The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is listening to concern that some MSC tuna fisheries are stretching what it means to be certified.
According to David Agnew, MSC science and standards director, the issue will be a focal point of a public consultation, to be held from June 6-7 in London, where the group is based.
It’s a live issue for us, Agnew told the audience at the European Tuna Conference, held on April 21, the day before the Brussels seafood show.
The MSC has had a number of letters from industry and NGOs concerned that these tuna fisheries are starting to stretch the definition over what we consider a unit of certification, he said.
Our theory has always been, if we recognize that sustainability in what those fisheries are doing, that is a good thing, as that will incentivize them to make more change and that needs to be rewarded. This is now being challenged, said Agnew.
We have certification of tuna fisheries, targeting the same species on certified and non-certified sets, on the same trip. Is that good enough? Can we identify when it’s on a FAD, when it’s on a log, or not? Yes we can, most of the time, he said.
For example, vessels in the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) fishery, which is certified for both skipjack and yellowfin, will be fishing on free schools and on fish aggregation devices (FADs) on the on the same trip, on the same day, said Agnew. Only the fish caught on free schools can carry the MSC label.
So, the fish must be segregated on the vessel, with observer coverage in place to enforce this.
Chain of custody to the MS standard starts at sea and from that point on, he said.
Speaking after Agnew, Melino Bain-Vete MSC and policy researcher for the PNA, gave an idea of how the separation between FAD-free tuna and fish caught on free schools is enforced.
The use of onboard observers is key to this, he said. However, there have been cases when observers have come under pressure from captains.
When asked what the PNA is doing to make sure observers on tuna seiners are not compromised, Bain-Vete said all are debriefed after trips.
We have had cases where observers are under pressure and duress to maintain something that is not eligible as eligible, he said.
During this debrief, generally, these things are uncovered, said Bain-Vete.
There has been a case when the PNA suspended a vessel as they had been pressuring an observer, he said.
2017 Undercurrent News