Death knell

The seafood show at the end of the world

It’s been a while.  Sorry for the silence.

There were any number of reasons for my delay in writing this.  March was a busy month for sure: the resurgence of competing priorities, such as working towards the successful end of Greenpeace’s Trader Joe’s campaign, certainly did their part in keeping me away from this blog.  The Boston Seafood Show and related pandemonium was no help either.  But to be honest, the main reason that I haven’t written is much simpler than that.

I’ve been sad.

Last meal?

The Northern bluefin tuna was doomed to commercial extinction last month at the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar.  In spite of all the work done by millions of caring people around the globe, the Japanese delegation managed to defeat our best efforts and corral enough votes to deny the bluefin even the most meager of protections.  Truly, the ocean’s most majestic fish has been sentenced to death for the twin crimes of being profitable and delicious.

I have spent the last few weeks seething over the unconscionable actions of the Japanese delegation.  CITES wasn’t even about coming together and discussing the real issues – frankly, it never got that far.  Riding in on a horse of flame and bluster (earlier that week, the Japanese government had stated that “even if the bluefin were awarded CITES protection, the Japanese would ignore it,”) a fifty-strong group of delegates from Tokyo stormed the meeting, bullying and coercing smaller nations into supporting their myopic, arrogant agenda.  And the cherry on top of this bloody sundae?  The Japanese delegation hosted a dinner during CITES to discuss this issue, at which they had the audacity to serve – you guessed it – bluefin tuna.

Am I the only one appalled by this unbridled hubris?

Ummm... a little help?

To worsen matters even more, a measure aimed at restricting the trade of corals was defeated, and of the eight species of shark that were tabled for potential protection, not a single one was given any succor whatsoever.  Oh, and I almost forgot – the polar bear was left out in the cold as well.

The 2010 CITES meeting was nothing short of a travesty.  The few countries that were finally able to get things together and support an environmental agenda fell apart in the face of a well-organized, well-funded Japanese delegation that treated these matters as nothing short of issues of national security.  In one fell swoop, the CITES parties have sacrificed ten key species – northern bluefin tuna, oceanic whitetip sharks, scalloped hammerhead sharks, great hammerhead sharks, smooth hammerhead sharks, porbeagle sharks, spiny dogfish, sandbar sharks, dusky sharks, and our noble polar bears – for the benefit of short-sighted economic gain.

Citizens of Earth – our leaders have failed us.  Miserably.  So what do we do?

No port in a storm

Although it may not seem like it from the title of this post, I’m still not ready to take the bluefin’s death certificate to the local notary public.  We do have a slight glimmer of hope here in the USA.

The western population of the Northern bluefin tuna spawns in a small area in the Gulf of Mexico, much of which is located within US waters.  Even if we can’t yet regulate international commerce, we can still do our part to protect these bedeviled creatures while they are visiting our coastline.

Targeted bluefin fishing in the aforementioned spawning grounds has been forbidden (under ICCAT, believe it or not) since the 1980s.  Still, that doesn’t stop fishermen from targeting other species – mainly swordfish and yellowfin tuna – in those areas, and bluefin bycatch is a serious problem.  Hundreds of spawning animals are killed every year by longliners that are operating in these areas.

Not in our waters

It is within our power to rectify this situation.  If the US government bans the use of longline fishing gear within the spawning grounds, it will drastically reduce the overall bluefin bycatch rate in the Gulf and allow more fish the opportunity to reproduce.  This is one way that we can bolster the population while we continue to push for the international management that the bluefin so sorely needs.

Please support the PEW environment group’s campaign to give the bluefin tuna at least a modicum of protection by banning longlines in the Gulf of Mexico bluefin spawning grounds.

Tags: bluefin, CITES, coral, doha, endangered, extinct, failure, hammerhead, japan, maguro, PEW, qatar, shark, spawning, swordfish, toro, tuna

MSC certification coming for Canadian swordfish… but not just the good kind

Those of you that follow my musings on the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) know that I tend to waffle a bit on this subject and am quite vocal about not giving the organization my full support.  This is a great example of why.

A recent press release from the MSC states that “the Northwest Atlantic Canadian longline and harpoon swordfish (Xiphias gladius) fisheries have announced their entry into the full assessment process for MSC certification.”  Ordinarily, this would be something that I would see as a positive step.  MSC certification, while not a perfect system, tends to help identify fisheries that have stronger levels of scientific rigor in assessment and quote management, and are generally more sustainable overall.

MSC certification for North Atlantic Canadian swordfish, however, may not be cause for celebration.

It’s important to note that this certification is covering not one fishery per se, but rather two fisheries that are drawing on the same population.  What I mean is that the certification extends to encompass two distinct fleets — a flotilla of swordfish longliners, and a small navy of swordfish harpoon boats.

These two fisheries target the same swordfish populations but do so in radically different manners.  The longlines, which take the lion’s share of the overall quota (90%), use similar gear to that which has caused such problems in Pacific tuna fisheries.  In essence, these are sturdy ropes, often several miles in length, which consist  of countless hooks that can indiscriminately impact any number of other co-habiting species, such as sharks and whales.  Longlines are problematic by their very nature, as there is simply no easy way to prevent non-target species from biting at these hooks (and subsequently dying.)

The harpooners, by contrast, use what is potentially the most precise type of fishing gear on the planet.  Harpooners search for an appropriate target, scope it for size, and shoot to kill.  There is virtually no bycatch in a harpoon swordfish fishery as the fishermen have already identified and sized their quarry  before the harpoon is launched.  To top it off, there is a marked quality difference between harpooned and longlined swordfish — harpooned swordfish tends to be firmer and less “washed out” than longlined product.  Unfortunately, it is all mixed together before export, and consumers are never given enough point-of-sale information to identify the particularities of the swordfish at their local fish market.

Currently, the harpooners are in difficult straits.  The Cape Sable Harpoon Fisherman’s Association, which represents the few old salts that still fish in this time-honored fashion, is continually being squeezed out by the expanding longline fishery.  In fact, the Canadian government is moving to strip the harpooners of even more of their tiny share of the total quota.  This would effectively replace the few remaining harpoon boats with additional longline boats, and result in a higher level of bycatch overall.

The problem with this upcoming MSC certification is that, as it is applicable to both fisheries, it continues to downplay the important differences between them.  Harpooned swordfish needs to be set above what the longliners are bringing in, not mixed in with it and forgotten.  Not only that, but what does this say about the rigor of the MSC itself, knowing that these longliners are able to attain certification even though their bycatch levels are unacceptably high?

The bottom line: Consumers need to be able to differentiate the two products appropriately as well as understand the ramifications of the methods used by the two fisheries.  The MSC, which so loftily prides itself on transparency and traceability, isn’t going to help this time.  In fact, by giving a green light to the longliners, it’s just going to make things worse.

Tags: canada, cape sable, certify, harpoon, longline, marine stewardship counctil, msc, swordfish