NGO presses objection to tuna certification

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is taking the assessment of an Indian Ocean purse-seine tuna fishery to adjudication following objections by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The MSC said on its website that “The Independent Adjudicator has provided a document for the intention to proceed to adjudication” regarding the Echebastar Indian Ocean fishery.

The WWF initially objected last month, saying the assessors were moving too fast, and not taking into account changes in the fishery. The fleet is fishing for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna in waters off the Somali coast. Until recently, pirate activity has prevented any concrete assessment of stock levels in the area, and the WWF asked the MSC to wait until more research can be done.

“Although the (certification assessment body)’s final report acknowledged that the critical fisheries management and controls are not in place as required by the MSC standards, the CAB still inexplicably recommended certification of the fishery, based on the hope that one day the situation would be improved,” said Daniel Suddaby, deputy leader of WWF’s Smart Fishing Initiative. “Hope is not part of a credible certificate and this simply is not following the requirements of the MSC standard. It is (a) shame we have had to go to objection to fix what is a misapplication of the MSC standard.”

WWF alleged that landings for yellowfin tuna are “well in excess of recommended limits.”

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