The PNA Western & Central Pacific skipjack tuna fishery has achieved certification to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) environmental standard for sustainable and well managed fisheries.
The PNA skipjack fishery subscribes to the Nauru Agreement - a management agreement between 8 member countries concerned with tuna fishing in EEZs and adjacent high seas.
The MSC certification process, started in 2010, has demonstrated that PNA’s free school fishing practices have minimal impact on the marine eco-system and that operations are, on the whole, sustainably managed.
PNA Director, Dr Transform Aqorau said: “With MSC certification of the PNA’s free school skipjack operations, our customers can be confident that the free school tuna caught in our waters meet the highest standards for well managed and sustainable fisheries.”
The certification covers the purse seine vessels licensed by the PNA, which operate across the EEZs of Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, FS Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. It covers fishing operations on free swimming schools of tuna only, which is mainly canned and sold to Europe and North America.
As a result of the certification, 30% of skipjack tuna caught in the PNA fishery and 16% caught in the WCPFC convention area will now be eligible to bear the blue MSC ecolabel.
The MSC certified tuna will be traded and marketed under the brand name Pacifical.
