Assessment of eco-labelling schemes for Pacific tuna fisheries

Developments in fisheries governance in recent decades—notably the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and its implementing agreements—have established a framework of principles, standards, institutions and regulations that is broader and more complex than traditional fisheries management, which has generally focused on individual target species. As this framework has evolved, a number of seafood eco-labelling schemes have also developed. These schemes aim to identify well-managed fisheries and give competitive advantage to their products, thus translating the environmental awareness of consumers into direct support for sustainable fishing practices. This paper evaluates a number of these schemes in the context of international fisheries governance principles and considers the conservation benefits that may result from sustainability certification of Pacific tuna fisheries. The paper briefly summarises developments in eco-labeling of Pacific tuna fisheries in relation to the evolution of fisheries management, where focus has shifted from the maximum sustainable yield of individual tuna species to ecosystem-based approaches that directly consider the broader environmental impacts of fishing. The paper discusses two different ‘Dolphin Safe’ eco-labels, the third-party scheme of the Earth Island Institute and the intergovernmental scheme of the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Program, and two broader eco-labels offering sustainability certification of fisheries, ‘Friend of the Sea’ and the ‘Marine Stewardship Council’. The role played by seafood-industry associations with sustainability claims, such as the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, is also considered.     

金枪鱼渔业国际市场结构成因分析及对我国的启示

金枪鱼渔业作为远洋渔业和海洋经济的重要组成部分,其发展受到各远洋渔业大国的高度重视和大力扶持。文章基于SCP分析范式,从市场结构、市场行为及市场绩效3个范畴研究金枪鱼渔业产业组织的结构特征,分析影响金枪鱼渔业市场结构的因素,探究市场结构、市场行为和市场绩效三者的关系。研究发现:金枪鱼国际生产和贸易垄断集中程度降低,市场竞争的有效性不断加强;金枪鱼的市场结构受到市场集中度、产品差别化,进入和退出壁垒的影响;金枪鱼渔业市场结构、市场行为和市场绩效之间存在相互影响关系。文章最后为我国发展金枪鱼渔业,提升国际竞争力提出了发挥渔业管理组织牵头作用,共同维护金枪鱼市场有效竞争;积极促进企业发展,提高生产研发能力,立足国际市场;创造良好国际环境,切实为金枪鱼渔业发展保驾护航等建议。     

Factors affecting the adoption of sustainable tuna fishing practices: The case of municipal fishers in Maasim,Sarangani Province,Region 12, Philippines

Tuna species, being one of the most marketable aquatic resources, have been facing severe threats towards overexploitation and depletion. Continuous increase in demand for tuna products has driven a hike in fishing pressure which led to the exhaustion of tuna stocks in the sea. With this, several measures have been made in order to uphold the sustainability of the methods employed in the extraction of tuna. Thus, this study attempts to identify the factors affecting the municipal fishers’ adoption and non-adoption of sustainable tuna fishing practices in Region 12, Philippines, the most significant tuna producing region in the country. Employing logit regression, the fishers’ household size, education, experience in fishing, the type of buyer, and effort days per fishing trip appeared to significantly affect the fishers’ adoption decision. Interestingly, both private and government initiated incentives did not appear to affect their adoption decision, although the breadth of the recipients was not vast. Moreover, the estimated rate of adoption among municipal fishers was still seen to be low, despite the fishers’ acknowledgement of the industry's potential collapse.     

Second-guessing uncertainty: Scenario planning for management of the Indian Ocean tuna purse seine fishery

An important task of natural resource management is deciding amongst alternative policy options, including how interventions will affect the dynamics of resource exploitation. Yet predicting the behaviour of natural resource users in complex, changeable systems presents a significant challenge for managers. Scenario planning, which involves thinking creatively about how a socio-ecological system might develop under a set of possible futures, was used to explore uncertainties in the future of the Indian Ocean tuna purse seine fishery. This exercise stimulated thinking on how key social, economic and environmental conditions that influence fleet behaviour may change in the future, and how these changes might affect the dynamics of fishing effort. Three storylines were explored: an increase in marine protection, growing consumer preference for sustainable seafood, and depletion of tuna stocks. Comparing across several possible future scenarios, a number of critical aspects of fleet behaviour were identified that should be important considerations for fishery managers, but which are currently poorly understood. These included a switch in fishing practices, reallocation of effort in space, investment in new vessels and exit from the fishery. Recommendations for future management interventions in the Indian Ocean were offered, along with suggestions for research needed to reduce management uncertainty.     

