The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation recognizes conservation as a core value of its mission and is committed to setting a course for conservation based on sound science and global cooperation.
IUU FISHING
ISSF has committed to working towards eliminating illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing on the sustainability of the world's tuna stocks.
In January of 2009 the ISSF Board of Directors passed a resolution calling on the tuna industry to refrain from IUU transactions.
In March of 2009, ISSF President Susan Jackson testified before the United States Congress in support of a bill aimed at curbing IUU fishing.
TRACEABILITY
A credible scheme to trace tuna from 'capture to plate' is a significant tool in the fight to end IUU fishing. ISSF set a global standard for participating companies which requires detailed records be kept and product removed from shelves if it is found to be illegally fished.
DATA SUPPORT
As part of its mission, ISSF is dedicated to helping regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) better understand the status of target stocks. ISSF Particpating companies provide detailed data to RFMOs to help fill in gaps.
In January of 2009 the ISSF Board of Directors passed a resolution supporting the efforts of RFMOs and expressing a committment to help such governing bodies better collect data.
BYCATCH
Globally coordinated programs must be initiated to study and evaluate the effectiveness of various types of bycatch mitigation fishing technology, as well as available management options. In this context effort should be made to ensure the consistency of the data collection and management programs among the RFMOs so that the information obtained is easily comparable. Read more here.
FISHING CAPACITY
There is a general consensus among scientists, regional bodies, and governments that excess fishing capacity exists in most of the tuna purse-seine fisheries and large-scale longline fisheries, and that the problem of overfishing is principally the result of open access fishing and concomitant excess capacity. Read more here.
MARINE PROTECTED AREAS
Creating sustainable tuna fisheries will require a combination of science-based tactics and detailed strategies.
In April of 2009, the ISSF Board of Directors expressed support for the tactic of creating marine protected areas stating that 'ISSF supports protective closed areas of sufficient size and duration, as determined by sound science, to accomplish clear conservation objectives for tuna populations and the ecosystem upon which they depend.'
BLUEFIN OVERFISHING
Bluefin tuna is almost exclusively supplied into the fresh fish markets and is not used in canned or pouch, shelf stable tuna. However, the ISSF is concerned that the measures adopted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which were less than recommended by the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics, are inadequate to halt the overfishing and to rebuild the stock. Read more here.