The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is urging regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) to take a more uniform approach to mitigating tuna bycatch.
In a report presented during the three-day International Workshop on Tuna RFMO Management Issues Relating to Bycatch in Brisbane, Australia, on Wednesday, the ISSF called on RFMOs to collectively adopt best practices consistent with the United Nations’ Fish Stocks Agreement.
The agreement requires participants to collect and report bycatch data, disseminate the data, evaluate the impact of tuna fisheries on bycatch species and encourage ecosystems research and adopt measures to minimize waste and reduce bycatch.
“Adopting these best practices would be a never-before-seen level of progress,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “This kind of uniformity among RFMOs would bring us much closer to a comprehensive, global approach to tackling bycatch issues in tuna fisheries.”
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