Managing fishing capacity in tuna regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs): Development and state of the art

Overcapacity is a major threat to the sustainability of tuna resources. Diverse actions are being carried out by tuna RFMOs to counteract this problem. This paper reviews and analyses both the historical development of fishing capacity management in tuna RFMOs and their state of the art practices. Despite the fact, that thus far, management measures have not yielded the expected results for capacity reduction, they provide a good basis for improved management of capacity at regional and global levels.     

Socioeconomic dynamics of the Ghanaian tuna industry: a value-chain approach to understanding aspects of global fisheries

This study investigated how an industrial tuna fishery functions in terms of procedures, practices, governance and finance in the context of Ghana, West Africa. Tuna is Ghana’s biggest seafood export, contributing significantly to the domestic fisheries sector. A case-study approach was used to analyse relevant social and economic factors at the local scale to better understand how the global seafood industry operates in a low-income country. A value-chain framework was adopted to assess market structures, sales pathways and revenue distribution. We also investigated the role of actors engaged in the industry using secondary data, interviews, questionnaires and participant observations. The results revealed a changing organisational structure in tuna production, moving from bait-boat fishing with smaller companies to large-scale purse-seine fishing backed by consolidated Asian seafood companies. Production was found to depend significantly on local female intermediaries for access to funds through prefinancing arrangements. Considerable illegalities were identified within the value chain, highlighting the need for improved partnership and licensing negotiations, and for low-cost marine control and surveillance tools. As vertical integration increases within the industry, the influence of corporations as keystone actors becomes evident for the future social and ecological sustainability of the industry.     

Tuna longline catch rates in the Indian Ocean: Did industrial fishing result in a 90% rapid decline in the abundance of large predatory species?

Myers and Worm claim that their analyses of catch rates following the commencement of industrial longline fishing for tuna and billfishes show that these longline fisheries rapidly depleted the abundance of these large oceanic predators by 90% (Myers RA, Worm B. Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities. Nature 2003;423:280–3). Their analyses were published in a high profile science journal along with an accompanying press release, which then attracted substantial international media focus and public attention. This media focus in turn has been used as a base for advocating major marine policy changes for pelagic tuna fisheries (e.g. a minimum of a 50% reduction in catches and establishment of extensive marine reserves). However, among numerous scientific experts involved in tuna and pelagic fishery research substantial concerns exist that Myers and Worm's analyses provide a misleading picture of the status of large predatory pelagic fishes. These concerns are reviewed using data from the Indian Ocean for illustrative purposes and indicate that the initial longline catches were not responsible for a rapid depletion of the main tuna and billfish stocks nor were they threatening the overall sustainability of these stocks. However, the status of a number of theses stocks is of concern as a result of large increases in catches in more recent years. The debate sparked by Myers and Worm's paper should not distract from the critical problem of developing and implementing effective international management policies. In addition to implications for fishery management, the publication, peer-review, scientific response and publicity process associated with the publication of Myers and Worm's paper are discussed. Concerns are raised that if these become standard practices for articles in high profile science journals that this would undermine the trust placed in such journal to provide an accurate and well-balanced representation of the most important new scientific findings and in their role to inform policy decisions based on these findings.     

