Catching yellowfin tuna using the free-school fishing method has earned The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) a Seafood Champion Award 2016 and certification to carry the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) eco-label.

PNA is the first major free-school purse seine (encircling nets) yellowfin tuna fishery to achieve certification and accounts for half of all yellowfin tuna caught in PNA waters totalling around 140,000 tons per year.

Free-school fishing means catching fish not associated with dolphins and other marine life such as manta rays, sea turtles, and sharks. This sustainable method of fishing lessens the ecological impact on threatened marine species taken by nets.

Recognition

Dr Transform Agorau, PNA’s CEO said in a statement that it was humbling to obtain international recognition for the vision to manage tuna fisheries effectively from their small office in the Marshall Islands.

“In the past five-to-six years we have achieved a number of firsts including being the first to be awarded the Island Business Magazine Organization of the Year in 2010, and the first to receive MSC Certification for the purse seine free school skipjack tuna fisheries,” said Dr Aqorau.

This certification follows on from MSC’s 2011 certification of skipjack tuna caught without using Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) where floating objects are used to attract fish.

Dr Agorau added that part of the PNA initiatives to ensure sustainability in fishing includes managing harvest stocks for four tuna species –skipjack, yellowfin, bigeye and South Pacific albacore.

“We are working on FAD tracking and monitoring and now require all purse seine vessels to report these through the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) registration process, and have embarked on port-to-port electronic reporting from fishing vessels,” he said. “The longline Vessel Day Scheme also provides a platform to improve the management of the longline fishery and while it still lags a long way behind the improvements that have been made to the purse seine fishery, there is now a framework which is there that can be used to institute improvements.”

PNA Commercial Director, Marice Brownjohn, said that gaining MSC certification has led to the increase in new orders for sustainable caught tuna from PNA waters especially with major Australian seafood retailer John West.

“PNA tuna sold with the MSC ecolabel also carries the Pacifical logo in clear representation of the end market’s commitment to the PNA island nations as custodians and protectors of a truly valuable marine resource throughout centuries and the generations to come,” said Mr Brownjohn.

The Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) are eight Pacific Island countries that control the world’s largest sustainable tuna purse seine fishery and supply 50 percent of the world’s skipjack tuna (a popular tuna for canned products). They are Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

The SeaWeb Seafood Summit brings together representatives from the seafood industry from all over the world with a goal to define success and advance solutions in sustainable seafood by fostering dialogue and partnerships leading to environmentally, socially and economically sustainable seafood marketplaces.