Three Impactful Forces Collaborate to Enhance Supply Chain Transparency in Tuna
October 1, 2025 | 5 min to read
Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP), Global Fishing Watch (GFW), and International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) are collaborating to improve transparency in global tuna fisheries. The groups will leverage their extensive databases to help buyers more holistically assess the environmental impacts and compliance of their tuna supply chains. This collaboration was made possible through grant funding from the Walmart Foundation.
The collaboration will utilize SFP’s FishSource and Seafood Metrics platforms, which buyers widely use to monitor sourcing. It will also integrate information from ISSF’s Proactive Vessel Register (PVR) and Vessels in Other Sustainability Initiatives (VOSI), as well as GFW’s Vessel Viewer and Marine Manager. These databases include sustainability indicators beyond the health of fish stocks and management practices, to reflect market needs and ensure responsible tuna sourcing.
“We aren’t reinventing the wheel. We’re making it easier for tuna buyers to utilize all of the valuable, existing data and resources by putting them together on a platform they’re already familiar with and connecting it with their sourcing,” said Kathryn Novak, Biodiversity and Nature Director at SFP. “By combining existing resources, we can equip buyers with the information they need to make more informed decisions.”
A major challenge in effectively managing tuna fisheries and protecting ocean wildlife is the lack of transparency and inadequate monitoring and data collection of activities at sea. For example, in many longline tuna fisheries, which are known for their significant impact on marine life, observer coverage is below the required five percent. Additionally, vessel-level data on bycatch mitigation practices and the risk of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing remains limited and fragmented.
Strengthening transparency through improved vessel-level monitoring and open data sharing is essential to close these knowledge gaps. By revealing what is actually happening on the water, stakeholders can prioritize action areas, inform coordinated responses, design evidence-based policies and promote sustainable, accountable fisheries management that protects both marine biodiversity and the livelihoods that depend on it.
Buyers will be able to utilize the combined data and platforms to recognize proactive vessels that are reporting their use of sustainable practices and complying with other international regulations at sea.
“Verified transparency is the cornerstone of credible, science-based sustainability,”said Susan Jackson, President of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). “By contributing vessel-level insights to this collaboration, we’re helping to close information gaps that have long challenged stakeholders seeking to evaluate seafood sustainability. We value our partnership with SFP, whose retailer-facing platforms and policy engagement are instrumental in ensuring that sustainability commitments are rooted in science, transparency, and measurable progress.”
Charles Kilgour, Director of Program Initiatives at Global Fishing Watch, said: “We’re excited to contribute to a collaboration that empowers tuna buyers with the information they need to make responsible sourcing decisions. By integrating key data sources into a platform already familiar with industry, we’re helping build a broader and more inclusive understanding of vessel-level activity – including data gaps and key risk indicators. This enables industry to better target risk mitigation efforts and strengthens accountability and cooperation between government and industry, in a way that is driving a shift to more sustainable and transparent policies.”
About Sustainable Fisheries Partnership
Founded in 2006, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) is a marine conservation organization working toward a world where the oceans are healthy, all seafood is produced sustainably, and everyone has access to sustainable seafood. We leverage the power of seafood buyers and retailers in every part of the seafood supply chain to rebuild depleted fish stocks, reduce the environmental impacts of fishing and fish farming, address social issues in fishing, and advance economic opportunities for fishers and their communities. Our Supply Chain Roundtables (SRs) allow seafood suppliers to work together in a pre-competitive environment to promote and support improvements in fishery and aquaculture practices, management, and policy. Visit us at www.sustainablefish.org and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
About ISSF
The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) — a global coalition of seafood companies, fisheries experts, scientific and environmental organizations, and the vessel community — promotes science-based initiatives for long-term tuna conservation, FAD management, bycatch mitigation, marine ecosystem health, capacity management, and illegal fishing prevention. Helping global tuna fisheries meet and maintain sustainability criteria to achieve the Marine Stewardship Council certification standard is ISSF’s ultimate objective. To learn more, visit iss-foundation.org, and follow ISSF on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
About GFW
Global Fishing Watch is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea. By creating and publicly sharing map visualizations, data and analysis tools, we aim to enable scientific research and transform the way our ocean is managed. We believe human activity at sea should be public knowledge in order to safeguard the global ocean for the common good of all.