Julio Morón, managing director of the Organization of Associated Producers of Large Tuna Freezers (Opagac), spoke to IntraFish about why global tuna fisheries management isn't always working, and what can be done to fix the problem. 

What are the main challenges of global tuna fisheries at the moment?

The challenges are now focused in the management of regional fishing organizations, which have to face the fundamental requirements necessary for responsible management. In this matter, the limitation of both fisheries capacity and landings are key for an adequate management.

What is the situation in fisheries management in tuna fisheries around the world?

In the Atlantic Ocean we have catch restrictions for bigeye stocks, and also for yellowfin that have not generated any problems so far.

In the Indian Ocean there is a limitation of yellowfin catch and some heavy restrictions on the management of purse seine fishing in particular.

In the Eastern Pacific there is a capacity restriction, but further additional measures are needed, such as the implementation of a complete ban of fishing in certain areas.

This has actually been in place for two years now, with a 62-day harvest halt, and all countries are exercising the rights they were granted in the distribution of 2002.

In the Western Pacific, which is where most of the world’s tuna production comes from -- we are talking about more than 50 percent of the catches of tropical tuna -- there is a series of measures that have been in place for five years now to recover bigeye tuna stocks, but which are not proving very effective.

Why are they not working?

Mainly because there is a lack of compliance with these measures in the region.

How can the situation be reversed?

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A good start would be to mirror the measures existing in the Eastern Pacific. This year, a for the first time since the implementation of management measures, bigeye stocks in the Eastern Pacific are ranked green, after a few years in red, due to the efficient efforts made in the area.

What are the main differences between management measures in the two areas?

Firstly, the measures used in the Western Pacific have many exceptions for Asian vessels flagged in riparian countries, and these exceptions offset massively the positive impact that the management measures could have.

Secondly, the measures in the Western Pacific are much more lax than the full fishing ban for 62 days implemented in the Eastern Pacific.

What is the current management system in the region?

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) is the youngest of all the tuna organizations in the world, and has the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) as the main management body of those fisheries.

All the members operate under the vessel day scheme, a license system by which fishing days are sold to the highest bidder. This way, each country increases the fishing capacity of their vessel to catch as much as they can on the days they buy, harming profitability and efficiency.

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The control of the fisheries and the monitoring of the use of fishing aggregated devices (FDAs) is very complicated, and the observers’ work is very hard.

It would be very difficult for the current system to be as effective as it needs to be.

What are the restrictions on purse seiners in the Indian Ocean that you mentioned?

Stocks of yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean are also in a very delicate situation, and there have been some measures put in place to work toward the recovery of the fishery.

The objective is to reduce by 15 percent the catches of all purse seine vessels in the Indian Ocean, by 5 percent landings caught by Pole and Line fishing, and by 10 percent the catches landed by the rest of the methods.

The purse seine fleet lands 35 percent of all the yellowfin caught in the Indian Ocean, but it has been asked to apply the hardest reductions in catches.

In addition, for the third year in a row, we have seen a restriction on the use of FADs in this ocean. In 2015, the FAD limit was 550 devices per vessel per year, in 2016 this was reduced to 425 devices per vessel per year, and in 2017 it has gone down to 3,250 devices per vessel per year.

These reductions were not based on scientific recommendations, but rather on political decisions, and the rest of fishing methods do not have the same restrictions or level of control.

What is the outlook for this fishery?

I hope these measures work, I hope the next assessment of these stocks, which will be carried out at the end of the year, show the effects of the fishing allowance reduction and the implemented management measures.

What do you think about the current certification schemes available for tuna fisheries?

We have a very strong stance against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification system for the tuna purse seine fleet, we think it is not adequate and we even published a scientific document in the Marine Policy journal.

The MSC doesn’t use an appropriate system, its certification scheme differentiates certifications approved in the purse seine fleet, by which they only certify FAD-free vessels.

We believe this is very complex, it is very hard to identify FAD-free vessels with the available detection systems, and we also consider that it is difficult to only certify a part of a fishing method.

What we want to achieve with our Fisheries Improvement Project (FIP) launched in cooperation with WWF is that all purse seine fisheries can be certified, regardless of the use of FADs, this is the model that we think makes sense.

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