ISSF: RFMOs can improve tuna fishery management

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has assessed the sustainability status of global tuna stocks against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard in an effort to evaluate the health of the stocks. It found that Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) have weaknesses that must be addressed if these fisheries aspire to MSC certification.

An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria, written by independent MSC assessors Paul Medley and Joseph Powers, applies a consistent methodology across 19 major tuna stocks and four tuna RFMOs.

Seven of the 19 stocks of tropical and temperate tunas achieved a passing score for the MSC’s Principle 1, which requires a fishery to be conducted in a manner that does not lead to overfishing or depletion of exploited populations and also conducted in a manner that demonstrably leads to recovery for depleted stocks. None of the stocks, however, had well-defined harvest control rules implemented, ISSF said.

The stocks were also assessed against MSC’s Principle 3, which requires a fishery to be subject to an effective management system that respects local, national and international laws and standards and incorporates institutional and operational frameworks that require use of the resource to be responsible and sustainable.

“ISSF first asked these two outside experts to score 19 tuna stocks against the MSC standards in 2013, and we are pleased that since then this document has been taken into consideration in Full Assessments of tuna fisheries against the MSC standards, or in Fishery Improvement Programs (FIPs) that make use of the MSC scoring principles,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “We believe that this has helped improve consistency in new scores. In addition, the document has served to identify several global shortcomings in tuna management that has led to a more consistent recognition of improvements needed in management of tuna fisheries.”

Jackson (pictured) explains the assessment in a four-minute video clip, which can be viewed here.

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