ISSF Report: 16 Tuna Stocks Fail to Meet MSC Sustainability Standard

A new report released yesterday by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) found 16 of the world’s 23 tuna stocks do not meet criteria to received the Marine Stewardship Council’s sustainability certification.

The independent scientists who wrote the report — ISSF 2021-01: An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria  — found only seven tuna stocks worldwide are meeting the MSC standard that requires maintaining stock biomass levels sustainably. 

They are: North Atlantic albacore, South Atlantic albacore, Eastern Atlantic bluefin, Western Pacific skipjack, ...

Friend of the Sea Recertifies SAPMER's Indian Ocean Tuna Fishery

Friend of the Sea announced it has renewed its certification of the SAPMER purse seine fishery in the Indian Ocean. The company can continue displaying the Friend of the Sea logo on its products.

SAPMER was described by Friend of the Sea as a pioneer in the French Austral Seas, operating a fleet of four deep freezer longliners that fish for Patagonian Toothfish, along with a pot vessel fishing for rock lobster.

15 years ago, it began tropical tuna fishing in the Indian Ocean and operates nine super-freezer purse seiners freezing Yellowfin and Skipjack down to -40 °C...

Good Catch Plant-Based Tuna Continues Expansion into Foodservice 

Keep an eye on Good Catch tuna. Gathered Foods, the makers of the plant-based seafood brand, are continuing their expansion into foodservice through a new partnership with Whole Foods Market.

Good Catch first debuted at Whole Foods in February 2019. Now, instead of just being on the shelves, it’ll be in the Whole Foods prepared food section. Retail locations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island will be offering Good Catch’s plant-based deli-style tuna salad by the pound...

Japan's Air Cargo Imports Fell Below 100 Billion Yen for The First Time

According to the December import customs statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, the quantity of marine products brought in by air freight, mainly high-end seafood, fell below the same month last year. A drop in the unit price resulted in a consecutive significant decrease in import value. The annual results saw the quantity reached less than 90% of the previous year, and the import value fell by 30% to below 100 billion yen ($.95 billion) for the first time...

Atlantic Natural Foods Responds After Schouten Europe B.V. Announces New Tuna Alternative

It’s the battle of the tuna alternatives.

Schouten, a specialist in the development, production and packaging of meat substitutes, announced in late January that they were launching a tuna alternative, their first fish substitute offering. 

“All tuna species are (heavily) overfished and a large number of species are threatened with extinction,” product manager Annemiek Vervoort said of the new product. “Our vegetable tuna has the same bite and taste of the real tuna. The product is suitable for eating cold and is therefore immediately ready...

Subway on Tuna Lawsuit: “Simply No Truth To the Allegations”

Subway is speaking out after news broke earlier this week of a lawsuit alleging that the restaurant chain’s tuna sandwich is “made with anything but tuna.”

For those just following the fishy legal battle, plaintiffs Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin of Alameda County filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Independent lab tests reportedly taken from multiple Subway locations in the state found that the tuna was a “mixture of concoctions that do not constitute tuna.” Dhanowa and Amin are suing Subway for...

The Winding Glass:  Supply Disruption a Possible Major Problem for Seafood Industry in 2021

Despite the pandemic and the uncontrolled COVID outbreak in the U.S., 2020 was a banner year for the seafood industry. The spectacular growth in retail seafood sales compensated for the dramatic loss of foodservice opportunities. According to data presented at NFI’s Global Seafood Marketing Conference, overall seafood sales to retail and foodservice combined grew around 7% last year.

This strength is continuing into 2021. Early indications from retailers suggest that the strength of seafood sales is continuing after the holidays. Many are reporting strong...

Thai Union Ingredients Subsidiary Converts Tuna Bone into New Product

Waste not! A new product from the Thai Union Ingredients subsidiary is ensuring that every fish is properly used to reduce wastage. On Thursday Thai Union group announced that they would be launching a new product, UniQ BONE bone powder, which is produced by converting tuna bone into a fine, off-white powder that has a neutral taste and smell.

