Traceability solutions for tuna fisheries at-sea and into the supply chain David Agnew

Science and Standards Director,

Marine Stewardship Council

The MSC tuna story so far

2

• 2007: First tuna fishery certified

• 2016: 11 certified fisheries, with 13 in assessment

• Skipjack, yellowfin, albacore

• Pole and line, longline, free school purse seine

• All 3 oceans

• 25% of globally landed tuna

• 767 consumer facing products

• Key issues

• Separation of associated and non-associated caught tuna

• Elimination of IUU

Your Panel

3

1. Victor Restrepo – FAD and non-FAD fishing

2. Maurice Brownjohn – PNA skipjack traceability at sea

3. Miguel Herrera - MSC certification – and some views from the tuna industry

4. Gilles Hosch – Tuna catch documentation schemes

ISSF currently has pilot Programs underway

with participation from several Pacific Island

countries

Region of focus produces around 50% of the global supply of skipjack tuna, the

most commonly canned species

FAD and non-FAD Fishing

Victor Restrepo Vice President, Science, ISSF

2016

Global PS catch of tropical tunas (2013 data)

Floating object sets take ~1.5 mill tons (over 1.0 mill t SKJ)

% tuna in floating object sets: BET>SKJ>YFT

Sets that are classified in many ways, depending on the species composition of the catch and other variables. Scientists summarize them as 3 main types:

• UNASSOCIATED (FREE SCHOOL)

• Free school (Boiler, Breezer, Finner, Foamer, Jumper, Rippler, Shiner, Splasher, Subsurface)

• DOLPHIN (EPO only)

• Tuna-dolphin aggregation

• ASSOCIATED (OBJECT)

• Natural Log

• Drifting FAD

• Anchored FAD (Payao)

• Whale shark

• Dead animal

• Sea mount

• Other (e.g. a vessel)

PS Set Types

• Many people call all of these “FAD sets”. • They all have similar characteristics in species

composition and bycatch. They are “FAD-like”

“FAD-Free”

FAD-Free Defined (ISSF SAC)

The FAD-free definition is conceived to describe a set that reflects the characteristics of a free school/unassociated Purse Seine set.

FAD-Free is not met when the fishing vessel or an auxiliary one acts as an aggregating device … when the set is made that day within 1

nautical mile of the location from which the floating object – including large dead animals -- was removed or repositioned.

• In a given fishing trip, a purse seine vessel usually makes different types of sets. Unless prohibited, skippers set whenever they detect tuna: Free schools, their FADs, others’ FADs, natural logs, dead whales, chopsticks ... whatever tuna aggregation they encounter.

• The resulting catch is often mixed in the fish hold wells or in reefer vessels. Reasons for mixing different sets in different wells:

Set size (5 – 200 t) and well volume (25 – 75 t) do not match neatly

Small fish occupy less volume per ton than large fish

Vessel stability => Spread sets in different wells

Desire to separate fish of different quality/market

• Purely free-school trips are very rare in practice, but they are becoming common ‘on paper’

8

A Fishing Trip has many set types

9

• On a given trip, a vessel typically sets on FADs and free schools • The catch from each set is stored in wells. One well can contain catch from

different sets.

Ensuring that a given product is “FAD-free” requires a complex traceability process such as that of the PNA MSC-certified fishery: It starts at sea with a specially-trained observer; free-school catches are stored in sealed wells; traceability is required in all stages of the catch-transship-land-can process.

How to verify catch is FAD-free?

GN>>LL>>PS

PSwhs~GN

PSfs>PSobj>LL

GN~LL>>PSobj>PSfs

All fishing gears have environmental impacts. Depending on the species, some gears have more impact than others

Impacts

11

• Global “bycatch” (catch other than BET+SKJ+YFT) rate of purse seine fisheries is 1.6%, low compared to most industrial fisheries

Dolphin 0.2%; Free school 0.6%; Object 2.4% • Most bycatch (81-95% by ocean) in object sets is of resilient species

(rainbow runner, triggerfish, kawakawa, bullet, frigate). Issue of Utilization, more than one of Conservation

• Bigeye is not always an unwanted bycatch. BET in EPO ~ 20% of purse seine catch; price is no less than SKJ. Bigeye needs management like all target catch.

• Shark catches in PS fisheries are less than 0.5% of the catch (primarily silky shark); LL fisheries have a much higher impact. Sharks are caught in both object and free school sets. Current focus is on best practices for live release and non-entangling FADs.

