Marine Life & Conservation
Fisheries Observer reports of shark and whale abuse still ignored
A new investigation by UK charityShark Guardian has revealed that fishery observer reports of shark, ray, dolphin, and whale abuse on Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified vessels are still routinely ignored.
Shark Guardian first exposed these negligent and illegal practices in the Western Central Pacific Ocean in May 2022, but a lack of meaningful investigation demonstrates that the MSC ‘Blue Tick’ seal of sustainability has ongoing systemic problems.
Shark Guardian’s new report ‘Behind the MSC Blue Tick’, is the result of an investigation into further unreleased fishery observer data, (2017-2021) obtained from whistleblowers.
The report identifies a total of 330 incidents of shark, ray, dolphin, and cetacean interaction that took place on MSC-certified vessels. In most of these cases, these species of special interest were mistreated. 47 out of these incidents occurred during MSC-eligible sets.
DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT HERE: https://tinyurl.com/yeyus4mj
By-catch species and target catch species fate
Brendon Sing, Co-Founder of Shark Guardian said: “Way more needs to be done to ensure that those who consider themselves the arbiters of ocean sustainability are themselves held to the highest standard. If the MSC’s seal of sustainability cannot be trusted, then what is the actual point? Enough is enough. The dirt we’ve uncovered with our two reports over the last twelve months deserves more than lip service from the MSC. They must stop using the service of rotten auditors.”
This report exposes severely compromised management of MSC-certified fisheries in key areas, including:
- MSC-certified vessels deliberately setting their nets around live whales, dolphins and whale sharks
- MSC-certified vessels’ officers and crew using their auxiliary boats to try to scare a whale trapped inside a net into breaking free, instead of ceasing fishing operations and safely releasing the whale
- Regular Illegal, Unlicenced and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the form of unreported fishing by MSC-certified vessels; discrepancies in reporting target and non-target bycatch species
- High grading of catch by MSC-certified vessels
- MSC-certified vessels engaged in FAD fishing during drifting FAD closure period
- Interference in observer duty on MSC-certified vessels
- Marine pollution on MSC-certified vessels
- Mistreatment of vessel crew on MSC-certified vessels
In following up the industry response to their previous report, Shark Guardian found that Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs), the independent auditors monitoring the MSC standard, failed to identify numerous issues raised by observers.
Alex Hofford, Shark Guardian’s Marine Wildlife Campaigner believes the MSC only cares about their bottom line. He said: “We fail to understand how a CAB can assess any fishery against the MSC Fisheries Standard without observer reports being examined, even in the most cursory way. The MSC’s ‘business-as-usual’ attitude suggests they still approve ‘blue tick’ sustainability certificate requests from destructive fisheries, including fisheries that use indiscriminate and harmful drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs), which is unbelievable considering how unsustainable dFADs actually are.”
Example of sharks being left unattended
The MSC is supposed to guarantee that any fish sold with the ‘Blue Tick’ is genuinely sustainable. Shark Guardian is concerned that these findings continue to undermine its credibility.
“The MSC must urgently assert its influence to improve reporting practices and the enforcement of existing regulations. The arrogance and lack of rigour from the CABs is shocking. They should take observers’ reports much more seriously and act upon them. Instead, they seem to quietly put them aside,” said Hofford.
Shark Guardian’s May 2022 report ‘Slipping Through the Net: Reported but Ignored’ exposed a seafood industry turning a blind eye to the significant and meticulous reporting efforts undertaken by its observers. Shark Guardian’s latest ‘Behind the MSC Blue Tick’ report shows that little has changed.
Following the May 2022 report, Assurances Services International (ASI) launched an investigation and pledged to develop a new framework for auditing processes. Their investigation found three ‘minor nonconformities’ and three ‘opportunities for improvement’ for Acoura Limited (trading as Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LRQA), and one ‘minor nonconformity’ and two ‘opportunities for improvement’ for SCS Global. Both CABs were exposed in Shark Guardian’s last investigation, and without proper sanctions, ASI’s findings are effectively just a slap on the wrist for the CABs.
