Multiple NGOs pushing the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) for a full harvest strategy for North Pacific albacore tuna got their wish at the latest meeting of the regional fisheries management organization (RFMO).
The annual meeting of the IATTC took place from 7 to 11 August in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and several marine sustainability nonprofit organizations continued their calls for the RFMO to adopt a full harvest strategy – including harvest control rules – for North Pacific albacore tuna before the meeting.
The IATTC – the RFMO for the Eastern Pacific Ocean – and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) – another RFMO that manages tuna stocks – have worked together for eight years to develop a harvest strategy for North Pacific albacore, as the species migrates across the boundaries of the two RFMOs. The final piece of the puzzle was to approve a “harvest control rule.”
Traditional strategies for stock management often entail a reactionary approach, where researchers gather data about a stock’s health and policymakers then negotiate catch limits after reviewing the data. Full harvest strategies, on the other hand, set guidelines in advance that define actions authorities will take when stock assessments, catch data, and return on effort, among other metrics, reach a predetermined threshold.
Albacore tuna in the Pacific Ocean has two stock classifications: North Pacific and South Pacific, both of which the WCPFC and the IATTC jointly manage. As the two RFMOs share management of the stock, how effective management measures will be relies on the two RFMOs working in tandem.
There was a harvest strategy already in place for North Pacific albacore, but it lacked the harvest control rule that would set predetermined catch or fishing effort limits based on the status of the stock. In early July, the WCPFC Northern Committee amended its North Pacific albacore harvest strategy to include a harvest control rule, but it still needs full approval at the RFMO’s annual meeting in December.
Ahead of the annual IATTC meeting, representatives from Canada, Japan, and the U.S. submitted a proposal to the IATTC to adopt a harvest control rule for North Pacific albacore, so that when the WCPFC annual meeting approves the Northern Committee recommendation, a common strategy would be established across the Pacific – a proposal widely supported by a number of nonprofits. The Haarlem, Netherlands-based Global Tuna Alliance (GTA), an association of 49 seafood suppliers and retailers from five continents, organized an online roundtable meeting on 27 July, which 30 percent of IATTC delegates attended. At the meeting, GTA partners warned that a lack of progress on harvest strategies could have ramifications for their approach to sourcing in the region.
“You can think of the situation like a door with two locks,” said GTA’s Director of Outreach and Engagement Albert Arthur. “While the WCPFC has one key, it also needs the IATTC to turn its own key to unlock the measures we need for effective, sustainable management of Pacific albacore stocks.”
After the meeting, the GTA called the IATTC’s decision to adopt harvest control rules “groundbreaking,” and said that now all eyes will be on the WCPFC and its next meeting in December, where the two RFMOs could align harvest strategies for the first time.
“This joined up approach that we’re seeing from these two RFMOs is exciting. It opens the door to further collaboration to ensure the maximum environmental performance of tuna fisheries, not just in the east or the west, but across the entirety of the Pacific Ocean,” Arthur said. “The North Pacific albacore resolution will surely turn the heads of many seafood retailers and suppliers who will feel increasingly confident sourcing their tuna from a region demonstrating their commitment to the responsible management and conservation of key stocks.”
While the albacore stock in the North Pacific Ocean is not overfished and does not suffer from overfishing, another organization, the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based nonprofit The Pew Charitable Trusts, likewise pushed both the IATTC and the WCPFC to implement full harvest strategies, which will also achieve other goals such as allowing certain albacore fisheries to retain Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification.
Pew Manager of International Fisheries Esther Wozniak and Senior Officer of International Fisheries Katy Hladki emphasized in a joint statement that noncertified seafood would suffer in the marketplace without an implemented harvest strategy, as more retailers give preference to certified products as part of their sustainability commitments.
“Retailers and their suppliers should commit to active engagement with the IATTC and other RFMOs,” said Wozniak and Hladki. “Retail markets have a lot to lose from poor management … yet retail firms are often absent from key decision-making meetings. Over the past few years, organizations such as the GTA and the Tuna Protection Alliance have worked to bring together retailers and the supply chain to push for sustainable and socially responsible management of key fisheries, and the IATTC meeting offers market representatives another opportunity to directly engage policymakers.”
Like Pew, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.-based International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), which comprises seafood companies, fisheries experts, scientific and environmental organizations, and vessel owners, published a statement in advance of the annual IATTC meeting calling for progress on harvest strategies and stressing consumer preferences for certified sustainable products.
“The new Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard requires a higher level of performance for RFMO-managed fisheries, including regarding harvest strategies for tuna fisheries,” the ISSF statement said. “To achieve this heightened standard, the IATTC must agree on harvest strategies or risk missing the required deadlines to implement harvest strategy outcomes.”
Following the IATTC meeting, ISSF called the progress made on harvest strategies “robust,” and said the RFMO’s actions had “many positive outcomes” for tuna species and for catch management.
The IATTC’s approval of a full harvest strategy with harvest control rules north Pacific albacore at its annual meeting was a first for the IATTC, and now means all five tuna RFMOs have now adopted the approach for at least one stock. Approval of a matching measure at the WCPFC annual meeting in December would establish the first ever Pacific-wide harvest strategy.
Photo courtesy of the ISSF
