NOAA Fisheries is implementing new management measures for Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs), reflecting international standards developed through years of negotiations to govern the use of FADs. International standards are designed to monitor and control fishing effort using FADs, reduce entangling marine life, and ensure that FAD use remains sustainable in the long-term.
Thai Union has released its first annual Tuna Commitment Progress Report to provide a public update on its ambitious strategy to ensure 100% of the company’s branded tuna is sustainably sourced, with a target of achieving a minimum of 75% by 2020, in line with the company’s SeaChange sustainability strategy.
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has set out its position statement in advance of the 22nd Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC), taking place in Bangkok this week.
On Spain’s initiative, a Franco-Spanish Joint Fisheries Committee met in Madrid on April 13, 2018, for the first time since the creation of the Southern AC, under the co-chairmanship of the Secretary General of Fisheries, Alberto López-Asenjo, and the Director of Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture, Frédéric Gueudar Delahaye.
Chinese fishing company Pingtan Marine Enterprise has been granted approval by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs for 27 vessels to operate in international waters. Following refits and upgrades, the 27 vessels are expected to operate in the Indian Ocean.
Cefas and the University of Exeter are working to track bluefin tuna and confirm reports that these fish that were once a common sight in the North Sea and Celtic Sea are returning to British waters. In recent years they have been observed more frequently in or coastal waters, particularly during the late summer, autumn and winter as they move into coastal areas to feed on energy-rich fish, such as sprats and herring.
Of the total tuna catch in 2016, 78% came from stocks judged to be at healthy levels, unchanged since last reported, according to a February 2018 International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) Status of the Stocks report. Skipjack tuna stocks, at healthy levels in all ocean regions, constituted more than one-half of the 2016 total catch.
The Spanish tuna fleet will invest €3 million this year in its Fishery Improvement Project developed in conjunction with WWF. This brings the level of investment to the FIP, launched in 2017, to a total of €12 million. The objective is to achieve MSC certification for all of its catches by 2021.
Following an objection in the reassessment of the PNA skipjack tuna fishery, an independent adjudicator has confirmed the third party conformity assessment body (CAB) decision that the PNA skipjack tuna fishery continues to meet the MSC’s Standard for sustainable fishing. Of 24 challenges to individual scoring issues within the objection, none were upheld.
A small group of pelagic longline fishing vessel owners will take a six-month voluntary break, but will continue to fish with alternative gear, improving populations and supporting supply chains as NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation kicked off 2018 with the second round of the Oceanic Fish Restoration Project.