Tropical Tuna Purse Seine Bycatch

12

• MSC Unit of certification allows for a subset of a “fishery”

• Object sets have more bycatch than free school sets. If UoC separates the two set types, OBJ are clearly worse than FSC. They have failed past MSC assessments.

• If the whole fishery (fishing trip) was assessed, would it be worse than other certified fisheries? Maybe not for P2

• But, FAD monitoring and management does need to be improved before PS fisheries as a whole meet the sustainability bar.

Do FADs (objects) meet the sustainability bar?

PNA MSC CHAIN OF CUSTODY – BRINGS 100%

VERIFIED MSC FREE SCHOOL SKIPJACK FROM THE NET TO YOU..

SEAWEB SEAFOOD SUMMIT Hilton Hotel, St Julians, MALTA

1-3 February 2016

Maurice Brownjohn OBE , PNA Office, Majuro RMI

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard

MSC chain of custody standard

“The objective of chain of custody certification is to

provide an assurance for suppliers to demonstrate and

claim that products originate from an MSC certified

fishery and minimise the risk of public confusion

between fish and fish products that have not.”

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Overview of PNA Fishery CoC, Pacifical covers COC net to shelf

15

Responsibility of PNA

and National Authorities

Factory MSC COC

1. Compartment (hatch) designated for MSC eligible Skipjack (Netting

between MSC eligible sets and non MSC sets)

P/S Honaira

P/S Tawara

P/S Majuro Carrier Hatch/

Compartment

Double barrier separation MSC eligible from non MSC (same compartment)

Non MSC

Non MSC

Controls: *VMS

*Transship on

designated ports.

*PNA Port controller

*PNA Observer

*MSC Manager Fish

Comp.

*100% Monitoring

*Accountability

*Double barrier

(double net)

Verification: Sorting

Weighing

Mass balance control

at weighing point

MSC eligible

MSC eligible

MSC eligible

Carrier / Storage

Sealed/ closed

hatch

PACIFICAL- COMMERCIAL PLATFORM

• Highly security encrypted data base

• All Contracts and Customer Info

• Product Specifications

• Labels + cartons designs, MSC approvals.

• Logistics process data, planning & progress

• Online Document storage and exchange

• Payment fulfillment & monitoring

• MSC batches, Can codes, Trip details and traceability

THANK YOU

MSC-Certification in the context of a tuna

fisheries management organization:

The case of the Indian Ocean Tuna

Commission

And some views from the tuna industry

• Panel: Traceability Solutions for Tuna Fisheries at Sea and Into the Supply Chains

Miguel HERRERA (OPAGAC)

Stock 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 Prev.

Albacore 2007

Bigeye tuna 2008

Skipjack tuna No assessment

Yellowfin tuna 2008

Swordfish 2007

Black marlin No assessment

Blue marlin No assessment

Striped marlin No assessment

IP Sailfish No assessment

Longtail tuna No assessment

Other neritic tunas Data poor; no or inconclusive assessment

Sharks & Other species Very poor data; no or inconclusive assessment Colour key

Stock OVERFISHED

(SByear/SBMSY< 1)

Stock NOT OVERFISHED

(SByear/SBMSY≥ 1)

Stock subject to

OVERFISHING (Fyear/FMSY> 1)

Stock NOT subject to

OVERFISHING (Fyear/FMSY≤ 1)

Stock not assessed/ Uncertain

The status of tropical and

temperate tunas is fairly known

IOTC Stocks and Fisheries in a Nutshell

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

BB PSFS PSLS

YFT SKJ BET

BB121,263

28%

PSFS82,329

19%

PSLS225,148

53%

SUMMARY IOTC CATCH 2005-2014

Most of the IOTC fisheries are multi-specific and multi-size (catch

fish over the size distribution) 0

20

40

60

80

100

YFT

FS

YFT

LS

YFT

BB

BET

FS

BET

LS

BET

BB

SKJF

S

SKJL

S

SKJB

B

% t

ota

l cat

ch (#

fish

)

>30kg

10-30kg

3-10kg

1,5-3kg

<1,5kg

SUMMARY OF COMMERCIAL CATEGORIES 2012-2014

Is IOTC in a position to trace-back unassociated fish ?