Brendon Sing said: “We found that CABs failed to follow up on numerous problems reported by observers and made no attempt to interview whistle-blower observers. Without interviewing observers, who are the ‘eyes and ears’ of civil society on the ocean –the CABs have failed in their duty.”
The fact that fishery observer reports are routinely disregarded in the MSC’s sustainability certification process is reflected in the launch of three major ‘class action’ lawsuits by the United States consumers, including one against American retail giant Walmart for false claims of seafood sustainability. The MSC is implicated in this legal action, and their sustainability credentials are being questioned. US legal filings in Illinois and California reveal allegations that products labeled with the MSC’s ‘Blue Tick’ falsely indicate that those products have been sourced via sustainable fishing practices which do not harm marine wildlife.
Example of high grading the catch during fish transfer between wells
Shark Guardian’s new report shows that the business-as-usual attitude by CABs and the MSC is not only harming nature but also the sustainable seafood movement. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), observer programmes, nation states, and the MSC, should all work together to ensure that valuable advances in the sustainable management of tuna fisheries are not compromised by negligence, non-compliance, and corruption.
Auditing practices and observer data flow must ensure that observer reports are not ignored. Without accurate reporting and reliable reporting procedures, buyers, stakeholders, and consumers have no guarantee that MSC-certified fish from tuna fisheries in the WCPFC is genuinely sustainable.
For more information, please visit: https://www.sharkguardian.org/
Press release and photos – Shark Guardian
The Shark Trust Great Shark Snapshot is back for its 4th year! And this time the Shark Trust are asking you to Make Every Dive Count!
The Shark Trust Great Shark Snapshot is back for its 4th year! And this time the Shark Trust are asking you to Make Every Dive Count! The last week of July will see the return of the Shark Trust’s citizen science initiative: The Great Shark Snapshot. It encourages divers and snorkellers, all around the world, to record the sharks and rays that they see. This year it takes place between the 19th and 27th July. Get ready to dive in!
The event is back for its 4th year, and it is happening in “Shark Month”, more commonly known as July! To coincide with a series of events that celebrate all things shark and ray, including Shark Week and the 50th anniversary of Jaws.
Divers, clubs, centres, charter boats and liveaboards are all encouraged to show their support by organising dives and events throughout the week. As well as gathering vital data, the event will provide a chance to celebrate the incredible shark and ray species that live in our ocean.
Information about the species and numbers of sharks and rays the participants find over the week will be added to the Shark Trust’s Shark Log. This global shark census will, over time, allow shark scientists to build a picture of species distribution and any changes that occur
Caroline Robertson-Brown, Marketing Manager at the Shark Trust said “It is great to see this popular citizen science event back for its 4th year. We are asking divers to Make Every Dive Count this year. To identify. Count and Record every shark, ray and eggcase they see during the week-long event. To organise dives especially to take part. Whether you are diving your local dive site, or on a trip of a lifetime, we want divers to join in on the Great Shark Snapshot in July.”
It is easy to join in. Just go diving between 19th and 27th July and record every shark, ray, skate or eggcase that you and your dive group sees. If possible, take photos and some video footage too. Then make sure that you record your sightings on the Shark Trust Shark Log recordings website or by using the Shark Trust app.
This year we have created a digital guide that puts all the information you need in one handy online guide. Which can be downloaded from the website.
The Great Shark Snapshot is a way for divers to get together, go diving, and do something to help shark conservation. Why not dive in?
Find out more here: www.sharktrust.org/snapshot
Blogs
The Ocean Cleanup Launches 30 Cities Program to Cut Ocean Plastic Pollution from Rivers by One Third by 2030
The Ocean Cleanup, the international non-profit with the mission to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, has announced, at the UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), its plan to rapidly expand its work to intercept and remove ocean-bound plastic pollution.
The 30 Cities Program will scale the organization’s proven Interceptor™ solutions across 30 key cities in Asia and the Americas, aiming to eliminate up to one third of all plastic flowing from the world’s rivers into the ocean before the end of the decade.
