Author: Lynne Mandel

Global Tuna Stocks & the MSC Standard | 12 Tuna Stocks Not Meeting Criteria for MSC Fisheries Standard

Written by Lynne Mandel on July 25, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured News

12 Tuna Stocks Not Meeting Criteria for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard

Updated Report Determines 11 Tuna Stocks Achieve Passing Scores on MSC Principle 1

Fisheries scientists in An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria — a June 2024 report commissioned by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) — found 11 of the 23 major commercial tuna stocks worldwide are successfully avoiding overfishing and maintaining target stock biomass levels when measured against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard. In the March 2023 edition of the ISSF report, eight stocks passed Principle 1. In this year’s report, three additional stocks received a passing score.

The 11 stocks are Western Atlantic skipjack, North Atlantic albacore, South Atlantic albacore, Eastern Atlantic bluefin, Western Pacific yellowfin, Western Pacific bigeye, Western Pacific skipjack, Eastern Pacific yellowfin, Eastern Pacific skipjack, Indian Ocean skipjack and Southern Ocean bluefin. These stocks achieved a passing score for the Standard’s Principle 1, “Sustainable Fish Stocks,” which requires fisheries to be managed in a manner that does not lead to overfishing or depletion of exploited fish populations.

Seven of the 23 stocks also have fully implemented well-defined harvest control rules. However, failure to implement controls before rebuilding is required continues to contribute to an increasing number of stocks failing to meet minimum requirements on harvest control rules.

An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria was authored by Paul A. H. Medley and Jo Gascoigne.

Download the report

Featured Graphic

Summary of Sustainable Tuna Stocks (MSC Principle 1)

A graphic shows what the average scores based on Principle 1 have been since 2013, and how they have changed over time.

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ICYMI

Annual Conservation Measures & PVR Compliance Report

The recently published ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report shows how 23 ISSF participating companies performed against 33 ISSF conservation measures for sustainable fishing in effect in 2023. The report indicates a 98.95% company conformance rate, with 16 companies fully compliant on all measures.

For the first time, the compliance report also indicates how vessels listed on ISSF’s ProActive Vessel Register (PVR) performed on the 12 ISSF measures that directly address vessel activity. PVR vessels achieved a 75.78% conformance rate in 2023.

The compliance report was published concurrently with ISSF’s 2023 annual report, Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries.

Download or View the Compliance Report

Quote of Note

“ISSF’s work is making a significant difference on the front lines of the world’s tuna fisheries.”
– Tony Lazazzara, Chair, ISSF Board of Directors & Director of Global Fish Procurement, Thai Union Group

Q&A

Verifying Sustainability Commitments in the Global Seafood Supply Chain

As part of its commitment to foster transparency and accountability in the fishing industry, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to assess ISSF participating seafood companies’ compliance with ISSF conservation measures according to a rigorous audit protocol. ISSF President Susan Jackson sat down with MRAG Americas Vice President Dr. Graeme Parkes to discuss the ISSF audit and compliance process.

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Annual Compliance Report Expanded to Include PVR Vessels | Report Tracks Both Company and Vessel Conformance

Written by Lynne Mandel on July 3, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured Report

The recently published ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report shows how 23 ISSF participating companies performed against 33 ISSF conservation measures for sustainable fishing in effect in 2023. The report indicates a 98.95% company conformance rate, with 16 companies fully compliant on all measures.

The compliance report was published concurrently with ISSF’s 2023 annual report, Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries.

Download or View the Compliance Report

Featured Infographics

Based on data in the report, this bar chart shows the percentage of ISSF participating companies that are in conformance, minor non-conformance, or major non-conformance with ISSF measures.

Download the Chart

Our “Change Over Time” line graph tracks changes since 2015 in the conformance percentages of ISSF participating companies in aggregate. It also shows changes in the number of companies and measures from year to year.

Download the Graph

Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries | ISSF Annual Report & Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report

Written by Lynne Mandel on June 24, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

ISSF Publishes 2023 Annual Report Highlighting Collaborative Progress Toward More Sustainable Tuna Fisheries

ISSF has released its 2023 annual report today, titled Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries, which presents the organization’s accomplishments on the path to more sustainable tuna fisheries — especially through collaboration with tuna vessels, fishers and other partners in the seafood industry.

