Finally MSC certified shrimp/prawn fisheries

Guess I took my eye off this for a while. There are now three certified sustainable shrimp fisheries in the world.

http://www.msc.org/cook-eat-enjoy/fish-to-eat/msc-pink-shrimp/?searchterm=shrimp

Good news, shrimp without the guilt.

Now I just need to find where I can buy them in Hong Kong

WWF-HK starts a shark fin campaign

WWF Hong Kong has launched a shark fin campaign on the 3rd December, aimed at highlighting the

1. Most shark fisheries are poorly managed and unsustainable.
2. Huge wastage, 90-95% of the shark is disposed of after the fins are cut off.
3. 20% of the 546 shark species on the IUCN redlist are threatened with extinction.

Consumers should stop eating shark fin and restaurants should stop selling it.

The full story can be found Click HERE

Fish dumping will ruin industry (sic)

Interesting report on the BBC, sent to me by a good friend, this also made the BBC World Service and BBC News 24. The story is that Europeanfishermen are complaining that because they have already exceeded their fishing quota for various whitefish (cod, haddock and whiting) they have to through away significant quantities of valuable by-catch from allowed prawn trawling.

The report(s) can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7103363.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7102241.stm

The destruction and wastage is terrible and very very sad of course, but my believe is that the fishing industry is wholly responsible.

Here is my suggestions.

1. European wide fishing quotas must remain and need to be strictly enforced based on scientific evidence.
2. Fazing out of trawling within areas of high biodiversity, and introduction of penalities for their use.
3. Investment into sustainable shrimp fishing and shrimp farming.
4. Consumer education and labelling into the shrimp industry and the source for shrimps on supermarket shelfs.

The above should also be introduced into the Asia Pacific region as an urgent matter

Fishing ban called for Bluefin tuna

WWF is calling for a three year closure of the fisheries industry in European waters. The timing of this proclaimation is aligned with the meeting of International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) — meeting from 9 to 18 November in Antalya, Turkey.

This is a follow up to an earlier blog on Bluefin Tuna, click here

Miracle if anything positive comes out of this ICCAT meeting, as there is a history of indecision.

This latest story can be found here:
http://www.panda.org/index.cfm?uNewsID=116941

South East Asia's Oceans running out of fish

A new report from Australia's Lowy Institute spells out what we have all know for a long time, overfishing in South East Asia is depleting SE Asia's fish stocks and coral reefs. Source:Environmental News Network http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/24297

Few quick points

1. Fisheries in the region have expanded dramatically in the past few decades
2. Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines are now inthe top 12 fish producing countries in the world.
3. In the Gulf of Thailand, the density of fish had declined by 86 percent from 1961 to 1991, while between 1966 and 1994 the catch per hour in the Gulf by trawlers fell more than sevenfold.
4. In the Gulf of Tonkin, where Vietnam shares resources with China, the record was even worse with fish catch per hour in 1997 only a quarter of that in 1985.
5. In the Philippines, most marine fisheries were overexploited by the 1980s, with catch rates as low as 10 percent of rates when these areas were lightly fished.
6. As the fourth largest country in world fish production, Indonesia is a fisheries giant. Yet ... Indonesian marine fisheries resources are close to fully exploited and a significant number in all areas are over-exploited.

Recommendations in the report include

1. Help Southeast Asian countries build their capacity for fisheries management.
2. The principle of stakeholder inclusion in its fisheries interventions by stressing the importance of including views from fishers’ representatives, environmental organisations, community and women’s interests, consumers and the private sector representing the retail, food service and fish processing sectors.
3. Substantial increase in the amount of marine conservation research.
4. Regional bodies such as APFIC, ASEAN and SEAFDEC need to create a regional process to assess fisheries resources and to provide advice to fisheries managers in a form suitable for local use.
5. Consumer information, correct labelling of country and source of origin, in an effort to increase awareness of and pressure for sustainable fish products as well as combat illegal fishing.

Full report can be found on the Lowy Institute website as follows:
http://www.lowyinstitute.org/PublicationGet.asp?i=714

Shrimp/prawn farming - the bad news in detail

I have known for a while that eating prawns are bad and should be avoided (see other posts on this blog) Prawns/shrimp are either caught using highly destructive trawling or farmed using methods that are highly destructive to marine and coastal ecological systems.

The following two links provide some more information and are interesting reading.

Hungry for change: EJ Foundation campaign for ethical shrimp (read prawn) farming and fisheries: click here

Details report into the shrimp industry : click here


The conclusion of the executive summary section of the "...costing the earth" report says:
"Immediate action is necessary by all stakeholders and specifically governments, the shrimp farming industry, seafood producers, traders and retailers plus aid and development agencies, which together are promoting or indirectly supporting the unsustainable and unethical practices of this industry."

The consumer guide references a need to be aware of what you are eating, ask the right questions of the restaurants and supermarkets and only buy ethically produced prawns.

Now that is the challenge. I don't see any labels or information to help consumers in this regard, maybe if we started to ask then this will start to happen.

Malaysian ministry bans shark's fin soup

Just received this:

"Ministry bans shark's fin soup - Malaysiakini.com ( http://malaysiakini.com/ ) Sep 15, 07 4:16am

Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has struck off shark's fin soup from the menus at official functions, to help conserve the species, a report said today.

Minister Azmi Khalid told the official Bernama news agency that the ministry had made the commitment to the Malaysian Nature Society.

"By refraining from the consumption of shark's fin soup, it is hoped that the ministry would contribute in one way or another towards the current conservation efforts for sharks species," he said.

"Their demise would start off a domino effect, which at each stage could result in the depletion or overpopulation of other fish and marine species leading to an imbalance in the marine ecosystem," he said.

On preservation drive

The society's Selangor branch Marine Group is on a drive to encourage individuals and organisations to stop serving the delicacy at corporate functions.
The marine group had embarked on a series of activities and programmes to promote awareness on the plight of sharks and their importance to the marine ecosystem.

Malaysia's population is dominated by Muslim Malays, but there are also large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities."

What can be done to raise the awareness of this and to try to get other governments and ministries in the region follow suit...?