First global partnership of scientists, environmental organizations, and seafood companies has set for promoting tuna sustainability. It is said that have established the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a non-profit organization developed to respond to the growing threats to global tuna populations.
ISSF said that through this unique and unprecedented partnership it aims to undertake science-based initiatives to support the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks. ISSF President Susan S. Jackson informed that this collaborative commitment on the part of major industry players to work alongside the world’s premier marine scientists and environmental non-governmental organizations, especially our founding conservation partner WWF, to preserve the world’s marine ecosystem.
He added that the mission of ISSF is to help ensure that targeted tuna stocks will be sustained at or above levels of abundance capable of supporting maximum sustainable yield. ISSF would work towards the reduction of by-catch and helping to fund scientific research that supports improved management of tuna stocks. ISSF has already advanced this cause with its first board actions.
According to Jackson ISSF adopted conservation measures to refrain from using tuna from any boat listed by an RFMO as being engaged in illegal, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing and refrain from using eastern Pacific bigeye tuna after Sept. 1, 2009, unless the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission enacts science-based conservation measures before then.
It is told that ISSF initiatives will be based on recommendations from the independent ISSF Science Committee, comprised of internationally recognized authorities on marine biology and ecosystems, ocean fisheries and especially tuna sustainability.