Will American consumers pay more for eco-friendly labeled canned tuna? Estimating US consumer demand for canned tuna varieties using scanner data

This study estimates consumer demand for eco-friendly labeled canned tuna products in two distinct US marketing channels, conventional and natural supermarkets, to evaluate market-based incentives for conservation measures that affect fishing costs and retail prices. Using retail scanner data, this paper finds that US consumer demand for canned tuna varies depending on the species of tuna, what gear type was used, whether the can is sold in natural food or conventional supermarkets, and whether canned product is or is not certified as eco-friendly. The paper's main conclusions are that retail price premiums for eco-friendly products face upper limits due to consumer responses to higher prices, and are most effective when coupled with: (1) inelastic own-price elasticity of demand; (2) price premium signals that are transmitted from retail markets to raw material producers; and (3) limited retail consumption substitution possibilities with lower-priced conventional products that help maintain price premiums and that otherwise create conservation disincentives by increasing conventional supply. Results from this paper not only have unique implications for various forms of international tuna fisheries policy that incorporates or anticipates change in market behavior, but also could serve as a scientific reference to clarify the trade disputes.     

Prospects for an international tuna resource owners' cartel

The paper briefly describes the world tuna industry and develops estimates of the elasticities of supply and demand for tuna harvested in the Pacific Islands Region (PIR), which supplies around one-third of the world catch. The elasticity estimates are used to estimate the effect on the revenues received by the PIR of a small increase in the royalty charged for access to the resource. The results suggest that there is a potential for the tuna resource owners of the region to improve their returns through collective action and the exercise of market power.     

中部太平洋大眼金枪鱼种群遗传结构的初步研究

大眼金枪鱼是世界最重要的渔业资源之一,经济价值较高,捕捞压力的加大使中部太平洋大眼金枪鱼过度捕捞程度愈发严重。开展种群遗传结构研究将为大眼金枪鱼资源的可持续利用与开发提供科学依据。本文以取自中西太平洋和中东太平洋共182尾大眼金枪鱼个体为研究对象,分析研究其线粒体DNA控制区第一个高变区（the first hypervariable region,HVR-1）457bp的序列,共发现115个变异位点,定义了178种单倍型。序列多样性分析结果显示8个采样点核苷酸多样性在0.03074-0.04362间,单倍型多样性在各个采样点都较高,变动范围在0.996-1.000之间;分子方差分析显示99.97%的遗传变异性来自于种群内;群体间的高基因交流值Nm和低分化指数Fst揭示中东太平洋与中西太平洋群体间基因交流频繁,不存在显著的遗传分化。     

Distributing the bigeye conservation burden in the western and central pacific fisheries

The Western and Central Pacific Ocean is home to the world's most productive tuna fisheries, with the majority of tuna catches occurring inside the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of the region's developing coastal States. It is important that these fisheries are managed effectively throughout their range, both within and between EEZs and on the high seas. Unrestrained exploitation in a particular EEZ or on the high seas has the potential to significantly impact on catches elsewhere with potentially devastating consequences for developing coastal States, some of which have few alternate resources. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) was established in 2004 to manage the region's highly migratory tuna fisheries. However, the WCPFC has since repeatedly failed to adopt conservation and management measures that are sufficient to meet the WCPFC's conservation and sustainable use objectives. This paper analyses catch data from the WCPFC and suggests that the weak position of bigeye (in a strategic political context), the unwillingness of members to compromise their interests and the lack of a transparent framework for distributing the burden of conservation are key factors in the WCPFC's failure to adopt sufficiently strong conservation and management measures.     

The irony and the exclusivity of Atlantic bluefin tuna management

The eastern stock of Atlantic bluefin tuna (thunnus thynnus) was recently nominated for protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES). That nomination failed, which leaves management of the heavily overfished stock in the hands of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). This paper reviews the history of ICCAT management of Atlantic bluefin tuna to show that (1) early elimination of competitive forces prevented agreement on management in keeping with scientific advice, resulting in the steep decline of the stock, (2) even just the threat of a CITES listing can provide temporary impetus for marked improvement in ICCAT management, and (3) long-term sustainable management by ICCAT will require continued economic and political pressure.     

