What Did the US-Pacific Summit Achieve?
On September 28, while Hurricane Ian provided a devastating illustration of the terrible costs of climate change, leaders from 14 Pacific nations and territories gathered in Washington, D.C., for a historic summit in which climate action was top of the agenda. The juxtaposition of Hurricane Ian in Florida, where the death toll and devastation put it in the “upper echelons” of storms to have hit the U.S., and the gathered chorus of Pacific voices, who have been clamoring to be heard for decades about the existential crisis that climate change poses to their island homes, was poignant. As the documentary “Rising Waters” put it in 2000, the Pacific Islands are “the warning system for the whole world to see.” Twenty-two years on, as the rains from Hurricane Ian fell on Washington in the days after the Pacific leaders departed, it is time to take stock of what the summit achieved and what happens next. Continue reading here (Source: The Diplomat).
TUNA 2022 – Pushing the Industry Towards Sustainability and Against IUU
Department of Fisheries joins hands with INFOFISH to have Thailand to co-host the meeting and exhibition “The Seventeenth INFOFISH World Tuna Trade Conference and Exhibition). Rattana Mangkhalanon Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives was honored to preside over the opening ceremony of the meeting and more than 400 people attended the event.
Mr. Chalermchai Suwannarak, Director-General of the Department of Fisheries , said that the World Tuna Conference and Exhibition Thailand has been honored to be the co-host of the meeting 9 times since 2004 because the products From the industry, tuna is one of the most popular aquatic products in the world. and is a product with
high trade value chain Thailand is the country that has the number of raw material imports and exports of tuna products number one in the world. Continue reading here (Source: Bangkok Biz News).
Papua New Guines Striving to be at Forefront of Seafood Sustainability Movement
The Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea (PNG) doesn’t just want to fish sustainably – it wants to be at the forefront of sustainability globally.
Speaking with SeafoodSource during Seafood Expo Asia – which ran from 14 to 16 September, 2022, at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre – representatives of Papua New Guinea’s Fishing Industry Association (FIA) said the country is aiming to go above and beyond Marine Stewardship Council requirements in its tuna fishery, and add MSC certification to other fisheries soon – including mud crab, lobsters, and tilapia.
PNG first gained MSC certification for its purse-seine tuna fishery in 2020, with that certification covering 64 vessels targeting skipjack and yellowfin in both PNG’s exclusive economic zone and archipelagic waters. Of that total, 32 vessels were PNG-flagged and 32 vessels were Philippines-flagged, licensed as locally based foreign fishing vessels. Continue reading here (Source: SeafoodSource).
European Parliament Adopts New Rules For Tuna Fishing in the Indian Ocean
The European Parliament has approved a report on tuna fishing measures in the Indian Ocean with 596 votes against four and 22 abstentions on Tuesday, October 4.
The text agreed on with the council should transpose all conservation and management measures of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) since 2008 into EU legislation. As in other similar cases, the European Commission has requested the power to adopt delegated acts to ensure transposition of the technical rules.
The EU has been a contracting party of the IOTC since 1995 and the EU fleet is among top three fleets fishing in the area, mainly for tropical tuna species. Continue reading here (Source: Baird Maritime).
Suriname Establishing Tuna Canning Plant
Suriname is moving to establish a multi-million-dollar fish processing company with production mainly for the export market.
The locally based fish processing company, Suvveb, says plans are well advanced for the establishment of a tuna canning plant where tuna will be processed.
Suvveb’s managing director Udo Karg, says the plant, which is established with foreign partners, will be an investment in excess of US$10 million. Continue reading here (Source: Caribbean National Weekly).
StarKist Debuts Smart Bowls Tuna Pouches
Reston, Virginia, U.S.A.-based StarKist has officially debuted a new line of Smart Bowls, composed of wild-caught tuna, grains, and vegetables in a single-serve pouch.
StarKist, a subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate Dongwon Industries, has set the suggested retail price of the new products at USD 1.25 (EUR 1.28) per pouch.
The new line is “another example of how StarKist is continuing to expand beyond its well-known tuna product line to become a convenient healthy protein company,” StarKist Vice President of Marketing and Innovation Tom Aslin said in a press release. Continue reading here (Source: SeafoodSource).
Piling the Pressure on IUU Fishing
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) joined the French Armed Forces of New Caledonia (FANC) who hosted the sixth occasion of the NASSE international fisheries operation.
Organised from May to August within the framework of the Pacific Quadrilateral Defence Coordination Group (France, New Zealand, Australia and the United States), this operation aims to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities on the high seas of the South West Pacific, where the rules of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), the regional fisheries management organisation, apply.
In May, the New South Wales Water Police patrol boat Nemesis with two AFMA officers as authorised WCPFC inspectors on board, and the FANC’s FNS d’Entrecasteux carried out patrols as part of Operation NASSE. The patrols were supported by New Zealand P-3K2 Orion and French F200 Gardian aerial surveillance.
Continue reading here (Source: FiskerForum).
Amata Welcomes Biden Administration Response
Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming a response from the Biden Administration stating that the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) will not be expanded. In a response letter to the congresswoman’s earlier inquiry, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Martha Williams said the administration is not considering an expansion to PRIMNM.
Williams said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce, and the FWS, part of the Department of the Interior, are co-leads in preparing the Monument Management Plan (MMP) for the PRIMNM.
Continue reading here (Source: Saipan Tribune).
Council Reviews Hawaii and American Samoa Longline Fishery Reports
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council discussed a Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center report on the performance of the 140 Hawaii longline vessels during the first half of 2022. Compared to 2021, the fishery had a relatively low bigeye tuna catch (89,000 fish, down 14,000) and catch per unit effort. Even though the catch was low, the fish price was high, so fishermen were able to recoup their operating costs.
Yellowfin tuna catches have trended upward since 2015, increasing 5,000 fishes from 2021 to 42,000, and swordfish catch is up about 1,000 to 9,000. Continue reading here (Source: Lahaina News).
