Partnership to enhance purse-seine tuna fisheries

The International Seafood Sustainabilty Foundation (ISSF) on Monday announced a collaboration with Organizacion de Productores Asociados de Grandes Atuneros Congeladores (OPAGAC) and Asociacion de Grandes Atuneros Congeladores (AGAC) to work on issues related to the sustainability of the world’s purse-seine tuna fisheries.

The partnership aims to work on the development and promotion of best practices and new technologies to mitigate the impact of fishing on the marine environment. The groups will also combine efforts to advocate for RFMO member nations to address urgent issues, such as excess fishing capacity.

ISSF has been working with vessel owners and skippers through its bycatch-reduction project and its vessel committee, which provides insight to the ISSF board. OPAGAC/AGAC group, which represents 34 purse-seine vessels that supply tuna to Spain, has served on the committee since its formation.

“We’re pleased to begin a more formal, direct relationship with OPAGAC/AGAC and its fleet and we certainly hope this is the first of many new collaborative efforts with the fishing community,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “What sets ISSF apart from some campaigning organizations is that our coalition believes in finding real solutions and putting those solutions to work on the water. With the participation of vessel owners we can work to develop and implement ideas faster and more efficiently. That means a more immediate impact on shared tuna resources and our oceans.”

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