Minister of State for Fisheries and Agriculture Hussain Rasheed Hassan has revealed export prices for tuna are “very likely” to increase following the decision to award Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification to the Maldives’ pole-and-line skipjack fishery.
The certification was awarded on 26 November, making it the first Indian Ocean tuna fishery to receive the certification.
The MSC “eco-label” is said to provide consumers with the assurance that a product is traceable back to a certified and sustainable source.
According to Rasheed, many European supermarkets have committed to buying tuna caught in the Maldives until 2014, leading to hopes that the certification will bring further positive effects to the industry.
“There is a much better opportunity to sell abroad now, and despite our tuna already selling at a premium rate, I believe this certification will mean it is very likely that the prices will increase further.
“Consumers now have the assurance that our tuna has been caught using sustainable practice, and this has granted us unconditional access to European and American markets,” Rasheed added.
Tuna products are either canned or put into pouches for export, mainly to Europe where many retail and food service sector companies have made strong commitments to source sustainable seafood choices.
The pole and line method of fishing is widely regarded as a highly selective and low impact form of fishing, as the fish are caught individually as opposed to being caught in a net.
Approximately 25 per cent of skipjack tuna stocks caught in the Indian Ocean are done using the pole-and-line method, with the majority of these catches coming from the Maldives.
“Maldivians take pride in their skipjack pole-and-line fishery – a sustainable fishery that has thrived for over a millennium by catching tuna one by one,” Rasheed added.
The fishing industry is the country’s largest employer and the country’s second largest industry after tourism. The method of pole-and-line fishing attracts buyers from premium supermarkets in the UK and Europe.
Fishing and other related activities employ around 30 per cent of the country’s workforce, contributing over 15 per cent of Gross Domestic Product. In recent years, skipjack catches in the Maldives made up approximately 90,000 tonnes of their pole-and-line fishery.
