Category

Version 2017

Jul 31
0

5-Year Review of Essential Fish Habitat in the US Caribbean

By | News, Version 2017

MRAG Americas contributed to the development of an Environmental Impact Statement for the Generic Essential Fish Habitat Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans for the U.S. Caribbean in 2004. With this and other legal documents, in 2005 the CFMC completed the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) to describe and identify essential fish habitat (EFH), minimize adverse effects of fishing, and identify actions to conserve and enhance EFH. The EFH regulation states that the Fishery Management Councils and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) should periodically review the EFH provisions of FMPs and revise or amend those provisions as warranted, and a complete review of all EFH information should be conducted at least once every 5 years. The CFMC contracted MRAG Americas to conduct the first 5-year review, which was completed in 2011. Since then, a wealth of new information on EFH has been produced; updated EFH maps have been developed for the US Caribbean; Island Based Fishery Management Plans for Puerto Rico, St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix have been developed, with new species being considered for federal management; and the CFMC has proposed the development of a Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP).

Once again, MRAG Americas has been selected to conduct the second EFH review for the CFMC, with the following objectives: (1) improve habitat association tables, by species and life stage for federally managed fish and invertebrate species; (2) update the current spatial depictions of EFH; and (3) contribute to the development of a web-based database and mapping application to improve access and ease of use of EFH information at various life stages for better informed stock assessments and fishery management and the development of island-based FEPs. Ultimately, this web-based tool would be accessible to the public and utilized as the framework for identifying and describing EFH. The review will provide the detailed information necessary for the development of the tool and addition to GIS map viewer, but will not develop the actual tool as a deliverable. The 5-year review will be conducted through the end of 2018, with Dr. Valle-Esquivel leading the work, and Dr. Zollett and expert consultant Dr. Garcia-Saez as team members.

Jul 24
0

Catch Share Indicators Symposium at AFS

By | News, Version 2017

Members of the Measuring the Effects of Catch Shares Project (catchshareindicators.org) will host a Symposium at this year’s Annual Fisheries Society conference in Atlantic City. The symposium, scheduled for Monday afternoon, August 20, will explore the design of the project and its approach to inform decision making. Presenters will draw on discipline-specific analyses, challenges and results, with specific attention to interdisciplinary stories and lessons learned from these fisheries and program design aspects that can be applied elsewhere.

Jul 24
0

MRAG Americas contracted by Caribbean Fisheries Management Council

By | News, Version 2017

MRAG Americas contracted by the Caribbean Fisheries Management Council to conduct required 5-Year Review of Essential Fish Habitat in the US Caribbean. MRAG will be working closely with Council staff to update, describe and identify and map essential fish habitat (EFH), which is critical for fisheries management to minimize adverse effects of fishing, and identify actions to conserve and enhance EFH.

Jul 01
0

Contact Us

By | General MRAG, Version 2017

Contact Us

mrag.americas@mragamericas.com

Florida

Northeast

Headquarters
8950 Martin Luther King Jr St. N, Suite 202
St. Petersburg, FL 33702
T: 727-563-9070
F: 727-563-0207

Northeast Office
Danvers, MA
T: 978-768-3880

Alaska

Pacific Northwest

Alaska Office
Anchorage, AK
T: 907-677-8772
F: 907-677-6022

Northwest Office
Seattle, WA
T: 206-600-4144

To send MRAG Americas a message. Please complete this form.

Jun 08
0

MRAG Americas News

By | Version 2017

Op-ed: MRAG Americas Vice President Graeme Parkes stresses value of third-party audits.

December 9, 2022

ISSF President Susan Jackson sat down recently with conformity assessment body MRAG Americas Vice President Graeme Parkes to discuss the ISSF audit and compliance process. Read the article at www.seafoodsource.com.

MRAG Americas goes kayaking and paddle boarding in St. Petersburg, FL!

Updated: October 2022

From Left: Back row: Bob Trumble; Oleg Martens; Bryan Belay; Ben Hannah; Nick Hahlbeck; Clara Robison; Erin Wilson; Erin Hrastar; Carolina Vargas; Keith Stern-Pirlot; From Left front row: Amanda Stern-Pirlot; Jennie Harrington; Debra Welsh; Michealene Corlett; Haley Tomberlin; Monica Valle; Susan Alcorn. Not pictured: Andy Rosenberg; Graeme Parkes; Marcie Malone, Eileen Bautista

MRAG Americas completes first certification in North America under the FISH Standard for Crew

MRAG Americas auditors awarded the certification after extensive policy and procedure review, on-site vessel inspections, and face-to-face interviews of crew members.

FISH Standard APA Certification
APA FISH Crew Press Release

Changes at MRAG Americas

Updated: August 18, 2022

MRAG Americas has made several important and exciting organizational changes. We have established a new Executive Team, modified our company structure to bring all our third party certification work under a single Division, and created several new positions, recruiting from both within and outside the company. These and other changes are reflected on our website www.mragamericas.com.

Executive Team

Our new Executive Team is Graeme Parkes, Jennie Harrington, Amanda Stern-Pirlot and Debra Welsh. The Executive Team has oversight of all day-to-day actions and decision making required to run projects and maintain company processes. The Team will work closely on company business strategy and operations with the company President, Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, who is retiring from his position at the Union of Concerned Scientists at the end of August. Collectively, this experienced Executive Team will ensure the company continues its leading role in supporting successful, science-based, sustainable aquatic resources management in the Americas and around the world.

