Saving Seafood

Broad alliance of seafood sustainability groups call for more international action on IUU fishing

May 26, 2023 — A group of seafood sustainability organizations is calling on national governments across the globe to take more action to address illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

In a joint statement, SeaBOS, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) , the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST), the Global Tuna Alliance (GTA), and Sea Pact called for nations to ratify and implement the Port State Measures Agreement; fully implement the Global Record; adopt the Voluntary Transshipment Guidelines agreed in FAO; and agree to the Roadmap for Combatting IUU Fishing adopted by the Economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ISSF audit finds 23 of 25 seafood companies compliant with sustainable fishing measures

April 26, 2023 — Twenty-three of 25 companies partnered with the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) were operating in 100 percent compliance with the organization’s sustainable fishing measures, according to a new report.

The nonprofit’s Annual Conservation Measures and Commitments Compliance Report records participating companies’ progress in following the best practices for sustaining tuna fisheries all around the world. The report tracks conformance across 33 conservation measures, including:

  • submitting quarterly purchase data by vessel, dates, species, and size;
  • working only with longline vessels that have policies protecting sharks and marine turtles;
  • avoiding work with vessels engaged in shark finning or that are on the regional fishery management organization IUU lists, and;
  • only conducting transactions with purse-seine vessels who have received best practices information from ISSF

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ISSF reports 86.4 percent of tuna catches coming from healthy stocks

September 1, 2022 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) released its annual “Status of the Stocks” report in July 2022, finding global tuna catches are increasingly coming from healthy stocks.

Since its last “Status of the Stocks” report in March 2022, the percentage of total commercial tuna catch worldwide harvested from stocks at “healthy” levels of abundance has increased from 80.5 percent to 86.4 percent. ISSF reports this increase is mainly due to the recent change in rating for the Eastern Pacific Ocean skipjack stock.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ISSF urges IATTC to add protections for bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks

July 26, 2022 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is urging the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) to protect bigeye and yelowfin stocks by ensuring all its commission members are fully implementing conservation measures.

ISSF published a position statement ahead of the IATTC’s upcoming annual meeting acknowledging the IATTC’s tuna-conservation efforts while also pushing for it to follow through on its enacted measures with member-states.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ISSF report finds global tuna stock abundance getting worse

March 29, 2022 — The recently released International Seafood Sustainability Foundation’s (ISSF) “Status of the Stocks” report found the world’s commercial tuna catch is increasingly being sourced from stocks that are not at healthy levels of abundance.

This twice-yearly report by the ISSF – a global coalition including seafood industry members and scientific and environmental organizations that promote science-based initiatives for long-term ocean health – provides the results for the most-recent scientific assessments of 23 separate stocks of major commercial tuna species. The stocks include six albacore, four bigeye, four bluefin, five skipjack, and four yellowfin tuna species.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

ISSF’s Susan Jackson: Tuna stock-rebuilding efforts are working

November 29, 2021 — Tuna stocks globally are stable, but more needs to be done to improve science-based management at regional fishery management organizations, according to Susan Jackson, the president of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a global coalition of seafood companies, fisheries experts, and scientific and environmental organizations.

The organization, which recently launched iss-foundation.org to showcase its data, has the ultimate goal of helping global tuna fisheries meet sustainability criteria to achieve the Marine Stewardship Council certification. ISSF members include leading tuna firms Bumble Bee, Thai Union, and Starkist, but the organization has no members from China, which is increasingly a key player in tuna fishing, processing, and consumption.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

ISSF: Eastern Pacific Ocean tuna fisheries can’t wait for COVID to end before action is taken

August 23, 2021 — Eastern Pacific Ocean fisheries managers must ensure that effective management measures are promptly put in place for bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna stocks when the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) meets later this month, insists the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).

In 2020, the IATTC conducted new assessments of bigeye and yellowfin tuna, which found that while yellowfin remains healthy, there was a 53 percent probability that bigeye is overfished and a 50 percent probability that overfishing was occurring.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF adopts new measure to protect Indian Ocean yellowfin if IOTC fails to act

May 18, 2021 — The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has announced the adoption of a new conservation member for participating companies aimed at reducing the annual sourcing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna.

Called ISSF Conservation Measure 1.3 IOTC Yellowfin Tuna Rebuilding, the measure will take effect if the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) doesn’t take action at its June 2021 meeting to safeguard the stock. The IOTC delayed any decision on the yellowfin stock in March, a move criticized by NGOs and seafood companies.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

ISSF Adopts New Conservation Measure Aimed at Rebuilding Yellowfin Tuna in the Indian Ocean

May 6, 2021 — The following was released by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation:

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) today announced a new ISSF conservation measure (CM) requiring its participating companies to reduce annual sourcing of Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna. ISSF Conservation Measure 1.3 IOTC Yellowfin Tuna Rebuilding becomes effective in the event that the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) does not take action at its June 2021 annual meeting to effectively implement IOTC scientific committee advice on the reduction of yellowfin catch. The new measure is included in ISSF’s recently released IOTC position statement.

