The Japanese longline bluefin tuna fishery, Usufuku Honten Co. Ltd, has formally become the first in the world to achieve certification to the Marine Stewardship Council’s (MSC) global standard for sustainable fishing, despite facing a long and bumpy road to get there.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has been fighting the certification of the fishery for sometime, but its objections have proved fruitless.
The family-owned business wanted to aim for MSC certification as a way to involve other fisheries in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, in rebuilding a more rigorous fishing management system locally after it was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
