The Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) announced last week that it “embarked on a country mission to Guinea-Bissau to discuss enhancing the nation’s fisheries transparency by implementing the FiTI standard.” The Initiative stated that it held discussions in recent months with the Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, Mário Musante, and his technical team in Bissau to deliver a proposal for a Memorandum of Understanding between both parties for a sustainable tuna fishery in its EEZ. The EU and Guinea-Bissau renewed their fishing partnership agreement in September last year, allowing boats from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, and France to fish in the tuna-rich Guinea-Bissau EEZ in the Atlantic Ocean for the next five years.

A FiTI statement read: “Discussions included ongoing dialogue on the advantages of improving sustainable fisheries governance in the country, as well as requests for these institutions and organizations to support the government and the Ministry of Fisheries throughout this process. These efforts will contribute to substantially improving fisheries governance in the country.”

Hawaiian retailers have one year to label the tuna used in their ahi sashimi, poke, and sushi, so that consumers will know whether they are buying locally caught fish. Ahi refers to yellowfin and bigeye, both species are caught by the US longline fleet in Hawaii.

Last week, Hawaiian Governor Josh Green signed five bills about food, agriculture, and biosecurity. One was the bill that prohibits the sale of raw processed ahi by retailers without indicating the country where the ahi was landed on the label. “The health and resiliency of our agricultural lands and producers are not just vital – they are the very foundation of Hawaii’s well-being and future,” Green said in a statement, after signing the bills. Legislators have been demanding stricter labelling requirements for imported raw ahi tuna. One of their main arguments was that imported tuna is often carbon dioxide-treated, unlike fish from Hawaii fisheries.

Seafood company Culimer USA is rebranded as OddiSea SuperFrozen. The brand offers bluefin, bigeye, albacore, and skipjack from MSC fisheries in its sushi products sold in North America. The New Jersey-based company said the change was made to “respond to growing US consumer concerns about the management of our oceans, the origins of our seafood, and the purity of the process,” thus leading to an increased demand for transparent seafood supply chains.

In the press statement, the company claimed that SuperFrozen technology “is the only” method to perfectly preserve tuna without the use of any additives, chemicals, or smoke. All other processes manipulate the product. Michael McNicholas, Oddisea’s CEO, explained that, “with the creation of Oddisea SuperFrozen, we are committed to maintaining this path for the highest possible benchmark for product quality, safety, and traceability.”