The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) recently released its annual compliance report, showing that during 2024, the 24 ISSF participating companies managed a 99.6 percent conformance rate.
The nonprofit organization tracks conformance across 33 different conservation measures, which range from submitting quarterly purchase data and only conducting transactions with purse-seine vessels that have received information on best practices for reducing bycatch from ISSF.
ISSF said 21 of the 24 companies fully complied with all 33 measures, and the remaining three only recorded a single issue each – one on product labeling by species and area of capture and two on Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) yellowfin tuna rebuilding, known as Conservation Measure 1.3 (CM 1.3).
“This high level of performance reflects a strong industry commitment to continuous improvement and science-based tuna fisheries management,” ISSF President Susan Jackson told SeafoodSource. “Higher conformance rates have been reported in prior mid-year compliance reports, reflecting the remediation of some non-conformances.”
The main source of non-conformance, IOTC yellowfin tuna rebuilding, became a focal issue of the ISSF in 2021, when it started to align with and support efforts to rebuild yellowfin tuna stock. Jackson said that measure required member companies to reduce their sourcing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna by 11 percent to 22 percent based on their average annual purchases from 2017 to 2019.
According to ISSF Scientific Advisory Committee Chair Victor Restrepo, ISSF participating companies managed to reduce sourcing by 32.5 percent overall, “well exceeding the intended goal of CM 1.3.”
Jackson said that this year’s compliance report was the first set of independently verified results on actual reduction in sourcing stemming from CM 1.3.
Yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean has historically faced overfishing. The species was first declared overfished in 2015, and since that time, the stock has continued to be overfished, with organizations like the Global Tuna Alliance urging the IOTC to take action.
Recently, the IOTC Scientific Committee gave the stock a green rating, using a series of revisions based on a model developed in 2021. Jackson said the ISSF recognizes the improvement but remains cautious on its measures to combat overfishing.
“The Indian Ocean yellowfin stock has shown signs of improvement, but the IOTC Scientific Committee has noted the need for continued caution in changing management of the stock until this improvement can be determined with more certainty,” she said. “ISSF will continue to monitor the stock status and scientific advice to determine whether changes to CM 1.3 are warranted. The goal of the measure is to complement RFMO rebuilding efforts, and its future will be guided by science-based benchmarks.”
Jackson said that the ISSF plans to continue its work on tuna sustainability and science-based solutions for the tuna fishery through advocating that regional fishery management organizations adopt harvest strategies, strengthen fish aggregating device management, and increase overall observer coverage of the fisheries with an emphasis on electronic monitoring.
“ISSF also continues to drive transparency and collaboration through tools like the ProActive Vessel Register (PVR) and the Vessels in Other Sustainability Initiatives (VOSI) platform, both of which increase visibility into vessel-level practices for stakeholders,” Jackson said.