This evolution follows five years of learning through pioneering deployments across 20 of the world’s most polluting rivers and represents a key next step in the organization’s mission and the global fight against ocean plastic pollution.
With the 30 Cities Program, The Ocean Cleanup will transition from single river deployments to citywide solutions, tackling the main plastic emitting waterways within each selected city. This follows a key learning from deployments in Kingston, Jamaica, which showed it is possible to scale faster when projects encompass whole cities, as the same set of partners can be involved with all deployments.
To date, The Ocean Cleanup has already prevented 29 million kilograms of trash from reaching the ocean. The organization currently intercepts an estimated 1–3 percent of global river-borne plastic emissions. With the first 20 river deployments close to being fully operational, it is now poised to reduce the plastic pollution flowing into the ocean from rivers by up to a third.
“When we take on an entire city, instead of individual rivers, we can scale faster, reduce costs, and maximize impact,” said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. “Our analysis shows that strategically deploying Interceptors across just 30 carefully chosen cities can stop up to a third of river plastic pollution worldwide. This is the next big leap toward our ultimate goal of a 90 percent reduction in global ocean plastic pollution.”
City-by-city: a Faster Path to Scaling
Using the latest scientific modeling and on the ground experience, The Ocean Cleanup identified 30 major plastic polluting coastal cities which include:
• Panama City, Panama – First deployment to go live in the coming months.
• Mumbai, India – Mapping of all waterways completed; preparations for first deployments underway.
Furthermore, the organization is developing plans to expand on its existing work to all polluting rivers in:
• Manila, Philippines; Montego Bay, Jamaica; Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand and Los Angeles, U.S.A.
Other cities will be announced once the necessary partnerships and agreements are in place. Planning and fundraising activities are underway for all 30 cities. To realize these ambitious plans, the organization is currently also expanding its engineering and operational capacity.
Data Driven Restoration at Scale
Before Interceptors are deployed, each city project begins with an intensive analysis phase. Aerial drones, AI-powered image analysis, and GPS-tagged “dummy” plastics are used to chart every visible waterway and track how waste moves from streets to sea. These real-time insights guide optimal Interceptor placement and provide a public baseline against which progress can be measured.
Alongside intercepting new plastic, the 30 Cities Program will also remove debris from nearby coasts, mangroves, and coral reefs. This twin-track approach—shutting off the tap while clearing the legacy pollution—enables The Ocean Cleanup to achieve long-term impact, which includes the restoration of fish nursery habitats, boosting coastal tourism, and strengthening of natural storm surge defenses for local communities. Alongside local partners, the organization also advocates for improvements in waste management and awareness raising amongst communities.
Completing the First 20 Rivers
While laying the foundation for the 30 Cities Program, The Ocean Cleanup is also nearing completion of its first 20 river projects. The next landmark achievement—expected as soon as the second half of this year—is in the western Caribbean, where the team aims to resolve the plastic pollution problem in the Gulf of Honduras by intercepting the trash feeding into this body of water.
A Stepping Stone Toward a 90 Percent Reduction
The 30 Cities Program represents the first major scaling step in The Ocean Cleanup’s journey to eliminate 90 percent of floating ocean plastic pollution. In parallel, efforts are continuing to remove plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Whilst extraction operations are currently on hiatus, work to deploy cutting edge technologies to map the “hotspots”, or areas of intense plastic accumulation, in order to make future extractions more efficient and economical, is ongoing.
By combining river interception and coastal cleanup with its offshore cleanup systems targeting legacy pollution that’s already in the ocean, the organization is charting a path to turn off the tap and mop up the mess.
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization that develops and scales technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. By conducting extensive research, engineering scalable solutions, and partnering with governments, industry, and like-minded organizations, The Ocean Cleanup is working to stop plastic inflow via rivers and remove legacy plastic already polluting the oceans. As of June 2025, the non-profit has collected over 28 million kilograms (62 million pounds) of trash from aquatic ecosystems around the world. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a multi-disciplined team of approximately 200 people. The organization is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, with international operations in 10 countries. For more information, visit www.theoceancleanup.com.
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