Traceability solutions for tuna fisheries at-sea and into the supply chain David Agnew Science and Standards Director, Marine Stewardship Council
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’
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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
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• 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
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• 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
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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
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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: [email protected] --- cell: +352 621 752418 --- skype: hosch69