At sustainable tuna roundtable conference in Brussels the participants agreed that substantial improvements to regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) are needed to ensure global sustainability of commercial tuna fisheries, including the health of tuna stocks and the ecosystem effects of tuna fisheries (e.g., bycatch of sensitive species and of juvenile and undersized tunas).
It was agreed that assessment, certification and eco-labeling programs were recognized as important market-based incentives to promote fisheries sustainability and to address worker conditions and product safety. Even the tuna fishing companies agreed that the future of their business rely on the success of RFMOs. Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, informed that the Sustainable Tuna Roundtable participants agreed to increase seafood retailer and tuna fishing industry participation in RFMO activities in order to push for the adoption of legally binding measures that implement some measures of the RFMO scientific committees and ensure compliance to them.
The participants also recognized that many assessment, certification and labeling programs for commercial tuna fisheries already exist and noted that improvements could be made to them. Eric Gilman of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Roundtable lead organizer opined that in addition to all these the participants agreed to improve communication to consumers on improving the sustainability of tuna fisheries and the basis for tuna sourcing decisions.