“Skilled, conscientious fishers in all oceans take proactive steps every day to protect marine life — avoiding overfishing, reducing bycatch and providing data for scientific and compliance reporting — while harvesting their catch. As one indicator of the strides they have made, more than 65 tuna fisheries are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council as meeting its criteria,” Susan Jackson, ISSF President, remarks in the report. “We are grateful to ISSF’s many vessel partners in sustainable fishing — and we celebrate our multi-faceted collaborations with fishers at sea and on shore.”

Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries reviews ISSF’s continued marine research and advocacy efforts to identify and promote best practices in tuna and ocean conservation with fishers, vessels, tuna companies and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). The report also covers ISSF’s activities with peer environmental nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and scientific agencies and highlights work to promote verified accountability in sustainability commitments made throughout the tuna supply chain.

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ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report

Also highlighted in Navigating Toward Sustainable Tuna Fisheries are findings from the complementary ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report, which ISSF publishes to coincide with the annual report. In addition to reporting ISSF participating companies’ aggregate performance on ISSF conservation measures, the report now also shows PVR vessels’ aggregate compliance on relevant ISSF conservation measures.

For 23 ISSF participating companies as of December 2023, the ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & ProActive Vessel Register Compliance Report shows a conformance rate of 98.95%. It tracks companies’ progress in conforming with ISSF’s 33 conservation measures, such as:

Demonstrating the ability to trace products from can code or sales invoice to vessel and trip
Submitting quarterly purchase data by vessel, trip dates, species, size and other data to RFMO scientific bodies
Transactions only with those longline vessels whose owners have a policy requiring the implementation of best practices for bycatch mitigation of sharks and marine turtles
Establishing and publishing policies to prohibit shark finning and avoiding transactions with vessels that carry out shark finning
Conducting transactions only with purse seine vessels whose skippers have received science-based information from ISSF on best practices such as reducing bycatch
Avoiding transactions with vessels that are on an RFMO IUU fishing list

For PVR-listed vessels, the report shows an aggregate compliance rate of 75.78% with 12 ISSF conservation measures that include RFMO Participation; Transactions with Vessels that Use Only Non-entangling FADs; Vessel-based FAD Management Policy; and Observer Coverage, for example. Vessel participation in these measures is shown in columns on the PVR.

Download Report

Recognizing World Sea Turtle Day | Protecting Sea Turtles in Tuna Fisheries

Written by Lynne Mandel on June 20, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

June 16 marked World Sea Turtle Day.

ISSF supports multiple initiatives for the protection of sea turtles in global tuna fisheries. Many sea turtle populations are in decline, including from fishing pressure, and species are protected by national and international treaties and regulations.

When sea turtles are incidentally caught in purse-seine fisheries, their mortality is low: more than 90% can be released alive into the water. In longline fishing, sea-turtle bycatch rates and survival are greater concerns — and a priority for ISSF and other conservation efforts.

This week’s E News reviews ISSF’s work with scientists, fishers, seafood companies, conservationists, and others in helping to reduce the impact of tuna fishing on the world’s sea turtles.

Featured Content

Turtle Nesting Projects

Among the strategies to help protect sea turtle populations, nesting conservation projects can have one of the largest positive impacts. Nest destruction represents an additional mortality threat to sea turtles and has many causes.

ISSF supports sea turtle research, conservation, and educational projects worldwide — including in Brazil, Tanzania, and Peru — through a more than $100,000 annual fund created by several ISSF participating companies: Bumble Bee, Thai Union, TriMarine, and StarKist.

View ISSF-funded projects

Bycatch Mitigation & Prevention

To help researchers identify and disseminate best practices in turtle handling and release, longline tuna fishers and observers have shared their knowledge on effective tools and approaches in ISSF-sponsored workshops. In ISSF guidebooks, infographics and posters, and scientific reports, we outline steps that fishers can follow to safely untangle or de-hook sea turtles, monitor their rest and recovery on deck, and release them into the water.

Fishers can also modify their gear and fishing practices, through “passive mitigation” approaches, to reduce the risk of incidentally catching sea turtles. Longline fishers, for instance, can reduce turtle interactions by using wide circle hooks and fish bait to attract tuna, and set hooks at certain depths.