“Thai Union has built its business on not only providing the highest quality products to consumers around the world, but on constantly innovating and ensuring that we are providing...

Chicken of the Sea Announces Price-fixing Litigation Settlement

Chicken of the Sea International (COSI), the company that acted as the “whistleblower” in the canned tuna price-fixing scandal involving the top tuna canners in the U.S. announced it has reached a settlement with the final group of plaintiffs involved in the litigation.

COSI explained that the litigation involved over 30 complaints alleging anti-competitive activity in the U.S. tuna market. Thai Union, the parent company of Tri-Union Seafoods, operating as COSI, announced that all three of the plaintiff groups involved in the class action litigation brought against the company reached a settlement and just require court approval to put the suit behind them.

Thiraphong Chansiri, President and CEO, Thai Union Group PCL, commented...

Chicken of the Sea Settles Price-Fixing Case With Major U.S. Retailers

A number of major U.S. retailers have settled a class-action lawsuit filed against Thai Union-owned tuna canner Chicken of the Sea International (COSI).

According to a document filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern California, the Kroger Direct Action Plaintiffs, which consists of supermarket chains Kroger, Albertsons, Hy-Vee and H.E. Butt Grocery settled with COSI for its role in a tuna price-fixing conspiracy involving the country’s major tuna companies, COSI, StarKist and Bumble Bee Foods.

The details of the settlement were not...

JAPAN: October Chilean Coho Imports Down 40%; Squid From Peru Up 10000 Tons

According to trade statistics released by the Ministry of Finance, imports of marine products (seafood and its preparations, fish meal, and seaweed) in October decreased by 6% from the same month of the previous year to 188,690 tons. Fresh and frozen salmon and trout fell 9% to 18,992 tons, down 9% from the last year for the second straight month, due to a sharp decline in Chilean coho salmon. Fresh and frozen tuna increased by 6% to 15,925 tons due to growth in frozen bigeye tuna...

Hawaii Longliners Find Scientific Committee Support for Monofilament Leaders

The Hawaii longline fleet is taking a bite out of criticism of the industry: Fishermen are voluntarily switching to monofilament leaders to help preserve oceanic whitetip shark populations.

The proposal also garnered early support from the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council's Scientific and Statistical Committee last week.

The Hawaii longline fishery is among the most comprehensively managed in the world, according to a press release from the Hawaii Longline Association. With around 140 active vessels based out of Honolulu Harbor, the fleet is highly ...

Judge Shuts Down StarKist’s Challenge to Lower Tariffs on Tuna Products

Judge Timothy M. Reif of the U.S. Court of International Trade found that four of StarKist’s tuna salad products will be subject to a 35% import duty after the company argued the products should be classified differently, which would have significantly lowered tariff rates on some of its tuna pouches and to-go kits.

StarKist was looking to get the four products to be re-classified after U.S. Customs and Border Protection classified the items under subheading 1604.14.10 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States...

October Sales at Toyosu Wholesale Market Up 3% to $350 Million

The total transaction volume of seven fisheries wholesalers in the Tokyo Toyosu market in October (preliminary figures, before tax) was 36,798 tons, 35,917 million yen ($347.5 million), up 3% from the same month of the previous year. The transaction value of sushi seafood, which had been sluggish due to the drop in demand for food services due to the  coronavirus epidemic, recovered to a 10% increase from the same month of the previous year for most wholesalers. The "Go To Campaign" seems to have...

Imported Tuna September Sales Results at Toyosu Market

The number of imported fresh tuna in September at the Toyosu Market in Tokyo was 1,382 (1,759 in the same month of the previous year), a decrease of 21.4% from the same month last year, according to Jiji Press' calculation. Wild bluefin tuna decreased, and bigeye tuna decreased to less than one-third, but wild Southern bluefin tuna increased slightly, reported Suisan Keizai Shimbun.

The total number of bluefin tuna decreased by 16.4% from the same month of the previous year to 793...

