Purse Seine

Baja Aqua-Farms (BAF) is looking to initiate a Fishery Improvement Project (FIP) for the Pacific Bluefin Tuna fishery carried along the Pacific waters off Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. The company operates purse seine vessels in Mexican territorial waters. Since Pacific bluefin tuna is a highly migratory species, the fishery is managed under international frameworks established by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). In the past, the fishery was overexploited, but recent efforts have led to the recovery of the stock and declassification as an overfished stock. However, the current sustainability of the fishery still has work to do so its biomass reaches the B_MSY.

The FIP aims to align the fishery with Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard and eventually achieve the certification through a stepwise improvement program led by BAF, as well as to comply with FisheryProgress’ Human Rights and Social Responsibility Policy (HRSRP). As a first step, the company aims to conduct a pre-assessment (PA) of the fishery against the MSC standard in 2025 to identify gaps and areas for improvement. This analysis will be essential for developing a detailed environmental workplan and engaging key stakeholders to support a comprehensive FIP implementation. Moreover, the FIP will address the requirements of the HRSRP to demonstrate BAF’s commitment to a socially responsible fishery.

Baja Aqua-Farms is a PBFT ranching company, and through this FIP, it seeks to strengthen its commitment to the gold fisheries sustainability standard, promote the best fishery management practices throughout the fishery, and allow an external review of its sustainability performance. Furthermore, the company is looking to certify the wild catch fishery phase of its operation to ensure all its customers that 100% of the tuna that is harvested to be used in its farm is sourced from a sustainable fishery.

This FIP belongs to the newly formed Indonesian Purse Seine Association (APSI - Asosiasi Purse Seine Indonesia). This FIP operated in Indonesia FMA 715 and 716, part of the WCPO stock. 

Indonesia Purse Seine tuna fishery is one of the fisheries that need to start the improvement programs as other tuna fishing gears already implement their FIPs in the national scale. Although it starts in 715 and 716 in the beginning, the association also aiming to have the FIP implemented in other areas across the country so it can become nationwide FIP in the future, hence the improvement will be more impactful and benefiting all participants and stakeholders in the fishery.

The association established in early 2023 with Vision: "The Indonesian Purse Seine industry is advanced, competitive, and sustainable. The fisheries governance for Purse Seine gear is strengthened and a conductive business climate supports sustainable Purse Seine industry operations.

The vision then being ellaborate into three missions as follow:

1. Build and strengthen relationships between stakeholders in Purse Seine Fisheries and lead the development of sustainable and fair policies together with but not exclusive to association members, the Indonesian government, as well as Non- Government Organisations.

 2. Increase the capacity of the association and its members to actively contribute to data collection and compliance with fishing regulations in order to strengthen sustainable fisheries management in
Indonesia.

3. Elevate the competitiveness of the Indonesian Purse Seine sector by being a national and international proactive leader for driving forward, promoting, and marketing responsible Purse Seine fishing and products.

The Eastern Atlantic tropical tuna French purse seine fishery improvement project targets Atlantic Ocean bigeye (Thunnus obesus), eastern Atlantic Ocean skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis), and Atlantic Ocean yellowfin tuna (T. albacares) stocks on the Atlantic Ocean high seas and the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sao Tome, Gabon, and Angola.

The fishery sets on both free-school tuna or schools associated with floating objects (FOBs) either naturally occurring such as logs or artificial drifting fish aggregation devices (FADs). All vessels in the fishery are flagged to the European Union (EU) – France and are owned by the French fishing companies Compagnie Française du Thon Océanique (CFTO) and Via Océan. The vessels land in a number of places on the west coast of Africa: Ivory Coast (Abidjan), Tema (Ghana), Dakar (Senegal) and Mindelo (Cape Verde). The fishery is managed regionally by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) and the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. The fishing companies’ and Orthongel have further management measures in place and coastal states management measures also apply depending on where the vessels are operating.

The fishery achieved MSC certification in March 2024 for Atlantic yellowfin and eastern Atlantic skipjack tuna. This FIP will run concurrently with the MSC full assessment to primarily work on improving the necessary MSC Performance Indicators (PIs) for Atlantic bigeye tuna and address any conditions arising as a result of the MSC assessment process.

This FIP was previously part of the Eastern Atlantic Ocean tuna - purse seine FIP. The FIP began in 2018 with purse seine vessels flagged to France, Spain, and Ghana. Fleets in this project operate and are managed differently and have therefore progressed differently as they work towards achieving MSC fisheries certification. To that end, the FIP Participants made the decision to divide into their disparate elements so they may target fleet-specific issues and progress at rates appropriate to the individual fleets. Previous actions, updates and progress can be accessed 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.