The past,present and future use of drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the Indian Ocean

The use of drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) has become the dominant practice in tropical tuna purse seine fishing. However, just as FADs can increase fishing efficiency, their use has been associated with several negative ecosystem impacts, and moves are being made to manage the use of FADs. In the evaluation of potential management options it is important to consider how fishers will respond to the introduction of control measures, which first requires an understanding of fishery and fleet dynamics. This paper addresses this need by characterising the past and present use of FADs in the Indian Ocean tropical tuna purse seine fishery. The paper describes historical trends in fishing practices, summarises spatiotemporal patterns in the use of FADs and establishes and attributes variation in FAD fishing strategies within the fleet. It also provides an overview of current FAD management policies in the Indian Ocean and examines the observed effects of existing measures on the behaviour of the purse seine fleet. Using this comprehensive understanding, the potential impact on the purse seine fleet of a number of plausible FAD management options are discussed and inferences are drawn for the future sustainability of tropical tuna purse seine fishing in the Indian Ocean.     

Biology, fishery, conservation and management of Indian Ocean tuna fisheries

The focus of the study is to explore the recent trend of the world tuna fishery with special reference to the Indian Ocean tuna fisheries and its conservation and sustainable management. In the Indian Ocean, tuna catches have increased rapidly from about 179959 t in 1980 to about 832246 t in 1995. They have continued to increase up to 2005; the catch that year was 1201465 t, forming about 26% of the world catch. Since 2006 onwards there has been a decline in the volume of catches and in 2008 the catch was only 913625 t. The Principal species caught in the Indian Ocean are skipjack and yellowfin. Western Indian Ocean contributed 78.2% and eastern Indian Ocean 21.8% of the total tuna production from the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean stock is currently overfished and IOTC has made some recommendations for management regulations aimed at sustaining the tuna stock. Fishing operations can cause ecological impacts of different types: by catches, damage of the habitat, mortalities caused by lost or discarded gear, pollution, generation of marine debris, etc. Periodic reassessment of the tuna potential is also required with adequate inputs from exploratory surveys as well as commercial landings and this may prevent any unsustainable trends in the development of the tuna fishing industry in the Indian Ocean.     

An account of the dolphin-safe tuna issue in the UK

Virtually all canned tuna in the UK is labelled as dolphin-safe despite the fact that the market is almost exclusively skipjack tuna. It is thus not implicated in the dolphin bycatch problem associated with the yellowfin tuna of the Eastern Tropical Pacific consumed in the USA. There were a range of different motives among processors and retailers in adopting the labelling scheme in the UK. The scheme may be more of a marketing ploy, promoted by the major processors, than an eco-label forced upon the market through consumer and environmentalist power. Environmental groups can nonetheless be credited with driving the development of initial first-party labelling schemes into the present, more independent, second-party scheme. The scheme now in place in the UK is different from that in the USA, being preventative, ensuring that tuna sold does not become dolphin-un-safe, rather than actively addressing a specific existing environmental problem.     

Impacts of shrimp farming in Bangladesh: Challenges and alternatives

Shrimp farming is growing in Bangladesh due to suitable agro-climatic conditions, adequate water resources, cheap labour force, international donor agencies and the involvement of multinational corporations. Although it provides immediate economic benefits, contributes to poverty reduction and food security, as well as generates employment from seed collectors to exporters, it has also been facing a host of challenges. They hinder the sustainable development of this otherwise thriving sector. This paper aims to expound the hindrances and challenges for sustainable shrimp farming in Bangladesh by means of reviewing the available scientific literature. It finds that socioeconomic impacts such as traditional livelihood displacement, social unrests and market fluctuations are hindering the sustainable development of shrimp farming in Bangladesh. Similarly, environmental impacts such as mangrove degradation, salt water intrusion, sedimentation, pollution and disease outbreaks are found to be obstacles for the development of sustainable shrimp farming. Inappropriate management practices and inadequate plans regarding water quality, seed supply, irrigation facilities and fishery resources, added to institutional weaknesses, jeopardize the future growth of shrimp farming. Therefore, this paper shall provide substantial input to set the directions that research for alternatives can take and that can contribute to the sustainability of shrimp farming.     