AP Holdings Co., Ltd. of Tokyo Switches to Serve Full-cycle Farmed Tuna at its Restaurants

As of October 1, AP Holdings Co., Ltd. of Tokyo has switched to complete aquaculture tuna at its 25 izakaya restaurants. It uses tuna produced by Maruha Nichiro Group's Amami Fish Farming in Setouchi, Kagoshima. It intends to reduce fishing pressure on wild bluefin tuna and pursue sustainability, reports Minato Shimbun.

"We want to impress our guests by the taste of tuna," said a company official, and the restaurants offer mainly sashimi. In addition to the set meal restaurant "Tsukada Shokudo"...

Toyosu Market's January Imported Tuna Sales Down 49.2%

The number of fresh tuna sold in January at the Toyosu Market in Tokyo, which Jiji Press compiled, was 333, a decrease of 49.2% from the same month of the previous year, almost half. Due to the prolonged new coronavirus pandemic, the number of bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean and North America has decreased. The number of bigeye tuna has dropped significantly due to Guam's production interruption, reported Suisan Keizai.

The total number of bluefin tuna was 296, a decrease of about 33% from 445 in the same month...

Japan’s 2020 Tuna Imports Down 27%

According to the Ministry of Finance's customs statistics, the import record of tuna from January to December 2020 was 183,110 tons of frozen tuna, up 1% from the previous year, and 150,390 million yen ($1437 million), down 14%. Processed tuna was 44,556 tons, up 1%, with 26,562 million yen ($253 million), down 2%. The quantity was almost the same as the previous year.

Frozen gilled and gutted bigeye tuna was 62,23 tons, up 15%, recovering to the 60,000 tons level for the first time in four years...

Bumble Bee Earns 'Favorite Fish Brand' Nod in Allrecipes Community Choice Awards 2021

Tuna and salmon products from Bumble Bee Seafoods was the winner in the Favorite Fish Brand category in the Allrecipes Community Choice Awards 2021.

Allrecipes is a media brand under Meredith Corporation and is comprised of a large community of online cools. The platform “helps home cooks around the globe discover and share the joy of cooking through community-driven content.”

This is the first year for the Community Choice Awards and the community was tasked to identify their top favorite brands in 58 pantry-product categories via an online survey conducted in the Spring of 2020...

Third Indonesian Tuna Fishery Nets MSC Certification; 11k Tonnes of Sustainable Tuna to Enter Market

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) announced that the Indonesia pole-and-line and handline, skipjack and yellowfin tuna of Western and Central Pacific archipelagic waters became the third tuna fishery to meet the standard for sustainable fishing.

The fishery marks another success for the MSC and Indonesian government collaboration with 11,000 tonnes of sustainable tuna becoming available in the U.S. and European markets.

For the organizations that manage the fishery, the Indonesian Pole and Line and Handline Tuna Fisheries Association (AP2HI) and the International...

Lawsuit Alleges Subway’s Tuna is Not Real Tuna

Something smells fishy here. But according to a lawsuit, it’s not Subway’s tuna. 

A lawsuit recently filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleges that the popular chain’s tuna sandwich is “made from anything but tuna.” Independent lab tests that were reportedly taken from multiple Subway locations in California found that the tuna was “a mixture of concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by defendants to imitate the appearance of tuna.”

Karen Dhanowa and Nilima Amin of Alameda County have been identified...

Toyosu Market December 2020 Imported Fresh Tuna; Firm Demand for Take-Out Sushi

Tokyo Toyosu Market received 697 fresh imported tuna in December 2020, an increase of 14.6% from 608 the same month of the previous year, compiled by Jiji Press. Bigeye tuna has declined significantly, but wild bluefin tuna has increased from North America and the Mediterranean, as well as farmed bluefin from Mexico, reported Minato Shimbun.

The total number of bluefin tuna was 673, increasing about 38% from 488 a year ago. The number of farmed bluefins from Mexico also increased by about 38% to 355 from 258...

