Marine Stewardship Council certifier DNV-GL has suspended the MSC certificate for the yellow fin component of the Maldives pole and line skip jack and yellow fin tuna fishery. The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Scientific Committee recently released its assessment for the yellow fin tuna stock, which showed significant declines as a result of over fishing and relatively low reproduction levels. The stock is targeted by a large number of countries fishing in the Indian Ocean, noted MSC. The IOTC reported that the substantial increase in long line, gill net, hand line and purse seine fishing effort, and associated catches in recent years, has substantially increased the pressure on the Indian Ocean stock as a whole, with recent fishing exceeding the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) related levels. The suspension is effective from April 15, 2016. As a result, any yellow fin harvested by this fishery from this date cannot be sold as MSC certified or carry the MSC ecolabel. Healthy tuna populations are essential for both the wider marine environment and fishing economies,” said Adrian Gutteridge, fisheries assessment manager at the MSC. “The MSC Fisheries Standard therefore requires that MSC certified fisheries are targeting healthy or recovering stocks that are well-managed.” MSC certification requires annual surveillance audits for all certified fisheries. During the Maldives pole and line fishery audit, DNV-GL’s assessment team concluded that the stock no longer meets the MSC standard’s requirements for stock health. We consider this suspension to be appropriate action in order to safeguard yellow fin tuna populations within the Indian Ocean and to support positive change in the way our oceans are managed” added Gutteridge. “We encourage the IOTC to adopt measures needed to ensure effective management of all fisheries under its responsibility.” Yellowfin tuna caught by the Maldives pole and line fishery that were harvested before the date of suspension and are currently in the supply chain are still eligible to be sold as MSC certified or with the ecolabel in accordance with MSC chain of custody requirements. Due to the suspension, the fishery client now has 90 days in which to produce a corrective action plan which addresses the cause of the suspension. If this action plan is produced and is confirmed by the rectifier, the yellow fin component of the fishery will then remain suspended until there is evidence for recovery in yellowfin stocks. If the fishery fails to produce an action plan in the time allowed, its MSC certificate will be withdrawn. HCRs ‘available’: skip jack keeps MSC With the final determination in November 2015, by Acora Marine, that the Pesqueras Echebastar Indian Ocean purse seine tuna fishery should not be certified to the MSC standard, focus then turned to what would be decided on the Maldives fishery. The basis for Echebastar not being certified was the lack of harvest control rules (HCRs) in the fishery; the same fishery in which the Maldives pole and line vessels operate. However, it was clear from MSC’s update that stock health, not HCRs, were the reason for this latest decision. In an audit parallel to the yellow fin one, DNV-GL ruled that the Maldives pole and line skip jack fishery still met the MSC standards. “DNV-GL considered all new information, including IOTC stock assessments, the MSC’s interpretation of HCRs, and all recent independent adjudicator objection decisions,” said MSC. DNV-GL found that populations of skip jack tuna in the Indian Ocean are currently healthy and that its stock is not subject to over fishing. The certifier also considered whether the fishery continues to meet the MSC’s requirements for HCRs; DNV-GL found that HCRs are “available” within the IOTC management framework for skip jack, as required by the MSC standard to achieve a passing score. “Available” HCRs can be used to score at the MSC’s pass level in cases where the target stock is historically abundant and predicted to remain so, and where the management body has HCRs in place on another stock under its jurisdiction, or has an agreement or timeline in place for the development and implementation of HCRs, MSC said. Calls for HCRs intensify The IOTC has, though, requested the development and evaluation of HCRs for IOTC species and for a candidate HCR for skipjack to be presented at this year’s commission meeting, to be held in La Reunion, France in May 2016. The Maldives and other co-signatories will be presenting the skip jack HCR proposal at this upcoming meeting. We urge the IOTC to adopt a well-defined HCR for skip jack while stocks are healthy,” said John Burton, chairman of the International Pole and Line Foundation. “The measure will enable managers to act swiftly to ensure the health of the resource and long-term profitability of the fishery. Compared to the other tuna species in the Indian Ocean, the work on a skip jack HCR is significantly advanced, so this is the logical species for the IOTC’s first HCR.” During the recent surveillance audit, DNV-GL determined the skip jack fishery to be making good progress against the conditions of certification, with six out of the eight requested improvements to be addressed now closed. These include the Maldivian fishery developing a live bait management plan that reduces the risk of Maldives wide and local depletion, collecting sufficient data to manage impacts on endangered, threatened and protected species and the development of effective monitoring, control and surveillance mechanisms. Of the remaining two, the condition related to HCRs is on target while the condition on limit and target reference points is partly behind schedule, but expected to be progressed at the meeting in May. The MSC commends the fishery’s continued improvements and management effectiveness, and acknowledges their wider efforts to support sustainability in the Indian Ocean, said Jim Humphreys, MSC global fisheries coordinator. We encourage the IOTC to adopt the necessary measures needed to safeguard tuna stocks now and for the future.