Tuna RFMOs Urged to Adopt Best Practices to Assess and Mitigate Bycatch

As representatives of tuna regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) gather in Brisbane, Australia for an international workshop on bycatch, the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) is urging RFMOs to adopt uniform best practices that could reduce the amount of non-target species incidentally taken during tuna fishing, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to ISSF.

In a document presented during the International Workshop on Tuna RFMO Management Issues Relating to Bycatch, ISSF notes that "many bycatch issues are common to these RFMOs and that it would be effective for these management organizations to follow a common bycatch mitigation approach." The Foundation also expresses concern that "the approaches taken to mitigate bycatch by the tuna RFMOs differ, sometimes substantially."

ISSF is calling on RFMOs to implement uniform best practices that are consistent with the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement: Require members collect and report fishery data on bycatch; disseminate that data; evaluate the impact of tuna fisheries on bycatch species and encourage ecosystems research; adopt measures that minimize waste; and adopt measures to mitigate bycatch.

"Adopting these best practices would be a never-before-seen level of progress," ISSF President Susan Jackson said. "This kind of uniformity among RFMOs would bring us much closer to a comprehensive, global approach to tackling bycatch issues in tuna fisheries."