Russia Plans to Continue to Expand Presence in World Ocean in Years to Come

Russia plans to continue to expand its presence in the World Ocean within the next several years, despite the pandemic and the associated negative economic consequences, according to recent statements, made by Ilya Shestakov, head of the Russian Federal Agency of Fisheries (Rosrybolovstvo) and representatives of some leading local fisherman.   

As Shestakov said in an interview with the Russian Kommersant business paper, particular attention will be paid for the increase of catch in the Antarctic, the Northwest Atlantic region and the Indian Ocean...

MSC Raises Red Flags About Tropical Tuna in Eastern Pacific Ocean Ahead of IATTC Meeting

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) shared its plea to come to an agreement on stock management for a number of tuna species in the Pacific Ocean.

The MSC explained that starting on January 1, there is a chance that restrictions could be removed from tropical tuna fishing in the Pacific leading to potential overfishing of skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tunas. The Council warned overfishing could be an issue unless, “unless all the member governments reach an agreement on how to manage these stocks in 2021...

Western Pacific Council Supports Longliners' Request to Test Bird Scaring Lines

The Hawaii Longline Association is continuing its efforts to be proactive at mitigating or avoiding effects to threatened or endangered species. In this case, seabirds.

The Association requested an experimental fishing permit for the deep-set longline fishery to test tori line efficacy without the use of blue-dyed bait when fishing north of 23° N. latitude when the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council met last week. The Council endorsed the application and recommended the National Marine Fisheries Service issue the ...

Western Pacific Council Pushes Bigeye Tuna Increase; OKs Industry-led Shark Mitigation Measure

More bigeye tuna may be available for U.S. fishermen in the Pacific next year, if U.S. fishery managers can successfully negotiate the proposed increase.

The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council supported the U.S. proposal to revise the conservation and management measure for tropical tunas, which expires in February 2021, and increase the U.S. bigeye tuna quota by 3,000 metric tons to 6,554 mt at the upcoming Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission meeting next week.

The stock is not overfished nor experiencing ...

Oregon State Study: Water Temperature Shifts Affect Larval Tuna Eating Habits at Critical Life Stage

Small shifts in ocean temperature can have significant effects on the eating habits of blackfin tuna during the larval stage of development, when finding food and growing quickly are critical to long-term survival, according to new research from Oregon State University.

In a year of warmer water conditions, larval blackfin tuna ate less and grew more slowly, in part because fewer prey were available, compared to the previous year, when water conditions were one to two degrees Celsius cooler, the researchers ...

JAPAN: September Fresh Tuna Imports Fall 12% to $12 Million, Frozen Down 0.3% to $121 Million

According to the Ministry of Finance customs statistics, imports of tuna in September were 807 tons of fresh and chilled fish, down 15% year-on-year, 1,288 million yen ($12.3 million), and 17,233 tons of frozen tuna, up 16%, 12,658 million yen ($120.7 million), down 0.3%. Processed tuna was 3338 tons, 12% decrease, 1,985 million yen ($18.9 million), 11% decrease, reported Suisan Keizai.

Frozen bigeye tuna (gilled and gutted) was 4,740 tons, up 14%...

Earthworm Foundation, IPNLF Partner to Boost Sustainability of Tuna Industry

Looking to further the cause of sustainable fishing, the Earthworm Foundation and the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF) have partnered.

IPNLF and Earthworm Foundation both look to create a sustainable seafood industry through the supply chain. They are specifically looking at the French market to create a strong and more responsible management of global tuna stocks by “promoting sustainable fishing practices as well as improving working conditions for employees, both at sea and on land.”

The duo will also strengthen The Tuna Protection Alliance (TUPA)...

Pandemic's 'Second Wave' Sending P.E.I. Tuna Prices Down

Tuna fishers out of North Lake, P.E.I., are seeing the impact of rising COVID-19 case numbers in central Canada.

Tuna buyer and processor Jason Tompkins said the season got off to a good and early start this year.

"We had more fish go in July this year than any year in the last 20," Tompkins told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.

"A lot of guys did see the writing on the wall. They took our advice as buyers and went early, and the prices we saw...