Top Story: Industry urges caution on IUU and Seafood Fraud task force
News Summary: Today is the last day for comments on the Presidential task force on IUU fishing and Seafood Fraud. We summarize some comments from the At Sea Processors, West Coast Seafood Processors, and Fisheries council of Canada. Most industry comments urged the government to recognize these are two separate issues, and to develop clear understanding of the scope of the problem before suggesting regulatory changes. The agenda for the task force was somewhat driven by NGO headlines, based on confidential and unsourced interviews.
Jim Stone, an Alaska crab fisherman, responded to our video about the potential impact of a ban on Russian crab imports to say first, our estimates of the percentage of domestic product were wrong (and we agree, golden king crab was left out), and secondly, that much of the Russian product is still illegal, and a ban would go a long way towards cleaning up a pirate fishery, which may have cost the Alaskan industry overall $600 million in artificially lower revenues.
Maine is having a more normal lobster year, with lower and better spaced out landings contributing to higher prices. Also the strong demand from China has kept Canadian inventories low. The cooler weather this year harks back to what used to be more normal - but unfortunately the respite may not last as the Gulf of Maine will continue to warm.
The California Senate has passed a seafood mislabeling bill that would codify state requirements that seafood be correctly labeled. The bill is similar to one in Washington state, and would impose fines and penalties on wholesalers and distributors who either mislabel seafood or misrepresent the country of origin.
The WWF is monitoring the upcoming meeting on Pacific Bluefin tuna at the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Japan this week. The Japanese government has put forward a proposal for a 50% cut in the harvest of juvenile bluefin - the mainstay of bluefin tuna ranching. The WWF is strongly behind the proposal, and if the meeting does not accept it, the WWF says it may begin a consumer boycott. Although not normally supporting such an approach, in this case the science is clear, and if the governments cannot act on it, they deserve a boycott campaign. This type of failure by managers is what sparked the development of the Marine Stewardship Council by the WWF.
John Sackton, Editor And Publisher , Lexington, Massachusetts
Seafood.com News 1-781-861-1441
Email comments to jsackton@seafood.com
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