The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has adopted a new conservation measure aimed at strengthening social and labour accountability at land-based tuna production facilities owned or controlled by ISSF participating companies.
The new requirement, ISSF Conservation Measure 9.2, sets out clear expectations for independent, third-party labour audits at processing and production sites, building on ISSF’s existing policy framework for social and labour standards.
The measure was adopted in November 2025 and is being announced now to provide early clarity for participating companies and supply chain stakeholders ahead of its implementation deadlines, explained ISSF.
Under CM 9.2, companies must ensure that land-based tuna production facilities undergo labour audits conducted under internationally recognised third-party audit programmes.
Existing facilities must complete audits by 15 December 2027 and maintain the ongoing validity of those audits.
Newly constructed or acquired facilities must be audited by 15 March of the second calendar year following construction or acquisition, with ongoing audit validity required thereafter.
Acceptable audit programmes include amfori BSCI, SEDEX SMETA (2-Pillar and 4-Pillar), SA8000, BRCGS Ethical Trading and Responsible Sourcing Standard (ETRS), as well as other programmes recognised by the Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSCI).
ISSF’s social responsibility framework already covers fishing operations through CM 9.1, which requires participating companies to maintain and publicly disclose a policy on social and labour standards applying across their operations, including vessels. The new CM 9.2 extends that framework by introducing auditable and verifiable expectations specifically for land-based tuna processing and production facilities.
“ISSF Conservation Measures are periodically reviewed and refined to ensure clarity, consistency and alignment with evolving best practices,” ISSF President Susan Jackson said. “By building on our existing public social and labor policy requirement, this measure articulates the expectation that such policies are to be implemented and verified at land-based operations.”
Jackson added that the measure reinforces the need for continuous oversight and improvement, rather than one-off compliance efforts.
As with other ISSF Conservation Measures, compliance with CM 9.2 will be independently assessed and publicly reported through ISSF’s established third-party audit and compliance review process.
