Greenpeace: MSC Living in Fantasy Land on Tuna
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by Cat Dorey (Greenpeace) May 15, 2015
Imagine if you're sick or injured and your doctor gives you the 'all clear' while still developing your treatment plan. You'd get a new doctor, right?
Well, the latest tuna fishery recommended for Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification could be given the blue fish tick based on the same faulty logic. There are plans being developed to improve the fishery, but, so far, little evidence of action or results.
The certification covers five purse seine vessels currently fishing for skipjack, yellowfin and bigeye tuna in the Indian Ocean, all owned by Spanish company Pesquera Echebastar. Reviewers found numerous problems with the certification report. I won't bore you with all of them (read all 477 pages
here) , but there are two key themes: Indian Ocean tuna fisheries are poorly managed, and, Echebastar should not be certified on the basis of just 20% of its catch, particularly when the assessment for the other 80% has not been published.
There is no way you can describe the fishery as 'sustainable' when the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) is failing to develop and implement effective management measures for tunas and billfish,...
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