The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation is objecting to the Marine Stewardship Council assessment of the Papua New Guinea (PNA) western and central Pacific skipjack tuna unassociated purse-seine fishery.
ISSF claims the MSC certification assessment, which is being conducted by Moody Marine, contains serious procedural irregularities and errors, in addition to arbitrary and unreasonable scoring.
The foundation’s list of concerns includes: The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission regional fisheries management organization has been ineffective in implementing management measures; the MSC assessment failed to meet requirement for public consultation; the assessment team made incorrect assumptions on the percentage of tuna stocks that fall under the PNA management countries; the assessment uses insufficient and incorrect data; there is a lack of target and limit reference points and harvest control rules; and that MSC assessment is inconsistent across fisheries.
ISSF said PNA has not and cannot manage the entire stock and cannot deliver a sustainable fishery.
