SeaChoice

Category: Seafood

  • Protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale

    Protecting the endangered North Atlantic right whale

    The Government has taken unprecedented measures aimed at preventing further deaths of the endangered North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

    These include early opening and closing of the snow crab fishing season, shipping lane closures and mandatory speed limits, and funding for surveillance and whale response teams. Significantly, fixed area closures as well as dynamic closed areas to fishing and shipping when whales are present were also announced.

    A 2017 major mortality event with 15 North Atlantic right whale deaths finally spurred these mandatory changes to fishing and shipping in the Gulf of St Lawrence. With a declining population of only about 450 individuals left and no new calves born this season, researchers in the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium announced at the annual meeting that all breeding females could be dead in about 20 years leaving the population functionally extinct. Deaths from entanglement in fishing gear has been rising since the 1990s, while shipping impact deaths have been declining, and now 83% of the population bears scars from entanglements.

    Last week, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) eco-certification of the Gulf of St Lawrence crab fishery was suspended due to the rising number of right whale deaths caused by the fishery. SeaChoice member organization, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), is the only Canadian stakeholder in eco-certification process. The EAC has been working with the Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crab fleet to assess their ideas for testing ropeless fishing gear, electronic tagging of traps, and immediate changes to fishing practice, as well as long term action plans.

    The Gulf fleet has been proactive, stepping up to find solutions – and the government is concerned about the trade implications if they do not succeed in reducing entanglements and deaths. SeaChoice is applauds the measures announced and is calling for similar investments and changes to be implemented in all the other fleets that pose risk of entanglement along the whale’s migratory path and in their critical habitat in the Bay of Fundy and Roseway Basin.

    Read more in the press release issued by SeaChoice partner organization the Ecology Action Centre.

  • SeaChoice reports on Seafood Expo North America 2018

    SeaChoice reports on Seafood Expo North America 2018

    Increasing traceability and transparency in seafood sales and trade were key issues at SENA

    Three SeaChoice representatives attended this year’s Seafood Expo North America (SENA) in Boston, along with thousands of seafood producers, processors, distributors, marketers, and conservation organizations. With companies from 57 different countries, walking around the expo floor was like a world tour of seafood, highlighting how global (and globally traded) these products are. Canada, whose seafood exports rose 5% last year to reach $6.9 billion (DFO News release), was well represented with exhibitors from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. For more information on the sustainability of Canada’s seafood trade, click here.

    Boston Seafood Show 2018
    Boston Seafood Show 2018

    Growing along with the continual increase in global seafood trade is the development of new tools and technologies to increase the traceability of seafood – ways to track products as they make their way from the harvesters to the end consumer. From conference sessions on best practices to avoid seafood fraud to new toolkits for the seafood industry, it was clear that traceability is increasingly recognized as a necessary component of sustainable seafood.

    Traceability is also necessary so that seafood can be labelled accurately with the information consumers need to help them make sustainable choices. However, in Canada, the legal requirements for seafood labelling are some of the lowest in the developed world, with only a common name required for seafood that is produced in Canada, and common name and ‘country of last major transformation’ for imported seafood. SeaChoice is working to raise this bar.

  • Washington State to end Atlantic salmon farming

    Washington State to end Atlantic salmon farming

    Washington State has taken a precautionary approach to protecting wild salmon.

    Governor Inslee has signed into law a bill to phase out Atlantic salmon farming from Washington State waters. Farms will cease operations at the conclusion of their current leases. The phase out will be complete by 2022.

    The potential risk farmed Atlantic salmon pose to declining wild salmon populations was the key reason for the historic move. It also follows after a major fish farm collapse last year, which saw around 250,000 fish escape into the Salish Sea.

    Open-net pen salmon farms situated along wild salmon migration routes can pose threats such as sea lice and disease transfer. Thirteen Pacific wild salmon populations are currently listed by COSEWIC as Endangered or Threatened. A number of these migrate in both Washington and B.C waters.

    It remains to be seen whether the B.C. government will follow Washington State’s precautionary lead. Numerous B.C. salmon farm tenures are up for renewal this June – many of which are in unceded First Nations territories that have actively opposed open-net salmon farming for decades.

    Read more in the press release issued by SeaChoice partner organization Living Oceans Society and their allies.

    For more information on open-net pen aquaculture and the accompanying challenges, you can visit our information centre, as well as our priority species profiles for Atlantic salmon farmed on the east and west coasts of Canada.

  • DNA testing reveals limited seafood fraud, but poor labelling, by retailers

    DNA testing reveals limited seafood fraud, but poor labelling, by retailers

    Of the 7% mislabelled seafood, just 1% represented species substitutions, or fraud

    A countrywide SeaChoice research project found seafood fraud in Canada is minimal, but on-package seafood labels generally lack critical information that would allow consumers to make informed purchases.

