Seafood Fraud May Be an Even Bigger Problem Than You Thought

Do you know where your fish comes from? A new study suggests that up to 32 percent of all seafood imported in the United States is caught illegally, which, if true, would mean that sustainability efforts are being torpedoed right under the noses of government inspectors.

"We thought a well-governed country like the U.S., with tighter controls, would be better [at preventing the import of illegal catch]," co-author Tony Pitcher recently told The Washington Post. The Post notes that the study, which will be published later this year in the journal Marine Policy, reveals that inspectors “are not required to ask for documentation that shows a bounty’s origin,” and are instead more concerned with sniffing out seafood that could sicken consumers. “It’s quite clear that most consumers don’t have an idea what’s coming into the supply,” Pitcher said.

But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates the National Marine Fisheries Service, calls foul: “Any study like this depends on data-poor statistics,” NOAA public affairs director Connie Barclay told us via email. “So, the accuracy of the claim that 20 percent to 32 percent of wild caught U.S. seafood imports are linked to [illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing] fishing is unverifiable.”

Indeed, the researchers acknowledged that not all of the fisheries included had enough data for them to analyze. It notes that in those cases, data was supplemented by “interviews with industry experts and government officials to provide a more robust estimate of the [illegal and unreported] catches for the products concerned.”

[edited for compliance]

The question of seafood sustainability must begin with traceability, he said, adding that steeper penalties for those who break the law are a necessity. Consider tuna, for instance. According to the study, tuna is one of the most common illegally caught imports. It’s also among the most-consumed seafood products in the U.S, and an international appetite for it has led to dangerous overfishing with tuna stocks in the Northern Pacific Ocean dropping by up to 96 percent last year.

"Tuna can be harvested sustainably, it’s possible," Vilnit said. "But it’s like elephant tusks and ivory. The fines are too small and the payoff [for the poachers] is too big.”

The issues outlined in the study are definite cause for concern, he continued. “It puts all of our sustainability efforts severely behind,” he said. Without serious government action, seafood sustainability activists may just be spinning their wheels.

Full story HERE

no, really, what they're doing to some species is beyond evil, it's almost like genocide: whales, tuna, etc

you just can't control these illegal practices, the oceans are too big, this stuff will always happen

[Edited 4/24/14 6:24am]

JoeTyler said:

no, really, what they're doing to some species is beyond evil, it's almost like genocide: whales, tuna, etc

you just can't control these illegal practices, the oceans are too big, this stuff will always happen

[Edited 4/24/14 6:24am]

humans suck. we are primitive little monkeys obsessed with our own genitalia. we cruelly raise animals in factory farms, inhumanely kill them and then grow sick and obese on their flesh. we have technology advanced enough now for the free exchange of information and what do we do with it? snap dick and titty selfies and sext each other while driving, causing accidents and injury to others...

XxAxX said:

JoeTyler said:

no, really, what they're doing to some species is beyond evil, it's almost like genocide: whales, tuna, etc

you just can't control these illegal practices, the oceans are too big, this stuff will always happen

[Edited 4/24/14 6:24am]

humans suck. we are primitive little monkeys obsessed with our own genitalia. we cruelly raise animals in factory farms, inhumanely kill them and then grow sick and obese on their flesh. we have technology advanced enough now for the free exchange of information and what do we do with it? snap dick and titty selfies and sext each other while driving, causing accidents and injury to others...

i feel ya

humans are hominids that have become WAY TOO intelligent to the point that we treat the rest of the animals/planet as if we were some kind of uncaring gods, everything for $ and pleasure of course

Trowling of delicate/protected areas of the seas if DESTROYING fish stocks.

I read somewhere that fish populations worldwide could be completely(?) depleted withing a couple of decades.

JoeTyler said:

XxAxX said:

humans suck. we are primitive little monkeys obsessed with our own genitalia. we cruelly raise animals in factory farms, inhumanely kill them and then grow sick and obese on their flesh. we have technology advanced enough now for the free exchange of information and what do we do with it? snap dick and titty selfies and sext each other while driving, causing accidents and injury to others...

i feel ya

humans are hominids that have become WAY TOO intelligent to the point that we treat the rest of the animals/planet as if we were some kind of uncaring gods, everything for $ and pleasure of course

mm hmm. if i were an 'intelligent alien/God" and came to earth to see what's up with things, i would not be at all pleased with the complete lack of mercy we humans show animals. from unnecessary roadkill to 'sport' hunters who shoot from helicopters, to those who traffic in endangered species such as rhinoceros because of the alleged aphrodisiac properties of their powdered horns. ... such complete and utter numptyness should be punished.

okay, rant over. i still love us humans, but we are so freaking STUPID it boils me over at times

PurpleJedi said:

XxAxX said:

JoeTyler said:

no, really, what they're doing to some species is beyond evil, it's almost like genocide: whales, tuna, etc

you just can't control these illegal practices, the oceans are too big, this stuff will always happen

