Area 61 (Pacific, Northwest)

The fishery being assessed is the Pacific Tuna Longline Fishery targeting albacore (Thunnus alalunga), bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) tuna across all regions of the Pacific Ocean.

The Pacific Tuna Longline Fishery aims to meet the rising global demand for tuna in a sustainable manner by assuring catches do not exceed sustainable levels, promoting the ecosystem based approach to fisheries management and strengthening policy and governance systems in the region.

Pacific Tuna Longline Fishery goals:

• Sustainable Fish Stocks – To ensure tuna and other primary species catches across the Pacific Ocean do not exceed sustainable levels
• Minimising Environmental Impacts – To promote the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management
• Effective Management – To strengthen governance systems in the WCPFC, IATTC and Pacific Tuna Longline fishery.

This FIP was previously part of the Pacific Ocean Tuna - longline (Thai Union) FIP. Half of the UoAs (Vanuatu flagged vessels) are now within the MSC assessment due to the progress they have made. Due to this, the FIP profile was split to allow for the remaining fleet (Chinese flagged vessels) to continue on with their FIP.

This FIP has now entered MSC assessment, the ACDR is published in the supporting documents section and the link to the Track a Fishery profile can be found here. 

The distribution of Japanese sardine ranges across the surrounding waters of Japan, but the stock is divided into Pacific stock and the Tsushima warm-current stock for stock assessment. These stocks were defined based on the main foraging and migration areas for the target fish. 

The Pacific stock ranges along the Pacific Ocean side of Japan and its management is delineated into eight blocks for purse seiners. The client fishery is a member of “Kitamaki” which manages the purse seine operation in the north Pacific Ocean sector. The main fisheries are large and medium-sized purse seines and set nets targeting juvenile and adult Japanese sardines. This fishery is managed by the TAC system with permission from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. 

In the 1980s, when resources were abundant, large-scale fishing grounds were formed in the Joban-Sanriku along the Pacific coast area as well as the East Hokkaido area in summer and autumn, and more than 2,000,000 tons of fish were caught. However, the fishing ground in the east of Hokkaido ceased to exist after 1994. As a result of multiple effects such as high fishing pressure, the synchrony of the stock with regime shifts, and other environmental change, the stock declined further in the 2000s, and the fishing grounds in the northern Sanriku area almost disappeared. In recent years, as resources have increased and the range of forage migration has expanded, fishing grounds have formed in the east of Hokkaido since 2012, and the catch in this area has increased from 6,000 tons in 2012 to 218,000 tons in 2019. 

Along with mackerel, Japanese sardine is the most commonly consumed popular fish in Japan. In addition to fresh fish, it is processed into dried, salted, canned, and fish oil for human consumption, and is also used as feed for farmed fish and livestock. Overall, there is much demand for Japanese Sardine in Japan. In recent years, the number of seafood products with the ASC certification increases and its demand is also high both at national and international levels. In order to respond to this situation, feed material resources  (i.e. Japanese Sardine)  for aquaculture granted ASC certification are essential to obtain MSC certification. At the same time, ensuring the sustainable production of domestic feed materials is expected to improve the competitiveness of the entire aquaculture supply chain in Japan. Therefore, we aim to improve the competitiveness of the entire Japanese aquaculture supply chain by acquiring MSC certification for the large and medium-sized purse seine fleet that catches Japanese sardine (Pacific group) procured by Ikeshita Sangyo Co.

 The fishery being assessed is the Pacific Ocean tuna – longline (Sky Vision). The fishery targets north and south Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga), western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) bigeye (T. obesus), and WCPO yellowfin and EPO (T. albacares) tuna. The longline vessels are flagged to China, Fiji, Cook Islands, and Vanuatu and fish on the WCPO and EPO high seas and within the Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu, and Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). The fishery is managed regionally by both the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) and Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC).

The fishery being assessed is the Western and Central Pacific Ocean longline tuna fishery (Hangton). The fishery targets north and south Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga), western and central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) bigeye (T. obesus) and WCPO yellowfin (T. albacares) tuna. The longline vessels are flagged to China (with potentially Fijian and Taiwanese vessels joining) and fish on the high seas and within the Vanuatu and Solomon Islands EEZs and supply the factory in Suva, Fiji. The fishery is managed regionally by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).