Seafood Legacy reported on 14 March that both the Tokyo Bay Sea Perch fishery improvement project (FIP) and the Nachi Katsuura Albacore FIP got the highest rating of "A" during their last progress assessment held in October.
The FIPs are the result of over two years of work in Japan by Seafood Legacy, Ocean Outcomes – which recently merged with Seafood Legacy – and their partners. The Tokyo Bay Sea Perch FIP was the first FIP in Japan, and the Nachi Katsuura Albacore Longline FIP was the first tuna FIP in Japan.
The “A - Advanced Progress” rating, given by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership and fisheryprogress.org, confirms the projects are making publicly-verifiable improvements to fishing practices on the water.
“The previous rating of both projects was ‘C’, so this is great progress,” Miki Yamaoka of Seafood Legacy said.
In the Tokyo Bay Sea Perch FIP, the fishery now conducts catch sampling to verify the fishery’s limited impact on endangered, threatened, or protected (ETP) species; voluntarily limits fishing on spawning stocks during spawning season to allow stocks to recover; and is working towards a transition to a maximum sustainable yield (MSY) precautionary management strategy through roundtable meetings with the local Chiba Prefectural government and the national Fisheries Research and Education Agency of Japan (FRA).
In the Nachi Katsuura Albacore Longline FIP, the fishery now confirms sharks are not targeted or finned, and any accidentally caught sharks are released alive by cutting fishing lines; it confirms that the stock status of the other species commonly caught as bycatch (bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna) or used as bait (Japanese pilchard) are above their respective biologically-based limits, and that the fishery is not likely having significant negative impacts on the populations; it tracks the fishery’s limited interaction with sea turtles and seabirds; and it continues to cooperate with management authorities on development and implementation of more precautionary fishery management objectives.
Both projects, in line with global best practices, are tracked publicly and audited independently on fisheryprogress.org.
Seafood Legacy provides sustainable seafood consulting and business platforming services to Japanese businesses—helping businesses to partner with sustainable fishery programs. Ocean Outcomes, which merged with Seafood Legacy, was responsible for managing the FIPs.
