The Philippine Tuna Handline Partnership (PTHP) is the first group of small-scale fishers and tuna processors in the Philippines to earn a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. The international certification was given on Oct. 19, or more than a year after the PTHP began the MSC assessment process in March 2020.
The certification is the latest development of a WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)-Philippines-led project with handline tuna fishers in the Mindoro Strait and Lagonoy Gulf. The Fishery Improvement Project (FIP), which has been running since 2011, is a multi-stakeholder program that aims to establish sustainable fishing practices and improve the livelihoods of fishermen.
“They capacitated us,” said Atenogenes B. Reaso, a fisherman and chairman of the Gulf of Lagonoy Tuna Fishers Federation, Inc., at the Oct. 1 launch of a WWF coffee table book narrating the fishermen’s aforementioned 10-year journey. The FIPs helped their members understand what sustainability is, Mr. Reaso added.
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https://www.bworldonline.com/small-scale-tuna-fishermen-in-luzon-obtain-international-sustainability-certification/