Tuna firms to share catch data

The first data to be shared will come from the 2009 catch of the ISSF member companies, which comprise more than 50 percent of the tropical tunas caught each year, including Bumble Bee, StarKist and Chicken of the Sea.

The announcement was made Wednesday in a statement by Susan Jackson, ISSF president, at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas annual meeting in Brazil.

Sharing of data was an initial goal of ISSF, spokesman MIke Cirspino told IntraFish, but the details regarding what is relevant information needed for analysis have since been worked out with RFMOs and "companies will begin reporting."

Data