The U.S. seafood traceability programme (SIMP) attempts to improve data gathering on “harvest, landing, and chain of custody of specific fish and fish products imported into the U.S. that are vulnerable to IUU fishing and seafood fraud” (NOAA 2016). SIMP would require traceability from harvest to first U.S. port of entry.
Fu Yuan Yu fishing fleet – built in China to exploit unregulated squid and tuna stocks on the high seas In recent months, the Fu Yuan Yu fleet has come into focus for illegal tuna fishing in the southern Indian Ocean. Back in March this year i wrote about the Fu Yuan Yu tuna fleet … Read more
Thailand is a major player in global seafood trade and processing of fishery products. Among the major fish producer countries Thailand was ranked 14 in 2012 with capture fisheries landings of more than 1.6 million tonnes. However, Thailand exhibits its dominance as the third largest exporter of seafood in the world (8.1% of the global … Read more
On 30 March 2016, Gambia’s national assembly ratified the UN agreement on Port State Measures to prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU). This brings the number of parties formally ratifying the treaty to 25. Pursuant to Article 29, the Agreement shall enter into force thirty days after the date of deposit … Read more
In January 2016, the Sea Shepherd’s patrol vessel “Steve Irwin” detected a fleet of six longliners fishing on the high seas in a remote part of southern Indian Ocean. It is rare to see tuna vessels fishing in such remote location so “Steve Irwin” pursued the fleet it saw on its radar and intercepted one … Read more
New U.S. Federal Rule on acceptable market names could prevent mislabeling of pollock caught in Alaska (USA) and Russian waters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently updated its list of acceptable market names for seafood caught in U.S. waters. The common name is the prevalent and often used for selling seafood to consumers. FDA … Read more
The European Commission has taken several steps over the past few years to improve transparency for foreign and EU flagged fishing vessels operating worldwide. The first step was the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 of 29 September 2008 establishing a Community system to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU Regulation). The … Read more
South Korea became the 19th country to ratify the UN Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) on 14 January 2016. The spree of recent ratifications is seen as a stride in the right direction. If the present pace continues the treaty might come into effect by the first week of June. The PSMA would come into force … Read more
Thai Government intends to spend 215 million baht (approx. 5.9 million) in a new buyback scheme to buy fishing boats from vessel owners. In open access fisheries where there is hardly any credible policy on building of new boats and with more than 30,000 unregulated fishing boats operating from Thai shores the Government decision is truly … Read more
The Common Fisheries Policy is seen as the main regulatory tool for sustainable management of fish stocks within EU Member States. Commercial fish stocks are managed using TACs within fishing areas. The TACs are mean to provide fair access and sustainable long-term exploitation of fish stocks within EU maritime limits. TACs are set for commercial … Read more