Blue economy: Seafood giants call for port closures to illegal catches

18 Feb 2021 --- Big seafood players are calling for action to combat the scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, including closing all ports and supply chains to illegal fishing.

In their publicly released “Statement on Traceability and Port State Measures,” the groups call for a combination of private sector and government actions to help transform the transparency and accountability of seafood supply chains and block landings of IUU catch. 

“There must be nowhere to land and nowhere to sell fish and seafood that is caught illegally,” remarks ambassador Peter Thomson, the UN secretary general’s special envoy for the ocean and co-chair of Friends of Ocean Action.

“I applaud this initiative by seafood sector leaders and urge others to support their efforts in 2021, as well as call upon all countries to work towards full implementation of Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Port State Measures Agreement.”

“Ending IUU fishing is essential to ensuring a sustainable blue economy and the maintenance of a thriving ocean.This is a critical target of the Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean, SDG14.”

Over 150 seafood businesses band together
The five groups releasing the statement are Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS), the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA), the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) and the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI).

These platforms include over 150 companies from across the seafood value chain, making this one of the largest seafood industry calls for action on record.These platforms include over 150 companies from across the seafood value chain, making this one of the largest seafood industry calls for action on record.

The joint statement urges global companies to endorse the industry standards released by the GDST last year, to globally improve seafood traceability.

It also calls on governments to ratify and implement robust control measures aligned with the Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA), a powerful international treaty that requires port inspections and other measures to prevent IUU catch from being brought ashore.

The coalition of marine industry stakeholders expresses that the synergies of these actions would go far in preventing IUU catch from reaching markets or even being landed in the first place.

A chance of recovery?
Last September, ocean lobby groups and NGOs were left reeling following the latest European Commission proposal for Baltic fishing limits for 2021.

While the plans to preserve fish stocks were “promising,” the lobby groups flagged that overfishing is still far too high, leaving the overfished population “with no chance to recover.”

The joint statement calls on companies worldwide to endorse the industry standards released by the GDST last year, to globally improve seafood traceability.

Eliminating IUU is an essential precursor of sustainability, as flagged by Andrea Weber, director of corporate responsibility at Metro and industry chair of the GTA.

“The value of our coalition’s collaborative call to action cannot be overestimated,” stresses Susan Jackson, president, ISSF. “Real change for more sustainable fisheries can only come through unified and consistent appeals to the world’s fisheries managers.”

Better access to verifiable information about the origin of fish products is essential to the future of the seafood industry, adds David Schorr, co-chair of GDST. “Global alignment around the GDST standards will dramatically improve traceability across the entire sector, while also making it more affordable and business-smart.”

“By working together to support the implementation of the PSMA and GDST 1.0, companies and governments can have an enormous impact in favor of legal, sustainable and responsibly-sourced seafood.”

The aquaculture sector has faced similar backlash for its unsustainable practices in developments this month. Intensive farming practices by salmon producers have cost the industry almost US$50 billion since 2013, according to a recent report from social and economic research company Just Economics.

Edited by Benjamin Ferrer