To avoid turtle entanglement in netting from fish aggregating devices (FADs) used by purse seine vessels, fishers should use only non-entangling FAD designs. Our new Jelly-FAD Construction Guide is a step-by-step manual showing commercial tuna fishers how to build “jelly-FADs” — an innovative nearly 100% biodegradable and non-entangling design for fish aggregating devices (FADs).

Download the Jelly-FAD Construction Guide

View the Longline Skippers Guidebook

Featured Graphic

Saving Sea Turtles

An infographic shows fishermen how to safely handle sea turtles unintentionally caught during tuna fishing to help them survive.

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Featured ISSF Conservation Measure

ISSF Participating Companies are seafood companies that commit to conform to our conservation measures (CM) for improving the long-term health of tuna fisheries. We adopted CM 3.6 Transactions with Vessels Implementing Best Practices for Sharks, Sea Turtles and Seabirds to further support implementation of existing RFMO conservation measures for bycatch mitigation in longline tuna fisheries, and to promote the appropriate use of such techniques by longline fleets globally. All companies were in full conformance with CM 3.6 in our November 2023 audit and compliance report.

Review ISSF CM 3.6

Peer Reviewed Article

Simulating drifting fish aggregating device (FAD) trajectories to identify potential interactions with endangered sea turtles

This study’s overarching objective was to inform management of the dFAD fishery in the Pacific to limit the adverse effects it might cause on sea turtles and their critical habitats. Moreover, it would help inform the magnitude of these impacts in comparison with other anthropogenic threats (e.g., other fisheries, coastal development, pollution, climate change) to address and mitigate the primary risks.

Download the paper

World Oceans Day | Awaken New Depths

Written by Lynne Mandel on June 7, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

June 8 is World Oceans Day, and this year’s theme is Awaken New Depths. We join our colleagues in this celebration to explore new depths of understanding, compassion, collaboration, commitment, and more. Accordingly, our E News highlights ISSF’s work with scientists, fishers, vessels, seafood companies, and conservationists in helping to reduce the impact of tuna fishing on the marine ecosystem.

Featured Story

SLIDESHOW: Setting Sail for Science

Biologist Dr. Melissa Cronin spent six weeks on board the purse seine vessel Andrea 1, which left from Manta, Ecuador in March 2024. Melissa traveled as part of an ISSF-and-partners project to test a bycatch reduction device for manta and devil rays.

A slideshow of images offers a behind-the-scenes look at Melissa’s experience on a working fishing vessel and reviews the goals and outcomes of this collaborative research.

Join the Journey

Featured Content

ISSF Web Feature Explores Challenges and Solutions in FAD Fishing

“Fresh Thinking About FADs” is an immersive ISSF Web feature that illustrates ISSF’s efforts to foster sustainable fishing approaches. It tells the visual story of improving FAD design and management as readers scroll through interactive content that includes animated infographics and under-water photography. It describes how FADs have changed over time; the environmental drawbacks of conventional FAD designs; jelly-FAD characteristics that help to reduce bycatch and ocean pollution; and science-based solutions for more sustainable FAD design and management — which ultimately support healthier tuna fisheries and oceans.

Dive In

Quote of Note

“We still have work to do toward improving the use of FADs while ensuring that there are plenty of fish in the sea. But we’ve made substantial progress to date. ISSF and likeminded organizations will continue to work toward achievable, science-based solutions for reducing the impact of FAD fishing on global tuna fisheries and the broader marine ecosystem.”

Victor Restrepo, Vice President, Science, ISSF

Peer Reviewed Article

NEW! Simulating drifting fish aggregating device (FAD) trajectories to identify potential interactions with endangered sea turtles

Download the Paper

Q&A

Verifying Sustainability Commitments in the Global Seafood Supply Chain

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REPORT: Bycatch Management Strategy Evaluation in Tuna Fisheries

Written by Lynne Mandel on May 23, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured News

ISSF REPORT: Inputs for Comprehensive Bycatch Management Strategy Evaluation in Tuna Fisheries

There has been growing concern over the sustainability of marine megafauna exposed to bycatch fishing mortality. This study assembled databases of mitigation methods for at-risk species exposed to pelagic longline, tuna purse seine and drift gillnet fisheries.

The databases enable the discovery of bycatch mitigation methods and enable accounting for multispecies effects of alternative bycatch mitigation strategies across exposed populations and stocks of at-risk species. The study defines key inputs for comprehensive, multispecies bycatch management strategy evaluation of: the size of the effect of an intervention on catch and fishing mortality rates; multispecies conflicts and mutual benefits; strength of evidence, including in practice; commercial viability costs; compliance likelihood; and rates of components of fishing mortality.

The robust evaluation of alternative bycatch management strategies against this suite of criteria enables simulating the outcomes of alternative strategies to determine which best meets objectives.

The report includes a draft Decision or Resolution on holistic bycatch MSE to aid regional fisheries management organizations in identifying candidate elements for potential inclusion in measures.

View the report

ICYMI

Tuna Fisheries’ Impacts on Non-Tuna Species and Other Environmental Aspects

Until 2023, ISSF’s Status of the Stocks report included relative ratings for bycatch impacts by the different fishing methods. The information on stock status and management comes from the five tuna RFMOs that assess and regulate tuna fisheries internationally. However, the information on bycatch impacts was from multiple sources and was not stock- or fishery-specific. Because of this, ISSF’s Scientific Advisory Committee recommended that the Status of the Stocks report be limited to stock status and management.

A separate report, Tuna Fisheries’ Impacts on Non-Tuna Species and Other Environmental Aspects: 2024 Summary, is subsequently published to summarize bycatch and other ecosystem impacts for major types of tuna fisheries.

Learn More

Featured Resource

Jelly-FAD Construction Guide Helps Fishers Build Netting-free, Biodegradable FADs for More Sustainable Tuna Fishing

ISSF offers a comprehensive step-by-step guide that shows commercial fishers how to build “jelly-FADs” — an innovative nearly 100% biodegradable and non-entangling design for fish aggregating devices (FADs).

For many years, FADs have been a widely used fishing strategy due to their high efficiency for catching tuna. About 38% of the global tuna catch is made with FADs. But conventional FADs can have negative impacts, such as contributing to overfishing, bycatch, and marine pollution.

To reduce FAD fishing’s effects on non-target marine animals and ocean ecosystems, ISSF scientists developed the jelly-FAD in collaboration with physical oceanographers from the Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC) and tuna fleets — testing and refining the design through workshops, lab research, and at-sea trials in real fishing conditions.

Download the Guide

ISSF in the News

INDIAN OCEAN FISHERIES MANAGERS ADOPT STRONGEST FAD MANAGEMENT MEASURE AMONG TUNA RFMOS

FishFocus

BLOG: Act Now to Improve FAD Management at IOTC

Written by Lynne Mandel on May 9, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured News

Fisheries Managers Must Act to Improve the Management of Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) in Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

In a new blog, ISSF’s Holly Koehler and Dr. Hilario Murua urge action at next week’s meeting of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) for the improved management of fish aggregating devices (FADs). In the Indian Ocean, FAD sets account for nearly 35% of tropical tuna catches. More comprehensive FAD management and monitoring by IOTC will lead to more sustainable management of the three Indian Ocean tropical tuna stocks—two of which are overfished and subject to overfishing—as well as mitigate other ecosystem impacts.

The IOTC has been grappling with FAD management for several years and considering how best to strengthen its existing resolution on FADs. Unfortunately, a number of important FAD management improvements have not been adopted or have not been able to be implemented. These items therefore persist as part of our priority appeals to Indian Ocean fisheries managers, outlined in our 2024 position statement.

This year, the IOTC has several FAD management proposals from various members to consider, and the good news is that there are common elements across these proposals. If adopted, such elements would measurably improve how FADs are used and managed in the Indian Ocean, reducing the impacts of FADs on the ecosystem and increasing monitoring of these devices at sea.

These common, best-practice items include:

Adopting a timeline to transition to the use of biodegradable FADs
Establishing an IOTC-wide FAD register for FAD monitoring
Establishing science-based limits on the number of operational FADs consistent with management objectives for tropical tunas
Establishing a FAD marking scheme
Reporting of lost or abandoned FADs

STORY CONTINUES HERE

Featured Resource

Assessing Fisheries Managers’ Progress on Science-Based Best Practices

ISSF has updated its Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMO) Best Practices Snapshot series. The Snapshots are a resource for stakeholders looking to understand how tuna fisheries managers are progressing science-based best practices in priority topic areas — from fish aggregating device (FAD) management to RFMO compliance processes. In detailed tables, the snapshots compare tuna RFMO progress in implementing the practices.

REVIEW THE SNAPSHOTS

ICYMI

86% of Commercial Tuna Catch Comes from Stocks at “Healthy” Levels of Abundance

ISSF recently updated its Status of the Stocks report, which shows that, of the total commercial tuna catch worldwide, 86% comes from stocks at “healthy” levels of abundance. Additionally, overfished stocks account for 10% of the total catch, and 4% of the catch comes from stocks at an intermediate level of abundance. Several tuna stocks are considered overfished and/or subject to overfishing:

Mediterranean albacore, Indian Ocean bigeye, and Indian Ocean yellowfin stocks are overfished and subject to overfishing.
Pacific Ocean bluefin is overfished.

The updated report incorporates recent stock-assessment results for these tuna stocks: Western Pacific bigeye, Western Pacific yellowfin, North Pacific albacore, North Atlantic albacore, and Southern bluefin. The new assessments did not trigger a rating change for these stocks, however.

ISSF publishes its signature Status of the Stocks report several times each year using the most current scientific data on 23 major commercial tuna stocks.

LEARN MORE

ISSF in the News

ISSF Releases First-Ever Netting-Free Biodegradable FADs Construction Guide

FishFocus

Celebrating World Tuna Day | NEW Jelly-FAD Construction Guide

Written by Lynne Mandel on May 2, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

May 2 is World Tuna Day.

ISSF’s research and advocacy work – from producing an annual Status of the Stocks report to attending Regional Fisheries Management Organization (RFMO) meetings – aims to ensure effective, science-based conservation and management of tuna resources globally.

Tuna species are a valuable food source for millions of people and fundamental to the global economy. In 2022, the catch of major commercial tuna stocks totaled about 5.2 million tonnes. Tuna also are integral to the health of the greater marine ecosystem.

ISSF provides data, best-practices recommendations, and other expertise to help keep tuna stocks at sustainable levels. Today’s E News shares the latest output of our collaborative work with scientists, fishers, seafood companies, conservationists, and others on science-based initiatives for the long-term sustainability of global tuna fisheries.

Featured News

First-Ever Jelly-FAD Construction Guide Helps Fishers Build Netting-free, Biodegradable FADs for More Sustainable Tuna Fishing

ISSF has published a comprehensive step-by-step guide that shows commercial tuna fishers how to build “jelly-FADs” — an innovative, nearly 100% biodegradable and non-entangling design for fish aggregating devices (FADs).

“The Jelly-FAD Construction Guide shows tuna fishers how to build what we believe is the most sustainable non-entangling FAD to date,” said Dr. Gala Moreno, ISSF senior scientist. “The jelly-FAD represents a new concept in drifting FADs (DFADs), whose structure and materials have been relatively static for decades. To make jelly-FADs, you do not need to have unusual materials, special equipment, or advanced carpentry skills. We intend the jelly-FAD to be as simple and affordable as possible for fishers around the world to build.”

Inspired by the neutral buoyancy of jellyfish, the jelly-FAD design not only is made without netting but also is almost completely biodegradable, and it offers additional sustainability and durability advantages over previous non-entangling FAD (NEFAD) and biodegradable FAD (bio-FAD) designs.

Learn more

Download the Guide

Featured Resource

Web Feature Explores Challenges and Solutions in FAD Fishing

Complementing the Jelly-FAD Construction Guide is “Fresh Thinking About FADs”— a new, immersive ISSF Web feature that illustrates ISSF’s efforts to foster sustainable fishing approaches, including the jelly-FAD.

“Fresh Thinking” tells the visual story of improving FAD design and management as readers scroll through interactive content that includes animated infographics and under-water photography. It describes how FADs have changed over time; the environmental drawbacks of conventional FAD designs; the jelly-FAD characteristics that help to reduce bycatch and ocean pollution; and science-based solutions for more sustainable FAD design and management, which ultimately support healthier tuna fisheries and oceans.

“No fishing method is without impact, but collaborative efforts are making fishing with FADs more sustainable,” noted Victor Restrepo, Vice President, Science, ISSF. “We still have work to do toward improving the use of FADs while ensuring that there are plenty of fish in the sea. But we’ve made substantial progress to date. ISSF and likeminded organizations will continue to work toward achievable, science-based solutions for reducing the impact of FAD fishing on global tuna fisheries and the broader marine ecosystem.”

View the interactive web feature

Exploring Technology to Support Selective Fishing | NEW Peer Reviewed Article on Acoustic Discrimination

Written by Lynne Mandel on April 18, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured Content

ISSF scientists are exploring innovative ways to use acoustic equipment at sea as a tool to prevent overfishing — and reduce bycatch — in purse-seine tuna fisheries.

We are studying how echosounder buoys near fish aggregating devices (FADs), for example, can detect the distinctive “sound signatures” of different tuna species — and transmit that information to vessels before fishers travel to a FAD to make a set.

If fishers can harness acoustic technology to “preemptively” estimate the type and amount of

fish (or “biomass”) gathered at a particular FAD, they can choose to fish only on FADs with higher proportions of tuna species for which stocks are in healthy condition — and avoid those that have attracted larger groups of non-target species.

Explore an interactive web feature

Peer Reviewed Article

NEW Study Demonstrates Discrimination Potential of Main Tropical Tuna Species by Acoustic Means

ICES Journal of Marine Science recently published the peer-reviewed article, “Target strength measurements of yellowfin tuna and acoustic discrimination of three tropical tuna species,” co-authored by researchers Beatriz Sobradillo, Guillermo Boyra, Jon Uranga, and ISSF’s Gala Moreno.

Purse seine fishers heavily rely on acoustic technology to detect and assess the quantity of tuna at drifting FADs. Yet, accurately distinguishing between species using solely acoustic methods is limited by insufficient knowledge about each species’ acoustic response across frequencies.

This study presents the first published frequency response at three frequencies of yellowfin tuna and demonstrates the discrimination potential of the main tropical tuna species, skipjack, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna by acoustic means. Yellowfin tuna showed a flat response, whereas previous studies have shown the contrasting responses of bigeye and skipjack. The incorporation of these specific signatures into the acoustic tools used by purse seiners holds great promise for selectively targeting tropical tuna species and reducing the carbon footprint.

Further, if used for scientific studies, it would provide a deeper understanding of the key processes related to tuna behavior around FADs. As a result, it would facilitate the development of well-informed conservation measures specifically tailored to different tropical tuna species.

Read the Article

Featured Graphic

ISSF publications as well as journal articles on acoustic discrimination research are summarized in this infographic. The timeline, updated in April 2024, includes links.

Download

ISSF in the News

Walmart, Albertsons sign Tuna Transparency Pledge

Supermarket News

New Initiative Seeks to Make Tuna Fishing More Transparent

Oceanographic

ISSF Releases Global Tuna Report

Fish Focus

Priorities for Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries | Improved Compliance Processes, Tuna Measures, & FAD Management Top IOTC “Asks”

Written by Lynne Mandel on April 11, 2024. Posted in eNewsletters, News.

Featured News

Priorities for Indian Ocean Tuna Fisheries

ISSF has published its position statement ahead of the 2024 Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) meeting.

The statement leads with ISSF underscoring the importance of cooperation and consultation among all RFMO members — a tenet that is enshrined in the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement and is essential to managing highly migratory fish stocks like tunas. ISSF encourages all IOTC Parties to give effect to their duty to cooperate to achieve the objectives of the IOTC Convention and effective management through the adoption of science-based conservation measures that all Parties support and implement fully.

The ISSF statement further outlines issues that ISSF urges action on at the May 2024 IOTC meeting, leading with a request to strengthen compliance processes, tuna stock conservation measures, and fish aggregating device (FAD) management measures.

Download the statement

ICYMI

More Harvest Strategies for More Stocks Can Help Fisheries Managers Mitigate Political Pressure and Climate Change Impacts on Global Tuna Fisheries

With 4.8 million tonnes caught annually, tuna are one of the world’s most popular and nutritious seafood species, fundamental to global food security and serving as an economic engine for many coastal communities. It is essential that the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), charged with overseeing the world’s tuna fisheries, identify and implement tools for the long-term, sustainable management of global tuna resources.

Harvest strategies, also known as management procedures, are one such proven tool available to RFMOs. Yet these management frameworks are in place for only a handful of the 23 commercial tuna stocks. ISSF continues to advocate that tuna RFMOs establish harvest strategies for more tuna stocks — because closing this gap will help fisheries managers mitigate both the political pressures and climate change impacts on global fisheries.