Echebastar purse seiner order for Zamakona
The Zamakona Shipyard has contracted to deliver a new tuna purse seiner to Bermeo company Echebastar, increasing the size of its distant water freezer purse seiner fleet to six vessels.
Longliner order for Piriou
New Caledonia fishing company Navimon has placed an order with the Piriou yard for eight new longliners for delivery over the coming two years.
OPAGAC announces global standard for tuna fishing at Our Ocean conference
The Organisation of Associated Producers of Large Freezer Tuna Freezers (OPAGAC) has announced that it will develop a global standard to guarantee responsible fishing and the sustainability of the tropical tuna fishery. The organisation has launched this commitment during the Our Ocean conference, held this week in Malta, and pointed out that the standard will integrate both environmental and social sustainability, two inseparable pillars of ensuring the future of this resource on a global scale.
NZ skipjack tuna purse seine fishery gets MSC label
The Talley’s New Zealand skipjack tuna purse seine fishery, operated by Talley’s Group Limited, has been certified as sustainable. This is the eighth MSC certification in New Zealand and tips the scale, putting more than 50% of the country’s commercial catch under the MSC label
Tuna sustainability and IUU
Sustainability and the fight against IUU fishing are today’s buzzwords, in distant waters such as as Equatorial Guinea, the Cook Islands and the Seychelles, where the Spanish tuna fleet operates, keeping track of vessel activity in real time has been boosted. The Organisation of Associated Producers of Large Freezer Tuna Vessels (OPAGAC) in conjunction with Satlink, recently presented the technology used on board their vessels at the headquarters of the Permanent Representation of Spain (REPER) in Brussels.
Smooth bluefin season
The Bluefin tuna fishing season in the Western and Central Mediterranean Sea and in the Adriatic Sea came to a close at 0800 on the 21st June for purse seiners, three days before the official closure on 24th June, after the season had been open since 26th May. Catch limits for bluefin tuna season were increased in 2017, as the stock showed continued signs of recovery.
Le Drezen builds on Pacific breakthrough
US fishing company Trimarine has confirmed its confidence in French fishing gear supplier Le Drezen by placing an order for a second tuna purse seine.
Europêche welcomes EU-Mauritius agreement, with reservations
Last month the European Union and the Republic of Mauritius signed a new Protocol to implement the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement in place, setting the legal conditions to allow EU tuna fishing vessels to fish in Mauritius waters for the next four years.
NMFS to analyse impacts of Western Pacific tuna longline fisheries
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has announced its intent to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to analyse the environmental impacts of US Pacific Island deep-set tuna longline fisheries managed under the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific (Pelagic FEP) and other applicable laws.
Eleven years and still waiting
According to Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE), Spain has once again turned its back on historic injustices by denying small scale Mediterranean fishermen access to bluefin tuna.