    In spring 2017, SeaChoice partnered with the University of Guelph Centre for Biodiversity Genomics’ Life Scanner program to engage 300 volunteer “citizen scientists” across Canada. Each was provided with two DNA ID kits to sample seafood in their local grocery stores. The results are now public on the LifeScanner website.

    The results show that just one per cent of the seafood tested across Canada was not what the label said it was, and seven per cent of tested seafood was mislabelled – sold under a name that was not compliant with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s labelling regulations.

     

     

     

     

     

    For more information:

    Press release
    LifeScanner portal for full results
    LabelMySeafood.ca
    Labelling and traceability – on SeaChoice website

  • New SeaChoice report: What’s behind the label?

    New SeaChoice report: What’s behind the label?

    Click to download “What’s behind the label?”

    Our latest report reveals that seafood eco-certifications by two prominent organizations are falling short.

    What’s behind the label? Assessing the impact of MSC and ASC seafood certifications in Canada is the first review of whether the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) have improved sustainability in Canadian seafood production.

    With two-thirds of Canadian fisheries MSC-certified, and an industry goal to achieve ASC certification for all British Columbia farmed salmon by 2020, it is crucial these eco-labels are credibly applied and delivering genuine improvements.

    While both eco-certifications may have been on the cutting edge of best practice at their outset, our analysis suggests this is no longer the case. After a decade, the role of MSC to help push improvement forward in Canadian fisheries is increasingly limited with most Canadian fisheries now certified. After only two years in Canada, ASC is in danger of lowering its sustainability bar by deferring to government regulations that are below their Standard.

    It is essential that the Standards’ requirements of ‘sustainability’ are set high enough to reap adequate improvements to fishery and farming practice as they aim for certification. The schemes, otherwise, are only reinforcing status quo and, at worst, potentially undermining efforts to raise the bar higher. At risk is the credibility of eco-certifications, and ultimately, the health of marine ecosystems.

    SeaChoice is committed to working with both certification schemes on recommended improvements as well as with government regulatory agencies to ensure that Canada’s laws and policies for fisheries and aquaculture operations set a high bar for sustainability.

    More information:

    What’s behind the label? (page on SeaChoice website)

    Press release

    Download reports:

    What’s behind the label? Assessing the impact of MSC and ASC seafood certifications in Canada

    A decade of MSC certifications in Canada – technical report

    Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certifications in Canada – technical report

     

  • SeaChoice transitions to hold seafood supply chain more accountable

    SeaChoice transitions to hold seafood supply chain more accountable

    SeaChoice is in the process of pivoting into our next decade of work to continue to improve the sustainability of seafood produced in, and imported into, Canada. After achieving significant progress in the retail landscape between 2006 and 2016, with many of our retail partners reaching their sustainable seafood commitments, SeaChoice is setting a new and ambitious goal of increasing sustainability throughout the entire seafood supply chain – from water to table.

    Since it’s founding in 2006, SeaChoice’s focus has been to provide informative resources on seafood sustainability at various levels of the seafood supply chain – from harvesters to consumers. Based on scientific assessments, SeaChoice has created easy-to-use tools that help Canadians make the best seafood choices. SeaChoice has provided advice on seafood purchasing based on environmental sustainability, which is communicated as “red”(Avoid), “yellow” (Some Concerns) and “green” (Best Choice).

    One of SeaChoice’s main initiatives has been working directly with Canadian retailers to establish sustainable seafood purchasing policies and to implement market-facing sustainable seafood programs. SeaChoice has always provided this service free of charge, and links this work to its member organizations that have extensive expertise in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture.

    Over the past decade, SeaChoice’s retailer partnerships have been successful in shifting seafood procurement away from unsustainable sources, and in developing consumer awareness of sustainable seafood options in Canada. As of December 2016, SeaChoice is proud to say that our retail partners have either met or almost met their commitments. SeaChoice values and congratulates our retail partners for their important efforts and ongoing commitment to sustainable seafood procurement and consumer education.

    The success of our retailer commitments means we have reached a limit relating to our ability to help them further influence change on the water, as the majority of “red-ranked” seafood products have already been replaced with more sustainable alternatives. In order to ensure that sustainable seafood demand and supply continue to increase in Canada, SeaChoice recognizes that it is necessary to increase pressure at different places along the seafood supply chain, instead of primarily focusing at the retailer level.