• The pilars of traceability (a view to IOTC Management Measures):

• Identify Vessels: • Flag states: Record of authorized (industrial) vessels

• Coastal states: Record of licensed foreign vessels

• Monitor Vessel activities (i.e. vessel whereabouts and catches): • In Port:

• Port inspection (Authorized vessels) (100% coverage)

• Other fleets: Sampling of catches (5% coverage of fishing trips)

• At-sea (authorized vessels only):

• Logbook (100% coverage)

• VMS (100% coverage authorized vessels LOA >15m)

• Scientific observers (5% coverage of sets)

• Transhipment programme longline: (100% coverage of cargo ships by observers)

• Up to the destination markets:

• Statistical document bigeye tuna dry-frozen products (longline)

Still a long way to go but making Progress

Catch Tropical Tunas: Large scale and high seas fishing fleets

Stat Doc

(0,2%)

Logbooks collected for around 50% of the total catches

Port inspection (foreign vessels) poorly implemented (10% catches ??)

Transhipment programme covers around 50% of longline transhipments

(does not cover fresh tuna) (12% of catches)

Catch not validated (95% of catch)

Catcher vessel and catch time

and location unknown

Catch validated

through sampling

Catch validated by observer at-sea

IOTC 5%

European and Seychelles fishing Industry has

implemented 100% observer coverage on its purse seine

fleet (refers to 40% of catches)

Catch from vessel Authorized (65% of total catch)

Catch monitored through VMS in almost all authorized vessels (≈60% of catches)

Other fishing fleets Tuna caught in the IOTC Area cannot be fully traced back to

the catcher vessel and set as per the existing

IOTC requirements

However, some purse seine

fleets including Seychelles and

EU have implemented

100% observer coverage

voluntarily

Main types of Surface fisheries in the Indian Ocean and main types of sets

Sea-Mount

FAD

Whale Shark

Whale

Natural Log

Free-School

Purse Seine

Dolphin

Anchored-FAD

FAD

Free-School Natural Log

Pole-&-Line Handline

O

N

E

F

I

S

H

I

N

G

T

R

I

P

Traceability in the IOTC: Unassociated ?

Traceability in the IOTC: Is it MSC-like ?

Anchored-FAD

FAD

Free-School

Natural Log

Whale Shark

Dolphin

Whale

Sea-Mount

Associated Unassociated

IOTC

Anchored-FAD

FAD

Free-School

Natural Log

Dolphin

Whale

Sea-Mount

MSC- Associated

Whale Shark

MSC- Unassociated

?

Separation based on the type of sizes caught with each type of fishing: • Associated: Mostly tunas

of small size (not always) • Unassociated: Mostly

tunas of large size (not always)

Separation based on whether tunas are associated with something (natural or artificial) or not. The term unassociated is not a proxy for large fish

IOTC and MSC use different standards to define

unassociated (FAD-Free) tuna

The reality of purse seine fishing (i) Definition of unassociated tuna-school:

• IOTC has not adopted a formal definition for unassociated fishing

• Let’s take the definition used by WCPFC instead:

“any object or group of objects, of any size, that has or has not been deployed, that is living or non-living, including but not limited to buoys, floats, netting, webbing, plastics, bamboo, logs and whale sharks floating on or near the surface of the water that fish may associate with”

“…no purse seine vessel shall conduct any part of a set within one nautical mile of a FAD”

• Does this make sense ? Some examples why IT DOESN’T:

Any type of School (Trouble to estimate the distance)

Unassociated-School (A free-school may be

swimming in the proximity of a FAD; applies especially to

coastal waters)

Wrong Choice !

Associated-School (Tuna school association has been described to occur at

distances of up to 5 NM from floating objects)

Wrong Choice !

Associated-School (Tuna school associated to

whale shark that dives under the boat and goes undetected

by observer)

Wrong Choice !

The reality of purse seine fishing (ii) The species composition of a set cannot be accurately estimated at-sea or within a short time-frame

(how do we know how much catch would be MSC if certification does not cover the whole retained catch?)

Cargo boat I Cargo boat II

Canning Factory

Not unloaded

(next unloading)

P

O

R

T

Port Sailing Free-

School Searchi

ng FAD

Searching

FAD Searchi

ng Sea-

Mount Free-

School Searchi

ng Natura

l Log Sailing Port

A trip consist on a

succession of sets to

associated & unassociated tuna schools

(multi-species)

Associated sets may contain a mix of large and small tunas that

are often stored by size Tunas may be moved

after storage, from well to well or to dry

storage (Asian seiners)

Market I Market II Market III

R.I.P.

