Organización de Productores de Túnidos y Pesca Fresca de la Isla de Tenerife (Islatuna) has become the latest member of the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF).
Islatuna was established in 2004 to represent the interests of Canarian tuna and fresh fish producers. The organisation strives to bring better returns to local fishers, increase the market competitiveness of its fishery products, provide a unified and collective voice for its fishers at international policy meetings, and facilitate funding through the European Commission’s POSEICAN-Pesca funding programme which supports fisheries in the Canary Islands.
Macu da Silva of Islatuna said: “We sought to join IPNLF because we share the same ideology and interests; to protect the interests of the artisanal tuna fishery that has been catching tuna with one-by-one methods for more than a century. We believe that the partnership between our fishermen and IPNLF will provide many direct benefits as we seek to achieve our respective objectives.”
Over the past 14 years, Islatuna’s membership has grown from 20 to 77 partners, incorporating a total of 81 vessels that are mainly pole-and-line boats, ranging from 12 to 20-plus metres.
Fellow Canary Island organisations, the Lanzarote-based Optuna No 42 and El Hierro-based PESCARESTINGA and Cofradia de La Restinga also recently joined IPNLF, which now has 57 partners.
