A tuna fishery which could provide enough fish for 20 million tuna sandwiches has been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
The PNA western and central Pacific free school skipjack tuna fishery uses “purse seine” nets to catch the fish, but does not use “fish aggregation devices” which commonly attract many other marine species that are then caught accidentally.
Fishing for free swimming tuna significantly cuts the risk of catching other wildlife, except for whale sharks which swim with schools of tuna, and the scheme prevents vessels from setting their nets when the sharks are present.
The MSC said that a rigorous, transparent and independent assessment of the free school fishery had found that the fish stocks it targets are healthy and its methods have a minimal impact on the ocean environment.
In addition to ruling out the use of the fish aggregation devices, the management of the scheme caps the total number of fishing days allowed and requires all vessels to have observers onboard while they are fishing.
The PNA fishery operates across the waters of eight Pacific countries including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, with the catch sold to Europe and North America where it is commonly canned and used in sandwiches and salads.
As a result of the certification, almost a third (30%) of the skipjack tuna in the overall PNA fishery and 16% of the skipjack caught in a much wider area of the Pacific will be able to carry the MSC “ecolabel”.
MSC Pacific fisheries manager Bill Holden said: “With tuna being one of the world’s most highly sought after and widely consumed seafood products, there is a growing demand for tuna fisheries around the world to achieve and demonstrate sustainability, as the PNA skipjack fishery has done.
“Increasingly consumers, and the seafood supply chain itself, are seeking out tuna products that can be verified as coming from a sustainable source.
“By gaining MSC certification for its free school operations, the PNA skipjack tuna fishery has put itself in a good position to capitalise on this growing movement, and we expect demand for their certified tuna products to be high.”
2012 The Press Association