Area 87 (Pacific, Southeast)

The Ecuadorian small pelagic fishery is economically and socially important for the country. One of the end uses for some species caught in the fishery is the production of fishmeal and fish oil. In order to eventually be approved as a source of Marine Trust raw material, the fishmeal industry has worked in association with the National Chamber of Fisheries of Ecuador, the Global Sustainable Supply Chains for Marine Commodities Project, the United Nations Development Programme, the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, and the Global Environment Facility to obtain recognition under the Marine Trust Improver Programme. 

During the period 2012-2016, on average, 80% of the catches were composed of the species: macarela (Pacific chub mackerel, Scomber japonicus); pinchagua (thread herrings, Opisthonema spp); Sardine redonda (red-eye round herring, Etrumeus acuminatus); chuhueco (Pacific anchoveta, Cetengraulis mysticetus); botellita (frigate tuna, Auxis spp); and picudillo (Shortfin scad, Decapterus macrosoma). The small pelagic fishery is carried out using purse seine gears, and catches are used for frozen fish, canned fish, and fishmeal, in accordance with Ecuadorian law. The FIP aims to achieve sustainability of small pelagics stocks in Ecuador. The IFFO RS Standard (now known as MarinTrust) was chosen as the initial benchmark for the assessment of a work plan. Since FisheryProgress requires reporting against the MSC standard,  an analysis of MarinTrust versus MSC was carried out to translate the MarinTrust standard to MSC PIs.

The FIP has operated under the MarinTrust Program since October 2018. The MarinTrust Standard guarantees the following:

• Eradication of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing material used as raw material approved by MarinTrust.
• Raw materials used in the production of marine ingredients from responsibly managed fisheries.
• Promotion of efficient production practices for marine ingredients to reduce the environmental impact of the fishmeal and fish oil manufacturing process.
• Safe manufacture of marine ingredients through Good Manufacturing Practices.
• Existence of effective traceability systems to ensure that MarinTrust compliant marine ingredients can be traced back to the approved MarinTrust raw material fishery.
• Protection of social rights and welfare of employees in factories producing marine ingredients.
• For more information about MarinTrust Standard visit: https://www.marin-trust.com/.

As part of the scope of the FIP, 32 vessels are part of the project and represent around 30% of registered and active fishing efforts. The fishmeal producer members of the project represent around 80% of fishmeal exports, while feed producer members represent around 90% of the local market.

In 2016, the longliner fishery of Transmarina conducted a pre-assessed against the MSC v2.0 Standard. The unit of assessment considered for the analysis was: Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), Bigeye (Thunnus obesus) and South Pacific Albacore (Thunnus Alalunga), with longline vessels under the flag of Ecuador in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO).

The Transmarina longline fleet has 2 industrial longline vessels between 42 and 50 meters length, operating in international waters in the FAO 87 zone, in the Galapagos Islands and within the EEZ of Ecuador. Vessels name: Altar 10 and 21.

The general settings and the fishing gear are similar to the Japanese fleet operating in the EPO. It is estimated that vessels deploy between 2000 and 3000 hooks during each fishing operation, with an average depth between 35 and 40 m. The catches include a wide range of retained species (up to 17 in total),  most of which are sharks.

The pre-assessment was based on a previous analysis of the Ecuadorian purse-seine tuna fishery (MRAG Americas, 2015), which was adapted for the longline fishery and updated to the new version (v2.0) of the MSC standard. The Standard evaluates three principles.
 

The jumbo squid represents the second largest fishery in Peru and the most important for artisanal fishers. More than 11,000 fishers and over 3,000 fishing boats participate in the fishery, which lands around 500,000 tons of squid each year. It is a very selective fishery as all the squid are captured one by one using jigs. A critical issue that the fishery needs to improve on is national regulations related to the formalization of fishing, and given its highly migratory characteristics, an international approach must also be sought. It is expected that with the collaboration of all FIP participants, the fishery can progress towards a more sustainable state.

The jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) is one of the largest (up to 2.5 meters in length and 50 kg in maximum weight) and most abundant cephalopod species in the world. Three intraspecific groups of the giant or jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) have been identified in the Southeast Pacific based on maturity size (Nigmatullin et al. 2001). However, as no genetic differences have been found among the three proposed population subunits, they are still considered to constitute a single stock (Xu et al. 2017). Their abundance and distribution patterns are very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions and the abundance of their prey. In Peru, the resource is exploited almost exclusively by the artisanal fleet, which must have a fishing permit to operate in Peruvian waters. The fleet operates with jigs, a special type of vertical lines used mainly in squid fishing. Special hooks for squid fishing (ripped hooks) are mounted one after another at a certain distance with a monofilament line. The line, weighted by sinkers, can be placed up to 200 m deep and is pulled with abrupt movements (http://www.fao.org/fishery/geartype/231/en). Evaluation, monitoring, and management measures are not well defined and do not provide precise data to address sustainability issues.

The first 3-year audit for the Peruvian squid FIP was completed in June 2022. As a result of that audit, 10 scores of the MSC performance indicators were increased, and the FIP work plan was revised to reflect the updated actions and tasks that must be undertaken for the fishery to meet the MSC standard. With these revised actions, the projected completion date for the FIP was subsequently updated to December 2024.

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Perfil de FIP en Español

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.