Carrefour, Aramark, Culimer USA, Lusamerica Foods, Pacific Island Tuna and the Association of Large Freezer Tuna Vessels (AGAC) have become the latest organisations to sign up to the Tuna Transparency Pledge, a global initiative led by international NGO The Nature Conservancy (TNC) aimed at addressing unsustainable and illegal fishing practices at sea.
Since its launch in April 2024, the Tuna Transparency Pledge has grown to include major retailers, suppliers and foodservice companies across North America and Europe, as well as other global tuna industry actors. The latest signatories join forces with initial signatories Walmart, Albertsons Companies, Thai Union, and the governments of Belize and Federated States of Micronesia.
Through the pledge, signatories aspire to advance 100% on-the-water monitoring across all industrial tuna fishing vessels within their supply chains or jurisdictions by 2027.
“Without transparency at sea, illegally and unsustainably caught fish will continue entering the supply chain undetected,” TNC Large-Scale Fisheries Director Ben Gilmer said. “On-the-water monitoring is ready to scale today and helps ensure that the seafood on our plates has been harvested in compliance with fishery laws and social standards. We applaud the new signatories of the Tuna Transparency Pledge for helping to build this critical market momentum to support ocean wildlife protection and a lasting seafood supply.”
TNC notes that while tuna ranks as one of the most prized and popular fish in the world with 5 million tonnes of fish produced annually and a dockside value of US$10 billion, one of the biggest obstacles to sustainably managing global tuna fisheries, protecting ocean wildlife, and delivering tuna products that inspire consumer confidence is the lack of on-the-water monitoring and data.
Often, fisheries authorities and supply chain actors do not have the data needed to ensure that the vessels they source from are complying with fishing regulations and social standards, it said, adding that having eyes on the water allows seafood suppliers and retailers to have confidence that the tuna in their supply chain has been sourced legally and sustainably.
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) Biodiversity & Nature Director Katheryn Novak commented that electronic monitoring presents “an incredible opportunity” to scale observer coverage and increase data collection and monitoring onboard tuna vessels.
“Longline tuna fisheries in particular interact with some of the most vulnerable species of marine wildlife, yet have the lowest levels of observer coverage and monitoring. Companies taking the pledge and working with their supply chains to increase monitoring can help reduce bycatch of seabirds and sharks, and ensure compliance with regulations, social and labour safeguards, and corporate requirements and standards,” she said.
Carrefour Chief Impact Officer Carine Kraus remarked that while tuna is one of the retailer’s most popular seafood products, tuna supply chains bear human risk and biodiversity challenges that must be addressed.
“To transform this market, we must together adopt sustainable practices toward this resource, which is today affected by overfishing. To this end, Carrefour joined last year The Global Tuna Alliance to strengthen the sustainability of its tuna supplies along its supply chain. Today, we want to go further in tuna preservation and are proud to be part of The Tuna Transparency Pledge, which enables us to lead global actions,” she said.
AGAC Managing Director Julio Morón said tuna fisheries management can “significantly improve” once all the participating fleets are covered with the required observation onboard.
Morón said the association has been a leader in the voluntary application of onboard observers and that 100% of its fleet is monitored by either human or electronic observers.
“We can lead by example and make that many unreported catch taken by other fleets are accountable. We hope that market action could help in promoting 100% observer coverage on all tuna fleets,” he said.