    In the shift away from holding direct retail partnerships, SeaChoice is taking several paths to continue improving the sustainability of seafood available in Canada. Moving forward, SeaChoice will be directing more effort and resources into:

    • Transparency and traceability, seeking improvements in seafood labelling regulations.
    • Verifying seafood labelling through DNA testing in Canadian markets.
    • Using market leverage to improve some of the least sustainable fisheries and aquaculture production.
    • Providing retailers the tools and incentives necessary to improve their sustainable seafood commitments and create their own policies in-house.

    This work will be supported by SeaChoice member organization engagement in fisheries and aquaculture management, policy improvements and incentives for improved fishing and farming practices.

    To this end, SeaChoice has already marked many significant accomplishments over the past year, including the following:

    Seafood labelling and traceability:

    • SeaChoice has been focused on improving seafood labelling across Canada. Improved seafood labelling in Canada means that consumers can get all of the information they need at the point of sale – allowing them to make purchasing decisions based on their values.
    • We released our report card on how Canadian seafood labelling legislation compares with the US and EU, and launched an associated website at labelmyseafood.ca.
    • We contributed to the Canadian government request for input on improved food labelling and supply chain traceability (available here and here).
    • We launched a nationwide citizen science project focused on testing the DNA of seafood sold by major retailers across Canada, with an aim of evaluating the adequacy of current labelling practices.

    Continuing market leverage to achieve on the water change:

    • Canada continues to produce and import seafood that is considered “red-ranked”. In some cases the market is not the right lever for making change in these fisheries or aquaculture operations. SeaChoice has instead focused efforts for these species on other areas in the supply chain, such as fisher behaviour, fisheries management, and tracking conditions of eco-certifications to ensure that these fisheries and aquaculture operations improve over time.

    Sustainable seafood commitments:

    • SeaChoice has been working with retailers across Canada to internalize their seafood commitments, building in long-term capacity on tracking, reporting and improving their sustainable seafood options.
    • In order to ensure retailers continue to improve their supply chains, we are developing a tool to track how Canadian retailers progress against a suite of measures, referred to as the Common Vision for Seafood Solutions. The Common Vision has been agreed by ENGOs across North America to be the key elements of sustainable seafood procurement.

    SeaChoice is excited about the next steps in the evolution of the seafood movement in Canada, and encouraged by our success over the past decade. Over the coming months there will be changes in stores as SeaChoice moves away from point-of-sale labelling with retailers. There will also be changes to the SeaChoice website and iPhone App as we transition away from ranking the sustainability of seafood. Indeed SeaChoice will be launching a whole new website this fall that profiles our new initiatives.

    With our retailers reaching their seafood commitments, it is now time to dig even deeper into improving the sustainability of Canada’s seafood supply, and to focus our efforts where the greatest leverage can be found. SeaChoice and its member organizations look forward to continued improvements in the sustainability of seafood available to all Canadians. The future of our coastal communities, national food security and the health of our vast marine ecosystems is at stake in all of the work that we do.

    You can find a press release about the SeaChoice transition here.

  • ASC certified salmon isn’t really a “Good Alternative” seafood

    ASC certified salmon isn’t really a “Good Alternative” seafood

    SeaChoice disagrees with the decision by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program to consider farmed salmon certified by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) as a “Good Alternative”. Seafood Watch published its new recommendation on June 5th, following a benchmarking review of the ASC’s Salmon Standard.

    The Seafood Watch benchmarking suggests that salmon farmed on ASC-certified Canadian farms merits the “Good Alternative” ranking—except that Canadian farms certified by ASC don’t actually meet the criteria benchmarked by Seafood Watch.

    The benchmarking exercise looked exclusively at the Salmon Standard as written and did not review its practical application. In Canada and elsewhere in the world, ASC has approved Variance Requests that substantially alter the Salmon Standard in practice.

    SeaChoice calls on the ASC to take immediate action to repeal its variance request processes, in order to legitimately benchmark to a Seafood Watch “Good Alternative” recommendation.

    More information:

    SeaChoice media release

    Benchmarking & Eco-Certifications

    Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC): Variances and Process

  • SeaChoice launches labelmyseafood.ca

    SeaChoice launches labelmyseafood.ca

    SeaChoice has launched its new website on seafood labelling the Canadian marketplace.

    Visit labelmyseafood.ca to find out more about the inadequacy of Canadians seafood regulations, why it matters, SeaChoice’s recommended labelling action plan for Canada, and what you can do to help!

  • Canada scores an F in regulatory report

    Canada scores an F in regulatory report

    Canada’s seafood labelling regulations are insufficient. Businesses and consumers deserve to know more about the fish they buy.

    Our latest report found that Canada’s seafood labelling lags behind its primary trading partners (the EU and US) we gave gave Canada an “F” for its failing seafood labelling regulations.

    Read the SeaChoice seafood labelling report.

    The full report can be downloaded at www.labelmyseafood.ca

    Learn more about labelling and traceability.