At the beginning of July, I had the opportunity – along with several members of the Alliance – to attend the 89th Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in Quito, Ecuador. The meeting covered many issues relating to sustainability including protections for sharks, mobulid rays and Bluefin tuna; illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; FAD tracking and fishing quota increases.
On June 6, I had the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., and represent the Alliance at a Top-Chef style cooking competition in collaboration with L’Academie de Cuisine.L’Academie de Cuisine is a world-class, private institution of higher culinary learning, a boutique, professional cooking school where the art and science of cooking in fine dining kitchens is taught by renowned instructors.
Did you know: oceans cover over 70 percent of the globe? But we have explored less than 5 percent of them. In fact, we know less about the oceans on earth, than we know about the planet Mars.
Today is World Oceans Day, an annual day of celebration – a day to honor the world’s oceans and take the time to appreciate the great value the sea offers us.
It seems as though every week brings another headline somewhere in the world about the decline of our marine environment and resources. Recently it was two new reports that highlight continued overfishing of the Atlantic by fleets from the European Union. That’s bad news for the millions of people around the world who rely on the ocean as their primary source of protein.
At the end of April, The Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna participated in a very productive week in Brussels, Belgium. While there, Alliance members were fortunate enough to attend not only the Seafood Expo Global/Seafood Processing Global, but also the 5th European Tuna Conference. Every other year, Brussels hosts the European Tuna Conference, which coincided with the Seafood Expo perfectly, as it landed the day before. Themed, “This Time It’s Different,” the European Tuna Conference focused on the many high impact changes that the European tuna market will be facing in 2015, demanding full attention of tuna buyers, suppliers and policy makers.
We are all just returning from a trip to the Seafood Expo North America/Seafood Processing North America in Boston, USA. The Seafood Expo is an exciting event – the largest seafood trade show in all of North America. The Expo attracts over 20,000 buyers and suppliers of fresh, frozen, packaged and value-added seafood products, equipment, and services. Attendees travel from more than 100 countries to network, learn, and do business at the exposition.
On January 12 and 14, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) began their 2015 series of Skippers’ Workshop in Manzanillo and Mazatlán. Since 2009, ISSF Skippers’ Workshops have provided an opportunity for ISSF-sponsored scientists and subject-matter experts, to share best practices and the latest science on tuna with fishers in every port. Together, scientists, subject-matter experts and fishers exchange knowledge that both informs ISSF’s research priorities as they continue to identify and advance sustainable fishing practices and advances the field of tuna sustainability.
Seventy one percent of the earth is water and the oceans provide not only an income and livelihood, but also a primary protein source to millions of people. This is why it is critical that we implement sustainable fishing practices that will ensure the health and future of fishing. The Pacific Alliance for Sustainable Tuna was created to bring together a group of leading fishing companies that are bound together by our broad vision for sustainability. We are committed to caring for our natural resources for today and tomorrow. Together, we work to continually improve our fishing practices and align with the global standards for long-term sustainable fishing.
