Pressing issues threatening the sustainability of living marine resources across the Caribbean were discussed at the 19th Session of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) held in Bridgetown, Barbados, earlier this month.

The hybrid meeting, which was organised and led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), was attended by 110 delegates from 22 member countries and 11 partner organisations, signalling the highest number of delegates to ever attend in the history of this commission’s plenary meetings.

The delegates of the 19th session discussed the interim Caribbean Regional Management Plan for the Anchored Fish Aggregating Device Fishery (aFAD), and the associated guide for improved monitoring aFAD catches and assessment of aFAD impacts on stocks. They also reviewed the manual on aFAD Fisheries Governance with application to other Fisheries in the Wider Caribbean and the impacts of sargassum on marine resources in the region, a regional socio-economic and environmental developing issue.

The progress made in the strategic reorientation of the commission, the finalisation of the revised 2014 Rules of Procedures, opportunities for collaboration with the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), and other critical topics of potential implications for the fisheries in the region, among others two global instruments, the Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, were included on the comprehensive agenda for discourse.

In delivering opening remarks, Adrian Forde, Barbados’ minister of environment and national beautification, the green and blue economy, spoke on the significance of the meeting for Barbados and at large, the CARICOM countries, and acknowledged the considerable progress of WECAFC in the preparation of fisheries management advice, especially as it relates to the management of fisheries using anchored Fish Aggregating Devices (aFADs).

Source: The Gleaner

The competent authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Vietnam have expanded the list of Russian enterprises approved for the supply of fish products to domestic markets.

Thus, the KSA State Food and Drug Administration granted access to one canned fish manufacturer. In total, currently 40 Russian organizations have the right to export processed and unprocessed fish products to the Kingdom.

In addition, two fish processing enterprises were included in the list of importers by the competent authority of Vietnam. Thus, 128 Russian companies have been approved for supplies to the republic.

Rosselkhoznadzor will continue to work to expand the list of Russian enterprises that have the right to export to Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.

Source: Rosselkhoznadzor - Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance 

Between January and July 2023, Ecuador earned more from exporting shrimp than from selling crude oil, as reflected by figures from the Central Bank (ECB). Sales of the crustacean meant 4,396 million dollars for the nation, while the export of Oriente and Napo crude oil, the only two types of oil that the country exports, represented 4,082 million. The difference is USD 314 million.

However, hydrocarbon activity continues to underpin the Ecuadorian economy, since the aforementioned figures do not include the export of Fuel Oil 6, the only petroleum derivative that Ecuador has exported this year. Sales for this product represented an additional 679 million dollars.

Regarding shrimp, the country sold 707 metric tons in the first seven months of 2023. In the same period, but in 2022, the country sold 618 tons. Although more was exported this year, there was less money, since last year's amount amounted to 4.5 billion dollars.

The National Chamber of Aquaculture states that China is the largest consumer of Ecuadorian shrimp. In fact, 61% of crustacean exports go to that country. 17% of exports go to European nations and 16% to the United States. American and Asian countries buy the rest of the production.

Source: ecuavisa

Only one in six forage fish populations in the Northeast Atlantic is both sustainably exploited and in a healthy state, according to a report published by Oceana. The marine conservation organisation is urging Northeast Atlantic countries to improve their management of these small fish, in advance of negotiations on fishing limits later this year.

Many marine species – from marine mammals and seabirds to commercially important fish – depend on forage fish such as sandeel, sprat, and herring as a primary source of food.

Source: FishFocus | read the full article here

Egyptian fisheries must be better managed to secure the overall health of the Mediterranean Sea's marine living resources, new research has found.

In a new paper in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management, researchers with the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia and the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport reconstructed Egypt's marine fisheries' catches from the Mediterranean in the last 100 years and found strong evidence of resource overexploitation. Such overexploitation has pushed fishers to go farther and deeper, increasingly resorting to species lower in the food chain.

"The Egyptian Mediterranean marine fisheries consist of a century-old, predominantly trawl fishery as well as other fisheries, such as longlining, purse-seining and multi-gear traditional fisheries," said Dr. Myriam Khalfallah, who led the study as a post-doctoral fellow with the Sea Around Us. "From 1920 to 2019, 3.8 million tons of fish and invertebrates were removed from Egypt's Mediterranean waters. We identified major peaks in catches followed by drastic declines caused by various external events and increased fishing pressure." [...]

