FDA Seafood Refusals Tick Down in November But Filth Keeps 2016 Rejections at Record Pace
Filth continues to account for the bulk of the FDA’s seafood rejections in 2016 while refusal rates remain far ahead of last year’s levels. Over 65 percent of this year’s seafood rejections are due to filth. This is a big difference from 2015 when antibiotics in shrimp made up the majority of FDA refusals. Higher rates of inspections are believed to be causing the overall increase in refusals this year.
In a blistering paper written at the highest levels of WWF, by Alfred Schumm, Fisheries Director for WWF International, WWF Claims that MSC’s conflict of interest over gaining logo revenue from tuna caused it to interfere and weaken its standard. As a result, the WWF questions whether it should continue to participate as a stakeholder in MSC certifications, especially on tuna, because the application of the MSC standard has been compromised.
We are deeply saddened to report the death of Christian Brun, the Director General of the Maritime Fishermen's Union. Brun died in a car accident on Highway 11 in Miramichi, New Brunswick, Monday morning. Our sympathies go out to his family, and also to all members of the Maritime Fishermen's Union.
In other news, WWF-Canada and Fish, Food and Allied Workers (FFAW-Unifor) released their action plan for rebuilding northern cod in Newfoundland and Labrador. The comprehensive action plan is a milestone in a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) run by WWF-Canada and FFAW-Unifor on the northern cod (NAFO divisions 2J3KL) stewardship fishery operating inshore. The FIP will implement improvement measures that will ensure continued sustainability once the stock has grown to levels that support a full commercial fishery.
Finally, Norway’s seafood export volumes are trending down in 2016, but higher salmon and cod values are expected to offset these declines with year-end earnings projections now at record levels. "Assuming normal performance in December we see that total exports will pass the NOK 90 billion (US$10.7 billion) mark by a wide margin. More and more markets are requesting seafood from Norway and our seafood industry is strengthening its position as a key industry for Norway´s future”, said communications director Geir Håvard Hanssen at the Norwegian Seafood Council.
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