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FishWise Attends Major International Forum on Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing
This week, FishWise’s Mariah Boyle is in London, England attending the 7th International Forum on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. Every year, the forum brings together over 100 leading policymakers, researchers, industry representatives and civil society groups from across the world to discuss the latest initiatives, regulations and research in the area of fisheries governance and trade in illegal fish products.
This year's forum will discuss the latest developments in Europe and West Africa, and also look at document schemes, port state measures and organized crime in the fishing sector.
In late 2011, Mariah visited Sierra Leone on the West Coast of Africa where she witnessed vessels (often from foreign countries) enter the country’s Inshore Exclusion Zone (IEZ) to fish. These vessels, if fishing without a permit, are part of a plethora of industrial fleets illegally taking an estimated 40% of the fish from the West African fisheries market. Mariah will bring this first hand experience to the forum and will look to help identify ways to curb this extremely damaging practice.
Look for an update on her time at the forum in this month’s newsletter. Sign up here!
Sustainable Seafood Symbolism in Chinese New Year Celebrations
By Elsie Tanadjaja
Being an Indonesian of Chinese descent, I always celebrated Chinese New Year when I was growing up. Now that I live in the U.S., half the world away from my parents, whenever I plan for Chinese New Year dinner, I have to go online to look up what dishes are traditionally served for this celebration. Usually the feast includes food that symbolizes prosperity and good wishes.
This year, I noticed how important seafood is to the menu, especially fish. Personally, I barely speak any Mandarin and I can't read the characters, but I am familiar with the Chinese love for homonyms and wordplay. The word for fish, "Yu", sounds like the word for wish and abundance, so fish is used to symbolize wishes for abundance in the New Year. Fish is also used to symbolize richness, plenty, surplus, luck, prosperity and happiness. Another important custom is to serve the fish whole, with head and tail intact, to signify a good beginning and ending for the year. Sometimes, leftovers from this fish are served on the following day to ensure continued abundance and prosperity for the rest of the year.
Thinking about these customs and their associated symbolism made me realize that they are inherently linked to the concept of sustainability. Perhaps, when shed in a different light, the idea of sustainable seafood would not appear new or foreign to the Chinese culture, but actually be seen as deeply ingrained in their traditional values. Maybe, by integrating intimate cultural understanding with our communications around sustainable seafood, we can effectively gain broader support in the Asian marketplace. Now that FishWise's work is reaching far beyond the U.S. and into countries like China, Thailand, Chile and Indonesia, I hope to learn more about how each culture expresses the idea of sustainability.
For assistance in planning a seafood meal please use the Seafood Watch guidelines and in honor of Chinese New Year, why not try this steamed fish recipe. For this auspicious year of the water dragon, I wish you a prosperous and wholesome year.
Pirates, Poverty, and Fishing in West Africa - Mariah Boyle
The following piece was taken from the most recent FishWise newsletter. To sign up for our mailing list, please follow the link.
I've just returned from a research trip to Sierra Leone. It's a nation recovering from civil war and struggling to protect its natural resources. Some estimate that more than 70% of the population lives on less than $1 a day, with 26% in extreme poverty. The nation's oceans are famously productive, but they are under threat from pirate fishing and a lack of local regulation.
I went to Sierra Leone to learn about the fish caught in local artisanal fisheries. You wouldn't think fish caught by men paddling dugout canoes could be in trouble, but they are. In Sierra Leone, vessels (often from foreign countries) come into the Inshore Exclusion Zone (IEZ) to fish. These vessels, if fishing without a permit, fall into the category of IUU - illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing. These are the pirate fishing vessels that are illegally taking an estimated 40% of the fish from the West African fisheries market. Estimates of fishing losses globally to illegal activity range from $10-23.5 billion, representing 11-26 million tons, based on a study by Agnew et al. 2009.
Over the course of my three week stay I was able to photograph about 70 species of fish and count over 5,000 fish. We will use this information to inform the creation of some Marine Protected Areas and give advice to the fishermen on how to best manage their fish stocks. During my stay there were illegal vessels fishing and I saw some of it firsthand. Piracy is a very real thing that is hurting West Africa in economic gains, livelihoods, and food security.
Want to do your part? Take action by sending a request to the UN to create a global record of fishing vessels. If you live in the Monterey Bay area, I'll be giving a talk on my research at Moss Landing Marine Lab on January 18th at 7pm.
FishWise In South America
FishWise staff members recently travelled to South America to attend the Global Aquaculture Alliance, Global Outlook for Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference in Santiago, Chile. The theme of the conference, “Double in a Decade-Responsibly”, was meant to address the looming challenge of how to rapidly, but sustainably, expand aquaculture production to meet skyrocketing global seafood demands. Seafood industry personnel, members of environmental organizations, government agencies and academic institutions all attended the conference. Presenters discussed current global aquaculture production statistics and new technologies, as well as the environmental concerns associated with aquaculture production as it increases worldwide.
With the GOAL conference held in Santiago this year, much attention was given to the recovery of Chile’s Atlantic salmon production after a devastating outbreak of the Infectious Salmon Anemia (ISA) virus in 2008. The ISA outbreak forced the closure of many farms and processing plants and caused many workers to lose their jobs. In response to the ISA crisis, Chilean authorities developed new laws and regulations to get the outbreak under control and to prevent future occurrences. These laws included the zoning of all salmon farms, decreased stocking densities and increased biosecurity measures. These new measures have helped to reduce reported cases of the ISA virus, allowing farms and processing plants to reopen and Chilean salmon production to recover to pre-outbreak production levels.
While in the region, FishWise staff members visited a salmon hatchery and several farms run by one of Chile’s largest salmon producers. The farms visited had strict fish health and biosecurity measures in place. We also toured an environmentally preferable closed containment hatchery facility in which 95% of all water used during production was re-circulated.
Despite the improved regulation and management, Atlantic salmon production in Chile remains a controversial practice. Farming is conducted in large open water net pens that allow for the release of animal waste and chemicals into the environment. The use of open net pens also increases the risk of Atlantic salmon escaping and having detrimental impacts on the ecosystem and other species. Aquaculture production of large carnivorous animals such as salmon also requires fish protein to be incorporated into their diets which can have significant impacts on wild fish populations that are harvested for fish meal and fish oil. For these reasons open net pen salmon farming remains on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch red list.
Record Price for Bluefin Tuna – A Case of Dollars Over Sense
The facts are indisputable that bluefin are declining worldwide and unless serious changes are made, are heading for extinction. They do not have a rightful place in the human diet. So what alternatives exist?
The Monterey Bay Aquarium suggests a number of alternatives for bluefin tuna on their Culinary Chart of Alternatives including U.S. Pacific albacore caught by pole/troll methods, which typically results in minimal bycatch. More progressive sushi restaurants, such as FishWise partners Tataki and Geisha have shunned bluefin tuna, replacing it with albacore (shiromaguro) and hook and line caught yellowfin tuna (maguro) which can also be sourced sustainably from the U.S Pacific, U.S Atlantic and more recently the Western Pacific region.
Please do your part to curb demand for the rapidly disappearing bluefin by taking the time to consider the real cost of the seafood you eat.