[Edited 4/24/14 6:24am]

humans suck. we are primitive little monkeys obsessed with our own genitalia. we cruelly raise animals in factory farms, inhumanely kill them and then grow sick and obese on their flesh. we have technology advanced enough now for the free exchange of information and what do we do with it? snap dick and titty selfies and sext each other while driving, causing accidents and injury to others...

noimageatall said:

BobGeorge909 said:

noimageatall said:

If its any consolation...life existed long before humans and life will probably last much longer than humans. We may be the demise of many a species and probably ourselves...but by no means do I think we'll b theast things living on this planet or that all life on earth will end cuzza us. I think we're kinda insignificant in the scheme of it all.

i couldn't disagree more

BobGeorge909 said:

noimageatall said:

If its any consolation...life existed long before humans and life will probably last much longer than humans. We may be the demise of many a species and probably ourselves...but by no means do I think we'll b theast things living on this planet or that all life on earth will end cuzza us. I think we're kinda insignificant in the scheme of it all.

If you watch this series I believe you might rethink that. I thought I knew a lot about what we are doing to the planet but this made me cry.

http://www.sho.com/sho/ye...ously/home

Here is one full episode...

this is my own opinion, but i think we humans once had a rich civilization and history which we've forgotten. for example we know the pyramids and sphinx are far older than we first thought as they bear signs of water run-off weathering. the nile delta was arid five thousand years ago so the sphinx must be far older than we tell ourselves. (http://www.davidpbillington.net/sphinx3.html; http://www.egypt-tehuti.o...hinx.html)

so i don't believe for one second the tale they tell us about the origins of humanity. we didn't just suddenly 'grow' civilization in the mesopotamian valley seven thousand years ago, we had highly advanced civilizations on this planet thousands of years before that. we are finding pyramids all over this planet which today's engineers, with modern technology, would be seriously challenged to erect. how did so-called 'primitive' people accomplish this then? (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/who-built-the-pyramids.html).

i believe we had technology that utilized concepts we don't have today and a more spiritual basis for living our lives, but something cataclysmic happened around 12,000 years ago which nearly wiped us out. some kind of planet-wide flood happened which destroyed our written and oral history, sank coastal cities and catapulted humankind back into the stone age.

there is (arguably) evidence of a meteor impact crater in canada's hudson bay, which might explain this planetwide catastrophe. (scientists don't agree on this). for whatever reason, there was a mass, planet-wide die-off around then. (http://o.canada.com/technology/science/new-study-slams-theory-that-meteorite-struck-ice-age-canada-and-killed-off-mammoths; http://www.freerepublic.c...352/posts)

i think humans are capable of great things, and we are more than able to live benevolently in harmony with the planet, but we are currently living in the mother of all dark ages, the worst unenlightened era and lowest point in our species' history.

for example tesla tried to turn it around for us at the beginning of this century by developing a free, clean energy source for any and all of us to use, but of course j.p. morgan took that technology, restricted access to it, and made a fortune with it. (http://www.teslasgenerator.net/category/tesla-free-energy-generator/)

maybe there is hope for us, i don't know. certainly seems to be getting worse though, instead of better. the wrong greedy bastard people are in charge and are making the wrong decisions for all of us, for the wrong reasons. (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/04/23/a-rise-in-wealth-for-the-wealthydeclines-for-the-lower-93/).

for one relevant current example: we have a texas oil billionaire, t. boone pickens, who feels he needs even more more money, who plans to drain the ogalalla aquifer located partially under his land, bottle it up in plastic jugs and sell it back to us. this is the kind of feeble brainwork which keeps our species in the dark ages. (http://www.texastribune.org/2010/06/17/how-bad-is-the-ogallala-aquifers-decline-in-texas/; http://habwwe.wordpress.c...per-com/0; http://thecommonsenseshow...pickens/).

i'm not sure whether it would be acceptable, or even morally righteous, for us 96 percenters to personally 'rise up' and attack mr greedy pants billionaire who is robbing our future water supply, or those who contaminate our drinking water through fracking, or to personally go and simply burn down the homes of the one percent who own the banks too big to fail and who run things for profit while stealing resources from poor folk. i'm not at all sure what would jesus do.

on the one hand jesus stormed into the temple and overturned the tables of the money lenders while reportedly ranting and yelling at them furiously. on the other hand jesus preached turning the other cheek. it's hard to know how to live in times like this.

maybe you're right and this planet will ultimately extinct humans and be far better off for it. maybe humankind will correct its course sometime soon. i really do not know. i find life extremely confusing sometimes. my 2c.

BobGeorge909 said:

noimageatall said:

If its any consolation...life existed long before humans and life will probably last much longer than humans. We may be the demise of many a species and probably ourselves...but by no means do I think we'll b theast things living on this planet or that all life on earth will end cuzza us. I think we're kinda insignificant in the scheme of it all.

[Edited 4/27/14 6:34am]

noimageatall said: