OPAGAC and WWF have agreed on a roadmap to Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for the OPAGAC fleet around the world.

Five tropical tuna stocks caught by Spanish fleet reach conditions for MSC certification

SPAIN
Friday, February 15, 2019, 21:50 (GMT + 9)

Five stocks of tropical tuna from which the Spanish tuna fleet fishes, out of 12, meet the sustainability standards required to apply for the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certification.

They are those of yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna and bigeye tuna from the central-western Pacific, and those of yellowfin and skipjack from the eastern Pacific, stocks that represent 30 percent of the 380,000 tonnes fished annually by this fleet and 3 percent of the total world catch of tropical tunas

The Spanish fleet objective is to meet the necessary conditions for the 12 tropical tuna stocks it catches to enter MSC certification process in 2021.

This is the result of the second year of activity of the Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) that the Spanish tuna fleet, grouped in the Organization of Associated Producers of Large Freezer Tuna Vessels (OPAGAC), has been developing with WWF since 2016.

As it did in 2017, the FIP used the MSC scales to measure its effectiveness, surpassing expectations in the four regional fisheries organizations (RFO) -IATTC, WCPFC, IOTC and ICCAT- in which the 47 OPAGAC vessels operate. According to the evaluation of an independent consultant, the indicators in the five aforementioned stocks obtain scores above the minimums established by MSC (average of 80 points out of 100 and no condition below 60), a necessary requirement to request certification.

Likewise, in 2018, OPAGAC sought synergies and aligned its actions with the FIPs developed by other fleets, such as the Ecuadorian organization TUNACONS (Tuna Conservation Group) in the eastern Pacific and the Sustainable Indian Ocean Tuna Initiative (SIOTI), which includes all the purse seine fleets from Spain, France, Seychelles and Mauritius.

"Our FIP leads the way for purse-seine tuna fisheries in the process of MSC certification, as this is the most complete initiative in the world since it includes the three target species of this fishery in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific," said Julio Morón, managing director of OPAGAC.

"Sustainability must be a priority in any fleet agenda and partnerships with other organizations with an ongoing FIP are an excellent means to achieve a more constructive dialogue in the RFOs and involve governments, the commercial chain and consumers,” he added.

Despite this FIP good progress, OPAGAC and WWF coincide in pointing out that there are still international governance problems that hinder the long-term sustainable management of the tropical tuna fishing populations and, especially, the recovery of overexploited stocks, such as Atlantic bigeye. In their opinion, the slow progress in establishing frameworks for the Evaluation of Capture Strategies and adequate management, monitoring and control measures for all fisheries targeting these species, compromises their long-term sustainability.

Data collection, selectivity and minimum impact

In 2018, and within the FIP framework, OPAGAC continued to contribute to the stock assessment improvement, providing the AZTI technological institute with the data collected by satellite buoys incorporated into the fish aggregating devices (FADs) used by the fleet, to measure abundance indices. In addition, the fleet will continue to collaborate on three European projects to expand the availability of unofficial data contributed by the sector, and improve science in the competition areas of the four RFOs.

Click on the photo to enlarge

Regarding the reduction of the impact on the ecosystem, in 2019, the Spanish fleet will continue to promote studies in the three oceans to evaluate the contribution of the purse seine and other gears, such as longline and drift nets, to mortality of bycatch species, mainly, sharks, mammals and marine turtles.

The fleet will also continue participating in the Biofad projects of the Indian and Eastern Pacific Oceans, in which the effectiveness of biodegradable FAD prototypes is evaluated.

"BIOFAD" is a European project coordinated by AZTI to test biodegradable materials in the construction of Fish Concentrating Devices (DCPs) in the Indian Ocean

In the next three years, the objectives will focus on improving the three pillars of the FIP: better science, reducing the impacts of fishing activity and improving ocean governance. This will be achieved through the provision of data from the FADs, better compliance with the management measures, both of RFOs and coastal States, and the fleet support to the establishment of capture control rules, so that these adjust, in all the fisheries involved, to the abundance levels of the stock.

OPAGAC will also promote the use of electronic monitoring systems (EMS) for the registration and verification of fishing activity, and the improvement of information on endangered, threatened or protected species.

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