The newest strategic plan from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is keeping Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as a central tenant as the organization advocates for more sustainable wild-caught seafood.
The ISSF Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, "Continuously Improving Global Tuna Fishery Sustainability," was released 28 February, 2023. The plan highlights ISSF research, advocacy, and its approach to achieving tuna fishery sustainability in participating companies for the next five years, including full implementation of a plan for MSC certification.
The new strategic plan evolves the previous plan to achieve tuna fishery sustainability by tuning in to the current sustainability landscape. Developed with a multi-stakeholder approach, MSC certification remains central to the plan, as the five-year goal is to have all participating companies sourcing from tuna fisheries that meet and maintain the MSC certification standard or have a clear timeline to meet the standard by 2027, according to ISSF President Susan Jackson.
“The new plan helps us build on our successes to-date – like gains in transparency and accountability in tuna fisheries, as well as sustainable fishing innovations – while also tuning into today’s sustainability landscape,” ISSF President Susan Jackson said. “We’re still rooted in the core pillars of science, verification, and influence, which together catalyze more-sustainable fisheries management. But we’re newly outlining our theory of change and a five-year goal – both of which emphasize the theme of continuous improvement. The Marine Stewardship Council fisheries standard remains central to ISSF’s objective.”
Estimates expect the global tuna market will reach a value of USD 50.2 billion (EUR 47.4 billion) by 2028, with almost 60 percent of the total tuna catch currently sourced from the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. According to the 2023 ISSF Status of the Stocks, 11 percent of the global tuna catch is from overfished stocks.
Tuna management is challenged by the migratory status of the species, which can travel across large areas of ocean.
“One of the biggest challenges for ISSF is the biggest challenge for sustainable tuna management in general – that is, the nature of the tuna species. Tuna swim across entire ocean basins, which means management of tuna requires many countries to not only agree on what's necessary for their management, but to also implement and enforce those agreements,” Jackson said.
The current process for sustainable tuna management is through regional fishery management organizations (RFMOs). The five major tuna RFMOs responsible for 91 percent of the world’s oceans set fishing limits on stocks and protective measures for the long-term health of those stocks. The latest strategic plan continues ISSF's work to advocate to RFMOs for better management of tuna stocks.
“Through its strategic plan, ISSF and its work can help increase the political will needed for parties to align to those agreements, as well as help credibly demonstrate how those measures are being implemented. It can be a long road. Political will, unfortunately, comes slowly and it takes the work of many,” Jackson said.
Also in the strategic plan, for the first time, the ISSF has publicly articulated its "theory of change," which consists of three major pillars: science, verification, and influence. The theory is a continuous loop, with the first two pillars advancing the tuna fisheries science, then implementing industry improvements, and providing guidance to meet MSC certification standards. Through the work of the first two pillars of science and verification, ISSF advocates that RFMOs require improvements and continues to partner with organizations and experts to drive further action.
The science pillar improves science-based approaches to ecosystem impacts, tuna stock status, international management, fishing capacity research and monitoring, and increased transparency through control and surveillance.
“One of our earliest projects was workshops that brought together scientists and skippers from around the world for the first time to talk about fishing techniques using fish-aggregating devices [FADs],” Jackson said. “We did work in controlled experiments. We developed new FAD designs and tested them to make sure that they still helped catch tuna. We looked at their impact on other non-target species. Ultimately, over the course of time, better fishing techniques and better FAD designs were developed.”
The verification pillar ensures compliance of ISSF participating companies through progress tracking, the proactive vessel register, and vessel tracking in other sustainability initiatives.
“In step with this scientific work, ISSF adopted related FAD conservation measures for ISSF participating companies and for vessel best practices tracked on the ISSF ProActive Vessel Register – requirements involving the use of non-entangling designs, for example. A third-party auditor audited company-and-vessel compliance with these measures and practices, and ISSF reported the results of those compliance audits. Meanwhile, we consistently advocate to tuna regional fisheries management organizations to incorporate these new science-based best practices into their management schemes,” Jackson said.
ISSF’s influence pillar supports advocacy to RFMOs and member nations, NGO engagement, awareness in market partners, and engagement of vessels, primarily through MSC-certified fisheries, Jackson said.
The FAD project highlights how ISSF's theory of change works, according to Jackson The science pillar developed new sustainable FAD designs, the verification pillar implemented these devices in ISSF participating companies through compliance audits, and the influence pillar successfully advocated for RFMO management of FAD use, she said.
“The result is that, today, every tuna RFMO has made solid progress in the areas of regulating and managing FAD use in tuna fisheries, when at the start, there was little to no management of FADs. Importantly, we continue to innovate for improved, more sustainable fishing practices, we continue to evolve the commitments we ask of seafood companies and vessels, and we continue our outreach to RFMOs. That dynamic, full-circle process is our theory of change, and we’re excited to bring it to life across over the next five years,” Jackson said.
To support participating companies and FIPs aiming to achieve MSC certification, ISSF aims to provide guidance, data, and ISSF verification tools in FIPs seeking MSC certification standards, MSC-certified with conditions, and to all tuna fisheries.
“Looking forward, I see the next frontier of on-the-water continuous improvement as electronic monitoring on fishing vessels and the use of electronic data to provide accurate and timely information to scientists and fisheries managers,” Jackson said. “Another opportunity for continuous improvement is more global transparency in commitments to sustainability. How many companies or vessels are being transparently audited – either their activities on the water or the tuna that they're sourcing or supplying.”
Photo courtesy of OPAGAC