Assessment of IUU fishing for Southern Bluefin Tuna

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is recognized as one of the largest threats to the sustainability of the world's fisheries. This paper focuses on IUU fishing in the context of unreported catches by members or co-operating non-members of regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) and their implications for scientific assessments of stock status and management advice. A review of Japanese market statistics was undertaken in 2006 by an independent panel in relation to catches of southern bluefin tuna (SBT). Based on this review, the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) concluded that very substantial and continuous unreported catches of SBT had been taken by longline vessels since at least the early 1990s. While uncertainty exists about the fleets contributing to these IUU catches, the assumption used within the CCSBT Scientific Committee is that a significant proportion of these were taken by Japanese longliners. Implications of these unreported catches for the stock assessments by RFMOs are discussed in light of the central role that Japanese vessel reported data have in the assessment of the world's tuna and billfish stocks. Results indicate that it is plausible that the unreported catches of SBT stem from the misreporting of catches as other tuna species and/or the location of fishing effort. The magnitude and extended period of the unreported SBT catches highlight the wide-spread risks of relying on fishery dependent logbook data in the absence of verification. An urgent need exists for minimum standards of verification of catch, effort and landing statistics for use in scientific assessments. The fisheries science community needs to be more pro-active in the development of such standards and the implementation of independent monitoring and verification. In addition, there is a need to reform the operation of the scientific bodies of RFMOs in terms of transparency, the treatment of uncertainty and the burden of proof if they are to be effective in providing objective scientific advice consistent with the intent of international agreements.     

Private provision of public information in tuna fisheries

Private enumeration of landings data and traceability is an emerging phenomena in developing world tuna fisheries. The general goal of these systems is to facilitate compliance with mandatory market requirements such as the European Union’s Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fisheries regulation, as well as support aspirations for voluntary requirements such as the Marine Stewardship Council. The long-term success of these systems appears to be dependent on their ability to complement and extend government data and information systems. Developing and maintaining the credibility of these voluntary private enumeration and traceability systems requires strong market incentives as well as strong state support and assurance. If this credibility can be maintained private fisheries information systems may provide a promising basis for innovative stock assessment and management approaches relevant for complex developing world fisheries such as tuna.     

自然死亡和亲体补充关系对黄鳍金枪鱼资源评估的影响

黄鳍金枪鱼(Thunnus albacares)是全球经济和生态价值最重要的鱼类之一,其资源养护和管理受到各方的高度关注。本文依据年龄结构产量模型研究了印度洋黄鳍金枪鱼的资源状态,着重探讨了其生活史特征的不确定性对资源评估结果的影响。研究结果显示,1960-1985年间印度洋黄鳍金枪鱼资源量保持相对稳定,之后开始逐渐下降,相应的捕捞死亡系数也在2010年之后迅速增加,目前其种群可能存在过度捕捞(F₂₀₂₀/F_MSY>1,SSB₂₀₂₀/SSB_MSY<1)。印度洋黄鳍金枪鱼的资源评估结果对自然死亡系数(M)和亲体-补充量关系陡度参数(h)的改变较为敏感。当h增大时,SSB_MSY和初始SSB(即SSB₀)的变化较大,分别减少了约25.53万t和34.04万t;F₂₀₂₀/F_MSY减小了1.15。当M增大时,F₂₀₂₀/F_MSY、SSB_MSY...     

A demand analysis of the Spanish canned tuna market

The Spanish market for canned fish is one of the biggest in the world. It is still largely supplied by a robust national industry which has survived globalisation when all other European countries failed to preserve their two-century old industry. What is so special about this relationship between Spanish consumers and canned fish? This research analyses the nature of the demand for canned fish, and particularly canned tuna, a rather inexpensive and storable food product, to show how Spanish households are sensitive to price and income changes. The price and expenditure elasticities are estimated through a time-based Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model. A Johansen’s multivariate time-series analysis was developed through a vector error correction model, the misspecification tests supporting the use of this model. The empirical analysis found that the Spanish demand for canned fish in Spain is rather price inelastic, whatever the species, but substitutability is found between the different canned fish products. The results also demonstrate that canned tuna over-reacts positively to expenditure changes compared to other fish species, presenting a nature of luxury good compared to other canned fish products.