Area 47 (Atlantic, Southeast)

The fishery being assessed is the Atlantic Ocean tuna - longline (FCF) fishery. The fishery targets albacore (Thunnus alalunga), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares). The longline vessels in this assessment are flagged to Taiwan, Namibia, Belize and Panama and fish on the high seas and within the Namibia Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The fishery is managed regionally the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

Fish for Good is a Pathway Project funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery, facilitated by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and with WWF South Africa (WWF-SA) as the implementing partner in the project. The Fish for Good Project aims are to contribute to the building of fisheries sustainability infrastructure in South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico to improve environmental sustainability and bring about socio-economic benefits for fishing communities.

The project uses the Pathway Project model which involves a country-specific analysis of fisheries as a way of introducing the MSC programme to small-scale fisheries, coastal fishers, and other types of hard-to-engage fisheries. The MSC has shown that its fishery certification and the eco-labelling programme can drive improvements amongst fisheries leading to healthier oceans by leveraging market incentives on offer by the MSC programme.

So far in South Africa, the Fish for Good Project has mapped 15 fisheries, conducted nine pre-assessments and selected five fisheries to go for the development of action plans and implementation through Fishery Improvement Projects (FIP). One of the fisheries chosen for the FIP stage is the Saldanha Bay Rope Grown Mussels fishery.

Mussel farming in South Africa is principally situated in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape where raft culture techniques have been established since 1985. The species cultured are the non-native Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) and the indigenous black mussel (Choromytilus meridionalis). The mussel sub-sector is the highest contributor to aquaculture production in South Africa. There are currently 26 mussel operations active in Saldanha Bay engaged in mussel aquaculture.

Saldanha Bay is a prime existing site for aquaculture due to the sheltered conditions and high primary productivity. South Africa’s rocky coastline, particularly in the Western Cape province, is devoid of sheltered bays and therefore Saldanha Bay holds high importance for aquatic development along with other industries. Saldanha Bay is one of nine new Aquaculture Development Zones (ADZ) identified by the South African Government through the Operation Phakisa Blue Economy initiative, with the specific purpose of exclusive use of bay areas for aquaculture and development of a sustainable aquaculture industry.

The MSC define rope-grown cultures as Catch and Growth (CAG) fisheries, in which fishery production systems involve wild harvest followed by a grown-out phase. Rope grown mussel farming in Saldanha Bay utilise stock collected from the wild spat-fall on seed rope. The settled spat is relayed onto grown on ropes suspended from longlines on the same lease plots for on-growing approximately 4-6 weeks after settlement. After approximately 12 months, the mussels are harvested with smaller individuals resocked and relayed for further on-growing. The type of rope grown system (raft/longline), method of harvest (vessel configuration), and location of the lease vary between operators.

The two longline systems for bivalve culture, comprising surface ropes with floats which are moored at each end to fix the lines in position. The production ropes for mussels are then suspended from the surface rope. In the continuous longline system, the drop rope is continuous and hung in loops running the length of the surface line, while in the dropper longline system each drop rope is a separate line. Currently, the continuous longline is only used in North Outer Bay at Saldanha Bay. Longlines are robust and can be used in depths up to 100 m, though in this fishery the maximum depth is ~20 m with 8 m lines. The currently recommended spacing from government reports is 10 m between longlines and 40 m between lease areas.

Rafts for bivalve culture consist of a floating top structure from which mussel ropes are suspended. The raft system is anchored to the bottom via concrete blocks as per the longline system. A raft provides a stable surface structure for the initial processing of mussels and reduces dependence on larger support vessels for harvesting and processing. The government recommended density is one raft per hectare, which equates to 20 to 30 tonnes of marketable mussels per ha.

All three methods are similar enough for them to be considered as single fishery methods under the MSC program.

The aim of the Saldanha Bay Rope Grown Mussel FIP is to obtain an unconditional pass against the MSC Fisheries Standard. The Rope grown Mussel sector is aiming to pursue MSC certification after completing the FIP.

The EU surface longline fleet has been concentrating efforts on the implementation of national and regional strategies for the conservation of their target species including measures such as minimizing incidental catches, collaborating with the scientific community, and finning bans.

In 2014, an MSC pre-assessment was conducted for all swordfish and blue shark stocks, and in 2016, the fishery was close to meeting the MSC standard for north and south Atlantic swordfish. Focus on improvements for all the fleet operations moved towards promoting the creation of a FIP for all swordfish (Xiphias gladius ) and blue shark (Prionace glauca ) stocks for the North and South Atlantic Ocean, the Western and Central Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

The industry community recently created the ANECTEAM association to work together with the EU surface longline fleet. ANECTEAM is focused on getting visibility and recognition from the consumers, raising public and environmental NGO opinions about efforts to boost sustainability, encouraging distribution chains to purchase the fishery's products, and increasing recognition at the international level of a sustainable industry and fleet that is allowed to trade in fins and shark meat. This FIP represents 4 shipowners' associations (90 % catches EU fleet), 14 supply chain companies (80 % UE), and 160 fishing vessels (95% of EU fishing vessels in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans).

Due to their migratory nature and extensive distribution throughout several oceans, the management of swordfish and blue shark is carried out internationally by RFMOs (ICCAT, IOTC, IATTC, and WCPFC) through a system of catch totals (TAC)

Based on the MSC pre-assessment for the North and South Atlantic Spanish longline fishery in 2014 and a MSC full assessment in 2016 for swordfish, previously conducted, the scoring was updated in 2019 following the last MSC standard 2018; a new scoring was also carried out for blue shark according to last ICCAT assessment for BSH conducted in 2015 -edited in 2017- and mako shark for Principe 2 in 2017 (see full information in the Scoping Doc). A number of Performance Indicators (Pis) were scored so that the fishery would fail under a full MSC assessment (SG <60) and required conditions for other PIs (SG 60-79). The general objective is to increase the PIs (scored <60 or 60-79) to SG>80.

The FIP Blues has been originally designed to be implemented in three oceans: Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. The present FIP will start by implementing the actions in the Atlantic ocean since the full MSC Assesment was focused on these fisheries, both north and south stocks. At the same time, in the subsequent years after the beginning of the tasks for the Atlantic, we will develop the Work Plan Action for the other oceans´ swordfish and blue shark fisheries.