Almost two-thirds of global tuna stocks are not meeting the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Standards on sustainable fishing, according to a new report commissioned by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF).
The March 2023 report - ‘An Evaluation of the Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to the MSC Criteria’ – found that eight out of 23 major commercial species are maintaining target stock biomass levels.
These are Western Atlantic skipjack, North Atlantic albacore, South Atlantic albacore, Eastern Atlantic bluefin, Western Pacific skipjack, Eastern Pacific yellowfin, Eastern Pacific skipjack and Indian Ocean skipjack.
All eight passed the MSC’s Principle 1 – ‘Sustainable Fish Stocks’ – which requires fisheries to be managed so that stocks are not overfished or exploited. Six were also found to have well-defined harvest control rules.
Under the Standard’s Principle 3 – ‘Effective Management’ – regional fisheries management organisations (RFMO) scored well overall, with the four tropical tuna RFMOs receiving passing scores. Most tuna RFMOs exhibited weaknesses in compliance and enforcement.
In October 2022, MSC updated the criteria with the publication of the Fisheries Standard 3.0. The ISSF report does not reflect the updated Standard.
