Strong Earthquake in Coastal Ecuador and Peru: At Least 14 People Dead, Widespread Damage

A strong earthquake shook southern Ecuador and northern Peru on Saturday, killing at least 14 people, trapping others under rubble, and sending rescue teams out into streets littered with debris and fallen power lines.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake with a magnitude of about 6.8 that was centered just off the Pacific Coast, about 50 miles south of Guayaquil, Ecuador's second-largest city.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso in a televised address to the nation said the earthquake killed 12 people. Continue reading here (Source: USA Today).

US to Expand Monitoring Program Against IUU Fishing

In late December 2022, NOAA Fisheries, responsible for managing the United States’ ocean resources, announced a plan to expand and update the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) aimed at curbing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing worldwide.

“The program is one of several tools NOAA utilizes to combat IUU fishing and ensure the U.S. remains a global leader in the effort to safeguard the sustainability of marine species worldwide,” Janet Coit, assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement.

“This effort to strengthen product traceability has until March 2023 to receive feedback,” Juan Carlos Sueiro, director of Fisheries for ocean conservation organization Oceana Peru, told Diálogo on January 27, about the comment period before a final rule is issued. “It is an initiative toward reducing illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing […] that needs to be welcomed.” Continue reading here (Source: Dialogo Americas).

Private Equity Suitors Go Fishing For £400m Tinned Tuna Group Princes

Sky News understands that Valeo Foods, which is majority-owned by the buyout firm Bain Capital, and Aurelius Group, the corporate carve-out specialist, are among the bidders interested in acquiring Princes.

The company, which is owned by the giant Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corporation, produces a range of tinned fish, fruit and ready meals, as well as fruit juices and frozen meals.

Houlihan Lokey, the investment bank, has been appointed to handle the sale, which industry sources said could be valued at £400m or more, depending upon the competitiveness of the auction. Continue reading here (Source: Sky News).

SPC Scheme Will Help

Efforts are being made to ensure Pacific nations can cope with changing tuna migration patterns in the region.

Tuna migrations are already happening due to climate change and will become more pronounced over the next 30 to 40 years, bringing multi-million dollar impacts to Pacific economies.

The Pacific Community (SPC), through its Climate Science for Ensuring Pacific Tuna Access Programme, aims to arm nations with the resources to counter this. Continue reading here (Source: The Fiji Times).

'Phenomenal Loophole' In Quotes Could Lead to Massive Overfishing

A push by EU fishing nations including France and Spain to weaken how fish catches are reported could see massive overfishing of endangered species and even “call into question” the whole point of setting quotas, according to confidential EU documents seen by the Guardian.

Europe’s most commonly fished species – which include mackerel, tuna, Atlantic herring and sprat – could be threatened under the latest proposal, which would apply to all vessels in EU waters.

At issue is how fish catches are logged to ensure that vessels are not overfishing. Bloc rules currently allow a 10% margin of tolerance between the declared catch for each fish species in a vessel’s logbook and the quantity they report after landing. But fishing nations want to expand a loophole applied to the Baltic in 2016 that widens the scope of the 10% margin to vessels’ total catches. Continue reading here (Source: The Guardian).

Skylight Becoming Key Tool in Fight Against IUU Fishing

Efforts to reduce illegal fishing through improved transparency and monitoring will have to be matched with increased funding for enforcement by poorer coastal states, according to the head of a program helping detect illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in several regions.

The increased capacity of monitoring systems has made detection of illegal fishing more doable “but funding is badly needed to help coastal nations act on the information,” said Ted Schmitt, director of conservation at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) and head of the Skylight program, which has helped detect illegal fishing recently in Ecuador, Fiji, Panama, and Sri Lanka. Continue reading here (Source: SeafoodSource).