Area 41 (Atlantic, Southwest)

The fishery being assessed is StarKist Atlantic Ocean longline tuna fishery. The fishery targets albacore (Thunnus alalunga) tuna, bigeye (T. obesus) and yellowfin (T. albacares) tunas. The pelagic longline vessels are flagged to Taiwan, St Vincent, Senegal, Panama and Belize and fish on the high seas (and occasionally in the national EEZs) in the Atlantic. The fishery is managed regionally by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in the Atlantic Ocean.

Note: This FIP went inactive on July 9, 2018.

The unit of assessment for the fishery improvement project is the swordfish fishery in the Southwest Atlantic, FAO 41, governed by the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and fished by Spain’s longline fleet.

Confremar Group is hosting this fishery improvement project. The Sustainability Incubator is providing the FIP Secretariat and scientific and technical support.

The Brazilian red and green lobster FIP is being implemented by CeDePesca, Tequesta Bay, WWF, Associação Pesca Sustentável de Icapuí, M M SEA,  Federação dos Pescadores do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Colônia de Pescadores Z-33 do RN,  Colônia de Pescadores Z-17 do RN and Colônia de Pescadores Z-4 do RN with the ultimate goal of achieving an MSC-certifiable status for the fishery in the shortest timeframe possible.

The Brazilian red and green lobster FIP started in July 2011, as a result of a partnership between the United Nations Environmental Program and CeDePesca.  In November 2011, a CAB was selected by CeDePesca to conduct an MSC pre-assessment with funds granted by the Resources Legacy Fund.  The results of the MSC PA (Feb 2012) showed that: (a) no official stock assessment had been conducted since 2006, when the stocks had been found to be overfished; (b) no adequate limit or target reference points had been set for the stocks; (c) the harvest strategy showed signs of failure, arguably due to difficulties in applying timely management tools and enforcement; (d) existing rules regarding effort limits were solely based on the number of traps, while the fishery was known to include fishing nets and diving –which are still considered illegal fishing gears; (e) there was a general lack of data regarding the impacts on other ecosystem components; (f) the fishery-specific management system lacked specific short-term goals and clear instruments; (g) the management committees were not responsive enough and the decision-making process was not publicly documented; (h) no research management plan was in place, and (i) there was no regular evaluation of the performance of the management system.

CeDePesca disseminated the results of the MSC PA among fishery stakeholders in 2012, including local producers and exporters in the state of Ceará, and importers in the USA with the collaboration of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership.  As a result of this outreach efforts, seven US importers and ten Brazilian exporters expressed their interest in becoming partners to the FIP.  In parallel, as a product of the Resources Legacy Fund grant and the UNEP-CeDePesca partnership, the first FIP workplan was designed by CeDePesca in May 2012 with the goal of addressing the shortcomings identified in the MSC PA.  Most FIP activities were implemented at the time with funds provided by UNEP, the RLF, and by US importers through the SFP.

On the other hand, Brazilian exporters agreed to support the FIP and in February 2013, SINDFRIO signed an agreement with CeDePesca.  SINDFRIO provided funding and participated in the FIP between February 2013 and February 2022. In March 2022 they informed CeDePesca of its decision not to renew its participation in the project.

Current partners to the FIP include the fishers association Associação Pesca Sustentável (since 2015), based in the community of Redonda in Icapuí, Tequesta Bay (since 2020), WWF (since 2020), M M SEA (since 2022),  Federação dos Pescadores do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (since 2022), Colônia de Pescadores Z-33 do RN (since 2023),  Colônia de Pescadores Z-17 do RN (since 2023) and Colônia de Pescadores Z-4 do RN (since 2023).  The FIP is currently open to new participants.

For more information on the background of this FIP, please visit CeDePesca's Brazilian Lobster FIP Public Report .

The Argentina onshore red shrimp - bottom trawl FIP is being implemented by Achernar, Cabo Vírgenes, Conarpesa, Food Partners Patagonia, Iberpesca, La Escalerona, Consermar and Pesquera Veraz as FIP Partners, and Direct Source Seafood and Krustagroup – Patagonia Shrimp as FIP Supporters, with the technical support from CeDePesca. The FIP aims to attain a certifiable status for the fishery against the MSC standard.

The Argentina red shrimp (Pleoticus muelleri) fishery is the main crustacean fishery in Argentina and one of the most important marine resources in the Southwest Atlantic.  In accordance with the Fisheries Law, Argentinean provinces have jurisdiction over the exploitation of living resources populating their interior waters and the Argentine sea adjacent to their coasts up to 12 nautical miles (measured from baseline), which allows for the characterization of provincial fisheries.

The fleet operates in the fishery addressed by this FIP, use bottom-trawling nets along the coastal waters of the province of Chubut, mainly in the Restricted Fishing Effort Zone between Punta León and Cabo Dos Bahías. The Rawson Port as its landing point, and it conducts daily fishing trips from November to April (some years October-March).  This coastal fleet conducts daily fishing trips from November to April (some years October-March), and as opposed to the larger fleet, its catches are almost monospecific.

During 2021 the onshore red shrimp fishery recorded catches of around 60,000 tonnes; total shrimp catches, both onshore and offshore, for that year were just over 200,000 tonnes (Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, 2021). 

The Argentine red shrimp onshore fishery's current obstacles to becoming more sustainable are mainly related to MSC Principles 2 and 3. This FIP will work to address Principle 2 by characterizing the interaction between the coastal fleet and bycatch species in Chubut’s provincial waters and to support efforts aimed at better understanding the interaction between the fishery and the sea bottom, along with its potential impacts on the ecosystem. With regard to Principle 3, further coordination among the different jurisdictions that define the management of this fishery resource will be achieved, and a formal and regular mechanism for the assessment of the efficacy of the fishery's management system will be available to stakeholders.