Across the globe, as populations soar, a growing number of people are relying on seafood for their nutrition and their livelihood. Tuna is one of the most popular species of seafood, and the industry surrounding it is an economic engine for countless communities. With competing interests at play, and the health of the ocean’s ecosystem at stake, it can be a challenge to manage tuna fisheries grounded squarely in science and in a sustainable manner. So as we look forward to another year of diligent work in tuna sustainability in 2014, it’s important to celebrate the positive steps taken in 2013 and remind ourselves that continuous improvement is critical to making the world’s tuna supply sustainable.
Today, we’d like to focus on two specific issues that have seen significant success – data collection on fish aggregating devices (FADs) and new requirements regarding using International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers as unique vessel identifiers (UVIs) for fishing vessels.
Managing for Sustainable Tuna
FADs are floating objects used by fishers to attract tuna and other fish, often made of bamboo and nets. Though FADs offer efficiency in time and fuel required, the drawback often associated with these devices is that they tend to attract other species of fish in addition to tuna and can lead to an increased occurrence of bycatch. More data is sorely needed to better understand the best way to use FADs while avoiding their potential negative impacts. But until this past year, lack of data collection was the greatest hindrance to developing science-based FAD management policies across the world’s tuna fishing regions. While observers in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have been collecting data on FADs for a number of years, in no ocean was it possible to accurately know the number of FADs on the water at one time. Moreover, because these data were also not being reported by vessel skippers, it was not known how often FADs were being visited.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: National Geographic