Source: phys.org

Sponsored by the Spanish Technological Platform for Fishing and Aquaculture (PTEPA), the main agents of the fishing value chain (CEPESCA, FNCP, FEDEPESCA, APROMAR, Association of Wholesale Fish Entrepreneurs of Madrid, Rula de Avilés) and technological agents of the fishing sector (Biolan Microbiosensores and Sinerxia Plus ) have developed this strategy within the framework of the PESCAZUL project, which has had the support of the Next Generation funds and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan promoted by the Government of Spain, specifically, through the call for projects of blue growth for Knowledge Spaces, of which the PTEPA is a part.

Its result, the “Spanish Strategy from Sea to Table”, aims to The objective is to transfer the proposed objectives from the sector entities that have participated in the project, to configure broad lines of action to help public authorities design the lines of work to achieve the objective of achieving a fishing and fishing value chain. sustainable, resilient and innovative aquaculture.

A strategy to achieve a more sustainable and resilient sector after COVID-19 and to respond to the incomplete nature of the European Strategy “From farm to fork”.

The Spanish strategy from sea to table arises as a response to the recent approval by the European Union of the “From farm to fork” strategy, one of the axes of the European Green Deal, with the aim of responding to the challenges in the food sector European. A European strategy, which has not met the expectations of the Spanish fishing and aquaculture value chain, which expected from the document, a greater presence of fishing and aquaculture activity.

Source: www.pescazul.es

Mussel farmers say they have suffered "unfathomable" losses due to an intense plankton bloom off Thailand's east coast. This was reported by the South China Morning Post.

An unusually dense plankton bloom has created a "dead zone" off Thailand's east coast, threatening mussel production in those waters. According to experts, in some areas of the Gulf of Thailand the amount of plankton is more than 10 times higher than normal. Because of this, the water turned bright green, and the animals living in it died. At the same time, more than 80% of the 300 mussel farms located there were damaged along the coast of Chonburi.

As the publication writes , plankton usually blooms 1 or 2 times a year for 2–3 days. This depletes oxygen in the water and blocks the flow of sunlight, which negatively affects the lives of marine life.

Although the reason for the intense plankton bloom remains unclear, scientists have speculated that pollution and extreme heat associated with climate change are to blame.

The Directorate of Fisheries has today given permission for the establishment of the first Norwegian location for aquaculture in the open sea.

SalMar Aker Ocean AS has received clearance for the site "Frøya" in the Norwegian Sea. The location is approx. 45 nautical miles outside the baseline. The site clearance has been granted for 19,000 tonnes of maximum permitted biomass of salmon.

The background to the case is that in 2019 the SalMar company Mariculture received eight development permits for testing the technology in the Smart Fish Farm concept. It is this facility that is planned to be established in the Norwegian Sea.

Source: fiskeridir.no

Benchmark Genetics Chile is pleased to announce that effective September 18, 2023, Berta Contreras Mutis has assumed the role of General Manager, succeeding Pablo Mazo, who has transitioned to the position of Performance and Documentation Manager at Benchmark Genetics in Norway.

Berta Contreras Mutis, a marine chemist from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile with an MBA from Universidad del Desarrollo, has a long history within the Chilean salmon industry. Her previous roles encompass Technical Manager and Corporate Affairs Manager at Marine Harvest Chile (now Mowi Chile), Managing Partner at Conecta Spa, and, more recently, Technical Manager and Research and Development at Cermaq Chile.

Bertha Contreras is taking over the responsibility from Pablo Mazo who is now starting a new career path in Norway as Performance and Documentation Manager in the global salmon production team.[...]

Source: Benchmark

The Galician multinational Nueva Pescanova and unions begin this Tuesday the negotiation of the employment regulation file (ERE), which seeks the dismissal of about one hundred employees from its offices in Chapela, in Redondela (Pontevedra) and Madrid.

As union sources have reported, the meetings began at 11:30 a.m. and will take place in the Mar de Vigo Auditorium.

It was on September 6 when Nueva Pescanova informed the company committees and union delegates of its intention to start this ERE, which it justifies "for economic and organizational reasons" and which will be limited to the support areas of Chapela and Madrid.

Source: LaVozdeGalicia | Read the full article here