“For more than a year, ISSF and our partners have been urging IOTC to heed scientific advice and act to protect Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna. But the Commission has repeatedly failed to adopt effective measures to rebuild the yellowfin stock, including at its special meeting held in March 2021,” said ISSF President Susan Jackson. “ISSF and its participating companies are committed to the long term sustainable use of the valuable Indian Ocean tuna resources. We will take steps as needed—with scientific guidance in mind—when fisheries management falls short. And we will do so transparently through a well-established audit and compliance reporting process.”

The most recent advice from the IOTC Scientific Committee (SC) recommends a reduction in yellowfin tuna catches to less than 403,000 tonnes annually, which would represent, at a minimum, an 11% reduction from 2019 catches. ISSF CM 1.3 requires ISSF participating companies to reduce annual sourcing of Indian Ocean origin yellowfin by 11%, calculated with respect to the company’s average annual level of Indian Ocean yellowfin purchases from 2017-2019. The measure also requires companies to issue public statements on their company websites describing their commitment to and implementation of the measure. ISSF CM 1.3 will go into effect on July 31, 2021 if IOTC, once again, fails to adopt a measure to effectively implement the most recent IOTC SC advice at its annual meeting in June.

As part of its commitment to transparency and accountability, ISSF engages third-party auditor MRAG Americas to audit participating companies to assess their compliance with all ISSF conservation measures. MRAG Americas conducts independent auditing based on a public audit protocol.

IOTC Position Statement

ISSF has also included recommendations on the IOTC yellowfin rebuilding plan in its IOTC position statement for the June Commission meeting, which outlines these ‘asks’:

  1. Adopt without delay an effective rebuilding plan for yellowfin tuna which, if implemented effectively, would imply a reduction to a total catch between 350,000 and 403,000 tonnes.
  2. Address over-catches in contravention of Resolution 19/01.
  3. Urgently monitor and manage catches of skipjack to ensure catches in 2021 do not exceed the limit set by the adopted Harvest Control Rule.
  4. Accelerate the develop Management Procedures and agree on permanent Limit and Target Reference Points for tropical and temperate tunas, particularly yellowfin, by 2022.
  5. Request the Scientific Committee to provide science-based limits on FAD deployments and/or FAD sets; develop in 2021 and adopt, by 2022, FAD marking guidelines and FAD tracking and recovery policies; and require the use of biodegradable materials in the construction of FADs and establish a timeline for transitioning to 100% biodegradable.
  6. Establish the Working Group on Electronic Monitoring (EM) and develop EM program minimum standards by 2022. Require 100% observer coverage (human and/or electronic) in industrial tuna fisheries, including all those engaged in at sea transshipment, by 2024.

The complete ISSF IOTC position statement is available online: https://iss-foundation.org/what-we-do/influence/position-statements/download-info/2021-iotc-position-statement-for-june-2021-meeting/

About ISSF Conservation Measures & Compliance Process

Since its inception in 2009, ISSF has adopted conservation measures and commitments to facilitate this mission with the intent that processors, traders, marketers and others involved in the seafood industry will follow them to facilitate real and continuous improvement across global tuna stocks. Each ISSF participating company commits to conform to these conservation measures to improve the long-term health of tuna fisheries. They also must adhere to the ISSA Compliance Policy.

ISSF participating tuna companies, which represent the majority of the world’s canned-tuna production and include well-known brand names, are audited yearly by MRAG Americas on their compliance with ISSF conservation measures.

ISSF recently released its ISSF Annual Conservation Measures & Commitments Compliance Report, which ISSF published in coordination with its recent annual report Staying the Course. In addition to a summary report, MRAG Americas issues individual company reports that detail each organization’s compliance with ISSF’s conservation measures. ISSF publishes these individual company compliance reports on its website.

About the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF)

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) — a global coalition of seafood companies, fisheries experts, scientific and environmental organizations, and the vessel community — promotes science-based initiatives for long-term tuna conservation, FAD management, bycatch mitigation, marine ecosystem health, capacity management, and illegal fishing prevention. Helping global tuna fisheries meet sustainability criteria to achieve the Marine Stewardship Council certification standard — without conditions — is ISSF’s ultimate objective. To learn more, visit iss-foundation.org, and follow ISSF on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.