The first South Korean-owned fishery has achieved certification to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) international standard for sustainable fishing.
The certification applies to free school yellowfin and skipjack tuna caught by 12 purse seine freezer vessels operating in the Western Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and owned by Dongwon Industries.
Rupert Howes, chief executive of the MSC, said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to Dongwon for this historic certification. We hope this achievement will lead to other South Korean fisheries entering into the MSC assessment process to demonstrate their commitment to ocean sustainability and the stewardship of our precious ocean resources.”
Harvest strategies
To ensure that the fishery can respond to future changes in the health of these tuna stocks, MSC certification is conditional upon the adoption of harvest strategies, including harvest control rules, by all member states of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) by 2021. The fishery is also required to further demonstrate that it is not having a detrimental impact on manta and mobula rays.
Before tuna from the fishery can be sold with the blue MSC label, Dongwon will need to complete a traceability assessment to earn certification to the MSC’s Chain of Custody Standard.
Dongwon Industries is one of ten of the world’s largest seafood companies taking part in the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative. The initiative, which started in 2016, aims to stimulate transformative change towards ocean stewardship. The MSC was an advisor to the inaugural SeaBOS in November 2016.
