Area 81 (Pacific, Southwest)

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. 

AGAC has recently assessed its tropical tuna fishery against the MSC Fisheries Standard - it resulted in the certification of the yellowfin tuna stock, which was one of the three Units of Assessment (for more information on this process, click here).

With its Eastern Pacific Ocean skipjack & bigeye tuna - purse seine FIP, the goal is to contribute to the improvement of skipjack and bigeye tuna stock status in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, more specifically in the IATTC area of purview, as these stocks did not meet the MSC requirements in the aforementioned assessment. For that, the work here will focus only on the PIs that did not meet SG80 (mainly the ones that might not be fully tackled by the MSC Certification's Client Action Plan, more specifically to resolve the non-binding conditions that were set) and on the recommendations made by the CAB.

This FIP was developed exclusively by AGAC.

(NB: AGAC = Asociación de Grandes Atuneros Congeladores = Association of Large Tuna Freezers; please note that the denomination OPAGAC [Organización de Productores de Grandes Atuneros Congeladores] is contained in AGAC and refers to vessels flagged in the EU. While the name "OPAGAC" is more widely known, it is AGAC that integrates all the vessels in the association)

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).

The fishery being assessed is the StarKist Pacific Ocean longline tuna fishery. The fishery targets albacore (Thunnus alalunga) and catches bigeye (T. obesus), skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin (T. albacares). The pelagic longline vessels are flagged to Taiwan, China, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Fiji, American Samoa, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Panama and fish on the high seas (and occasionally in the national Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs)) in the Pacific. The fishery is managed regionally by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) and by the Inter American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO).