Planetary change and seafood safety Implications for global food - - PDF document

27/05/2014 1 IAEA

International Atomic Energy Agency

Planetary change and seafood safety Implications for global food security

Presented by Geoffrey Shaw Representative of the IAEA Director General to the United Nations 27 May 2014

15th Meeting of UNICPOLOS “The role of seafood in global food security” 27-30 May 2014, New York

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Seafood Safety in a Changing Environment

• Seafood accounts 1/5 of total supply of animal protein
• 20% of animal protein for more than 3 billion people
• among the most highly traded food commodities

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• Environmental factors affecting seafood safety
• Pollution
• Marine Toxins / Harmful Algal Blooms (red tides)
• Climate change and ocean acidification
• How is the IAEA helping MS tackle the problem?
• Advance science and to build capacity
• nuclear and isotopic techniques
• Framework of strategic partnerships
• IOC-UNESCO, UNEP, IMO, National Labs

Seafood Safety

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• Nuclear techniques: detection of radioactive isotopes
• e.g. carbon-14 used for dating archives
• Isotopic techniques: detection of stable isotopes
• e.g. carbon-13 used to identify trophic levels along a food chain
• Comparative advantage over other techniques:
• high sensitivity / low detection limit
• radioactive decay (“internal clock”) allows dating
• ratios of stable isotopes - determine past environmental conditions
• stable isotopic fingerprint allows identifying source of pollution

Nuclear and Isotopic Technologies

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• Advice on seafood protection
• radioactive and non-radioactive contaminants
• Application of nuclear/isotopic techniques
• pollutants; HABs; OA
• Research and Development
• environmental stressors

What is the IAEA doing?

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• Capacity building
• analytical capacity of marine labs

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Types of Marine Pollution

• Radionuclides
• Cesium-137, Americium-241
• e.g. nuclear testing, nuclear accidents
• Organic and inorganic contaminants
• toxic metals
• persistent organic pollutants
• litter / plastics

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IAEA Efforts to Tackle Pollution

• Laboratory and field studies
• organisms and their environment
• pollutant dispersion
• behaviour in the environment
• bioaccumulation

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• Marine biotoxins produced by marine algae
• increased frequency and intensity
• Major public health and socioeconomic problem

Human illness/death Beach closure Fisheries closure

R2 O O O O O O O O O O O O OR1 CH

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Toxic microalgae Transfer, bioaccumulation, biotransformation

Harmful Algal Blooms

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• Nuclear techniques
• measure HAB toxins in seafood
• study environmental and climatic changes
• n HAB occurrence and frequency
• Nuclear-based receptor

binding assay (RBA)

• analysis of algal toxins
• early warning

IAEA Efforts to Tackle Harmful Algal Blooms

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Climate Change and Ocean acidification

• As atmospheric CO2 concentration climbs, ocean pH falls
• extent of impact difficult to predict
• affects ability of some marine life to build shells and skeletons
• potentially devastating in some fragile ecosystems
• e.g. tropical coral reefs and polar regions
• biodiversity, safety and security of seafood

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BRAZIL CO2 effects on calcification* [45Ca] of mussel larvae CANADA Training in use of BCE Model of OA effects on fisheries for coupled bio- physical and socio- economic factors Based on MEY of the modified Gordon- Schaefer model for Bio-economics GHANA OA impacts on fisheries & livelihoods KENYA OA impacts

• n reefs, fish

& livelihoods CHILE upwelled CO2 effects on adult mussel aquaculture USA NOAA collaboration in use of Rational Expectations Models based on MEY in fisheries for OA impacts CASE STUDY

• f Bristol Bay

King Crab Fishery KUWAIT CO2 effects on coral calcification* [45Ca] ; OA reef impacts

Kuwait Arabian Gulf

PHILIPPINES pH effects on fish eggs/larvae & economic valuation of OA impact on fisheries

IAEA efforts to tackle Ocean Acidification – CRP:

“Ocean Acidification and Economic Impacts on Fisheries”

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• Hub: to communicate, promote and

facilitate overarching activities on OA

• End Users: scientific community and

science users

• e.g. policy makers, media, general public

Advisory Board

• aicc@iaea.org

www.iaea.org/nael/OA-ICC www.iaea.org/ocean-acidification

Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC)

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Need for Strengthening:

• Science in support of decision-making
• more and accelerated science
• Capacity building and transfer of knowledge
• expanded research, data generation
• Collaboration / network of partners
• global, regional and national level

Recommendations to Improve Seafood Safety and Food Security

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Thank You

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