The number of purse-seine vessels fishing in the world’s five tuna regional fisheries management organizations has declined from 1,871 in 2018 to 1,843 this year, but their average hold size grew by 1 percent year-over-year, according to the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).
The ISSF report, “A Snapshot of the Large-Scale Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Fishing Fleets,” published recently, collated the lists of purse-seiners listed by the world’s five tuna RFMOs and other sources to produce a large-scale quantitative perspective on the global tuna industry. The ISSF is a global coalition of scientists, the tuna industry, and World Wildlife that works jointly to” promote science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing bycatch, and promoting ecosystem health,” with the ultimate goal of achieving Marine Stewardship Council certification standards for all tuna fisheries.
Purse-seiners account for around 65 percent of the 4.9 million metric tons of tuna caught globally every year.
“Having an accurate estimate of active vessels is critical for managing tuna fishing capacity regionally as well as globally,” ISSF said in a press release.
The total count may have declined in 2019 due to the removal from RFMO lists of vessels under 24 meters in length that are now inactive, ISSF said. The report might also have undercounted small-scale purse seiners or purse seiners operating in only one exclusive economic zone, which do not have to be listed on RFMOs’ records of authorized fishing vessels, the organization said.
Of the total number of vessels counted by ISSF, 686 vessels could be defined as large-scale purse-seine vessels targeting tropical tuna species – skipjack, yellowfin, and bigeye – up 2 percent from 673 last year. Those vessels have a combined fishing capacity of more than 860,000 square meters, up 1 percent over 2018.
“The increase is not all due to new vessel constructions, but also to the addition to RFMO lists of older vessels that were not listed in the past. These vessels may have been inactive for some time or participating in a different fishery, but this type of information is not readily available,” ISSF said.
Of the 686 large-scale purse seine vessels, around 18 percent are authorized to fish in more than one RFMO, and approximately 2 percent changed flags in the past year. And around 97 percent of the large-scale tropical tuna purse seiners operating today possess publicly-known International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers – a drastic increase from 12 percent of the total in 2011.
“ISSF has long recommended in its RFMO advocacy positions and in Conservation Measures 4.1 and 4.2 that vessels obtain IMO numbers, identifiers that do not change even if the vessel ownership, national registration, or name changes,” the ISSF said. “Unique vessel identifiers like IMO numbers are an important tool to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.”
Other data provided by the ISSF in the report includes details on purse-seine vessel construction, distribution, and national flag identification. It also includes recommendations for vessel owners on registration and for RFMOs on vessel-data collection and management.
Photo courtesy of Jose Cort/Wikipedia
