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Tuna school in the Indian Ocean. (Photo: ISSF)
ISSF’s report highlights tuna fishery sustainability progress
 WORLDWIDE
Friday, May 26, 2017, 01:50 (GMT + 9)
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has released its 2016 annual report outlining tuna sustainability achievements and arguing for continuous improvement of global tuna fisheries through collaboration and advocacy.
This report, called, Best Practices, Better Solutions, focuses on ISSF’s collaborations on “best practices” in tuna and ocean conservation sustainability with fishers, tuna companies, retailers, regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and other governing bodies, working closely with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), scientific agencies, and charitable foundations.
“Through our many activities and partnerships over the years — made possible by progressive tuna companies and other funders — we have deepened our understanding about what it takes to ‘be’ sustainable, and to advance the cause,” pointed out SSF President Susan Jackson in her opening letter.
This new report offers spotlights on fish aggregating device (FAD) management, electronic monitoring and reporting, and harvest control rules; including timelines that track best-practice milestones 2009-2016 as well as graphics showing RFMO proposal activity.
It includes graphics documenting skipper acceptance of best practices, bycatch mitigation techniques, charts showing tuna stock status based on catch and abundance.
The document also contains a table with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) performance indicator averages for global tuna fisheries and a summary of ISSF advocacy efforts, including joint letters, blogs, and RFMO side events, and a graphic showing how RFMO proposals track with ISSF advocacy priorities.
Furthermore, notable ISSF achievements are considered such as five new tuna companies that joined as participating companies in 2016; ISSF Skippers Workshops that were held in China and Vietnam for the first time; a record 343 vessel crew were trained in 2016 workshops; and 32 retailer in North America, Europe, and Africa that purchase tuna that have incorporated ISSF guidelines in their procurement policies.
ISSF’s annual report also serves as the platform to share the organization’s annual Conservation Measures and Commitments Compliance Report, showing a conformance rate of 97.5 per cent by 28 ISSF participating companies as of March 31, 2017 — up from 95.6 per cent in November 2016 — across 21 ISSF conservation measures in effect in 2016.
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