Wrapping-Up Tracing-up unassociated tuna over the supply chain is not possible at present: Fishing Mode: There is a grey area between unassociated and associated schools and the existing definition for unassociated tuna cannot be implemented in the field

Storage and Freight: The chain of custody cannot be reliably verified; one observer cannot monitor set type, species ID, fish storage, unloading and freight to destination markets

In addition: MSC has not used the same UoC for other fisheries that indeed catch associated schools (e.g. Maldivian baitboat fishery) Certifying part of the activities of a fleet as sustainable while the remaining (40% or more of the catches!) are considered unsustainable does not make sense

The solution is all or nothing: MSC-certification shall cover all activities of the fleet concerned on the stock under consideration regardless of how many UoC are stablished

Fishing on natural or artificial objects has been used sustainably over generations of fishermen - FAD fishing needs to be further regulated, NOT ELIMINATED ! (just think of the tuna-dolphin issue !)

Is this really FAD-Free ?

Does it really make sense breaking-up certification into many pieces ?

BET UNASSOCIATED

Wrong

School

Type

Wrong

Species

(is YFT)BET ASSOCIATED

YFT SKJ BET

Wrong

School

Type

Wrong

Species

ASSOCIATED

UNASSOCIATED

SKJ UNASSOCIATED

SKJ ASSOCIATED(is BET)

Wrong

School

Type

Tuna Catch Documentation Schemes, Traceability &

Sustainability Gilles Hosch – FAO/ABNJ

Tuna Market & Trade Specialist

SeaWeb Seafood Summit St Julian – Malta 2nd February 2016

• 23 tuna stocks of 7 major species: 6 ALB, 4 BET, 4 Bluefin (BFT; SBT; PBT), 5 SKJ and 4 YFT stocks

• 5 tuna RFMOs

• Only BFT & SBT currently covered by CDS (<1%)

Stocks, catch, status & CDS

12

2

9

Abundance (no. of stocks)

HealthyIntermediateOverfished

55% 28%

10% 6%

1%

Harvest by species (volume)

SKJ

YFT

BET

ALB

BFT

71%

20% 9%

Harvest by ocean (2007-2011)

Pacific

Indian

Atlantic

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What is a CDS & what can it do?

• CDS = global traceability system

• Tuna is traced from harvest into the end market

• Competent authority certifies legality of catch by issuing a catch certificate at unloading

• Document system is based on linked catch & trade certificates – resulting in verifiable traceability

• A good CDS detects “non-originating” fish and denies it market access

CDS – another acronym…

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Elements of a good tuna CDS

• Electronic online registration of all certificates in a central registry – by industry

• Linking of transactions, mass balance accounting, alarms & sanctions system

• Solid verifiable traceability along the supply chain

• Flag, Coastal, Port and Market State verification, validation & counter-validation mechanisms

• Potential foundation for certification of other catch sustainability attributes (e.g. FAD-free)

How does the CDS trace?

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Impact of unilateral & multilateral CDS systems?

• CCAMLR: presumed reduction of IUU incidence –inconclusive.

• Tuna CDS: gradual recovery of both BFT and SBT stocks; key IUU issue eliminated through CDS (!)

• EU CDS: no evidence of impact on trade flows or IUU incidence; EU pressure exerted on selected countries through yellow & red card system

• CCAMLR, EU & Tuna CDS: price differentials

CDS achievements to date…

44

• Existing tuna CDS systems (all Bluefin):

– single species fisheries

– global range of species covered by CDS/RFMO

– low volume; limited gears; rel. simple supply chains

– simple end-product / end-market situation

• Future tuna CDS systems:

– multi-species fisheries

– indiv. RFMOs do not cover global range of any other species (incl. PBT)

– high volume; multi-gear; very complex supply chains

– complex end-product / end-market situation

Challenges - future CDS systems

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• Potential tuna CDS systems to be yet developed: – ICCAT (any/all commercial tunas - but BFT)

– IOTC (any/all commercial tunas)

– WCPFC (any/all commercial tunas)

– IATTC (any/all commercial tunas + PBT)

• Partial global species cover (ALB, BET, YFT, SKJ)

• Global sourcing & mixed tuna end-products

• Area / species misreporting

• Unlikely inter-operability of systems

• Weakened/limited traceability in “stand-alone” future tuna CDS systems

Traceability & CDS harmonisation

46

• Development of Guidelines for Tuna CDS systems

• Field work concluded in September 2015

• Review in progress

• 1st major encompassing technical reference for tuna CDS systems; key challenges and options outlined and discussed

What FAO ABNJ does…

email: hosch@pt.lu --- cell: +352 621 752418 --- skype: hosch69