking. When we fed the mice DHA, all these abnormalities were prevented,” he said.

The scientists then used confocal laser scanning (3D) microscopy to look at thin slices of tissue in progressive stages of a sperm cell’s development.

By labeling enzymes with fluorescence, they could track their location in a cell.

“We could see that the acrosome is constructed when small vesicles containing enzymes fuse together in an arc. But that fusion doesn’t happen without DHA,” he said.

In the absence of DHA, the vesicles are formed but they don’t come together to make the arch that is so important in sperm cell structure, he added.

Source: WWF

A skipjack tuna fishery managed by eight Pacific Island nations has been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), a move WWF says will promote the future health of tuna stocks in the region, bring major benefits to the fishing industry, and have positive repercussions for consumers around the world.

The certification has been awarded conditionally to the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) purse seine free-schooling skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) fishery, managed by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Convention.

The PNA free school skipjack catch equates to an annual of harvest of 275,000 metric tons – roughly the same weight as 490 fully-fuelled Airbus A380s – at a value of approximately US$1.3 billion at the retail level, with minimal by-catch of other species and juvenile tuna. Consumers, in the not too distant future, could see close to one billion 185 gram cans of tuna harvested from this MSC-certified sustainable fishery on supermarket shelves.

“The Western and Central Pacific skipjack stock hold about 20 per cent of the world’s tuna stock. This is the largest tuna fishery to have achieved MSC certification, a standard that will help ensure this valuable fishery can achieve a healthy state,” says Mark Schreffler, Fisheries Policy Officer, WWF Western Melanesia Program.

However, Schreffler cautions that there is still a great deal of work to be done by the PNA, the WCPFC and its partners over the next few years to fully meet the conditions set by the assessment.

“The challenge now is the implementation of robust harvest strategies and reference points by the WCPFC in partnership with the PNA. WWF believes effective, sustainable fisheries management of the Western and Central Pacific tuna stocks must also occur at the Commission level as well as within the waters of the PNA,” says Mr. Scheffler.

WWF will continue to work with the WCPFC, PNA and member states to meet the conditions of the certification and help ensure that the PNA fishery can maintain its MSC certification.

The PNA has done much in developing a collaborative approach to more sustainable fisheries management that has significantly boosted their capacity to assist in managing the region’s tuna fisheries in a manner consistent with the MSC certification and their individual national development aspirations.
Thank you for your support of American Albacore Fishing Association and the U.S. Pole&Troll Albacore Fishery.

Natalie Webster
Director of Operations
619-559-1340 cell
619-941-2307 office

nataliewebster@americanalbacore.com	Jan 10 (1 day ago)
to me, joelcardoza

Tuna Could Help Making More Babies  United States, January 10, 12
Source: Newstrack

A certain omega-3 fatty acid, which is present in marine fishes like salmon or tuna plays a vital role in determining male fertility, a new study has revealed.

A University of Illinois study reported that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is necessary to construct the arch that turns around, immature sperm cell into a pointy-headed super swimmer with an extra long tail.

“Normal sperm cells contain an arc-like structure called the acrosome that is critical in fertilization because it houses, organizes, and concentrates a variety of enzymes that sperm use to penetrate an egg,” said Manabu Nakamura, a U of I associate professor of biochemical and molecular nutrition.

The study shows for the first time that DHA is essential in fusing the building blocks of the acrosome together.

“Without DHA, this vital structure doesn’t form and sperm cells don’t work,” said Timothy Abbott, a doctoral student who co-authored the study.

The scientists became intrigued with DHA’s role in creating healthy sperm when they experimented with “knockout” mice that lack a gene essential to its synthesis.

“We looked at sperm count, shape, and motility, and tested the breeding success rate. The male mice that lacked DHA were basically infertile,” Nakamura said.

“But when DHA was introduced into the mice’s diet, fertility was completely restored. It was very striking. When we fed the mice DHA, all these abnormalities were prevented,” he said.

The scientists then used confocal laser scanning (3D) microscopy to look at thin slices of tissue in progressive stages of a sperm cell’s development.

By labeling enzymes with fluorescence, they could track their location in a cell.

“We could see that the acrosome is constructed when small vesicles containing enzymes fuse together in an arc. But that fusion doesn’t happen without DHA,” he said.

In the absence of DHA, the vesicles are formed but they don’t come together to make the arch that is so important in sperm cell structure, he added.