Jennie Harrington, previously Director of our Seafood Sourcing Division, has been promoted to Vice President and later this year will become Executive Vice President (EVP) and Head of the Executive Team. Jennie will be taking over from our current EVP Graeme Parkes, who will be taking on the role of Vice President: Project Management. Jennie will also retain senior oversight of our Chain of Custody certification operations within the new Certification Division.

Amanda Stern-Pirlot, previously Director of our Fisheries Certification Division, has been promoted to Vice President: Science. In this role, Amanda provides technical oversight of all our projects, ensuring that MRAG Americas maintains the strong science and evidence-based ethos for which we are well known. Amanda will play a prominent role in the Executive Team as Jennie’s deputy and also continue to oversee all Fisheries Certification projects.

Debra Welsh joins the Executive Team in her existing role as MRAG Americas’ Business Manager; responsible for managing the financial systems of the company, assessing financial performance and overseeing related administrative processes.

Divisional Structure

Certification Division: Our Fisheries and Chain of Custody certification activities are now united within a single Certification Division. This Division houses all our accredited certification programs including our new auditing activities under the Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM) and FISH Standard for Crew certification schemes, in addition to the existing Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification programs. Oversight and management will be provided by Amanda Stern-Pirlot and Erin Wilson (Senior Manager) for Fisheries projects, and Jennie Harrington and Ben Hannah (Senior Manager) for Chain of Custody projects.  The Certification Division will be supported by a single enhanced Quality Management System (QMS) lead by Michealene Corlett to ensure our procedures keep pace with our expanding certification project portfolio.

Seafood Sustainability Initiatives and Auditing Division (SSIAD): Our former Seafood Sourcing Division has been replaced by the SSIAD with Oleg Martens as Division Director. This Division provides expert advice, services and support for a range of seafood sustainability programs and initiatives that are not covered by third party standards like MSC or RFM. This includes our long standing independent auditing work for the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and verification of other sustainability and responsible sourcing claims.

Our Fisheries Technical and Fisheries Monitoring Divisions will continue to cover the same areas as before, with Monica Valle Esquivel as Principal Scientist in the former and Bryan Belay as Director of the latter.

Guidance and Tools for Traceability in Fishery Improvement Projects | Publications | WWF

MRAG Americas helped WWF put together this guide. WWF has produced this comprehensive guide to help Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) practitioners and stakeholders work successfully with the issue of seafood traceability to achieve improved FIP outcomes and encourage transparent and responsible practices across the fishing industry.

FIP Traceability Guidance Doc is now live and posted on WWF’s website, which can be found here:

https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/guidance-and-tools-for-traceability-in-fishery-improvement-projects 

Jun 08
0

MRAG Americas starting new project with NAFO

By | News, Version 2017

MRAG Americas is starting a new project with the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) the RFMO responsible for ensuring the long term conservation and sustainable use of the fishery resources in the north west Atlantic. This work will result in a fully documented description of all methodologies being used for estimating tow catches by vessel skippers, NAFO compliance Observers, Scientific Observers and NAFO At-Sea Inspectors, together with the development of common best practices. We are very excited to be working with NAFO on this important project. We’ll be collaborating on this with our sister companies MRAG Ltd and MRAG Asia Pacific.

Jun 08
0

MSC re-assessment of Limited Entry Groundfish Trawl

By | News, Version 2017

MRAG Americas, Inc. is pleased to announce that a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) re-assessment of US West Coast Limited Entry Groundfish Trawl fishery has begun. The assessment, which includes the limited-entry and Makah tribal components, will evaluate the fishery for compliance with the MSC’s Standard for well managed and sustainable fisheries. The assessment will include 18 groundfish species, with a site visit taking place in Seattle from 9-11 May.

Apr 16
0

By | Lightboxed News, Version 2017

MRAG Americas is starting a new project with the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) the RFMO responsible for ensuring the long term conservation and sustainable use of the fishery resources in the north west Atlantic.  This work will result in a fully documented description of all methodologies being used for estimating tow catches by vessel skippers, NAFO compliance Observers, Scientific Observers and NAFO At-Sea Inspectors, together with the development of common best practices. We are very excited to be working with NAFO on this important project. We’ll be collaborating on this with our sister companies MRAG Ltd and MRAG Asia Pacific.

MRAG Americas, Inc. is pleased to announce that a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) re-assessment of US West Coast Limited Entry Groundfish Trawl fishery has begun. The assessment, which includes the limited-entry and Makah tribal components, will evaluate the fishery for compliance with the MSC’s Standard for well managed and sustainable fisheries. The assessment will include 18 groundfish species, with a site visit taking place in Seattle from 9-11 May.

Apr 16
0

NOAA/NMFS Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) in effect

By | News, Version 2017

Through the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), NOAA/NMFS have identified seafood species most “at-risk” for IUU fishing and fraud, and have developed an electronic traceability program to track these “priority” species from point of harvest to entry into U.S. commerce. The final rule became effective on January 9, 2017, with a compliance date of January 1, 2018 for most priority species.

More recently, NOAA/NMFS proposed a voluntary Commerce Trusted Trader Program (CTTP). The CTTP is intended to lessen the administrative burden of SIMP for companies willing to undergo third party traceability audits. Companies that are already certified for MSC Chain of Custody or similar certification may find these audits to be the simplest way to comply with the SIMP. MRAG Americas is ASI accredited and therefore qualified to provide CTTP auditing services. We are monitoring the progress of the proposed rule. Check back here for updates and/or contact us for more details on how we can help you.

Jan 26
0

About MRAG – TEST

By | General MRAG, Version 2017

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