WCPO purse seiners’ fishing intensity saw a large rise in December but failed to bring in as much tuna as skipjack volumes dropped to the lowest level in the year. Vessels have continued to...
Fishing
Will 3 Coinciding Bans Make W/R Skipjack Volatility Go Wild?
Next year, the IOTC will be imposing a 72-day FAD ban in its convention area and purse seiner fleets on the high seas will have to set on free schools. Many environmental groups have lauded...
First Indian Ocean FAD Ban Will Heavily Impact Canneries
Last week's Special Session for FAD management in the Indian Ocean (IO) ended with the landmark decision of a 72-day dFAD closure despite vigorous pushbacks from seiner fishing nations. While...
Ghana Faces Shortage Under FAD Ban
The FAD closure established by ICCAT is causing a shortage in supply to the Ghanaian tuna industry, complained the Ghana Tuna Association (GTA). The 72-day ban, for the fourth year, is ongoing...
Indian Small-Scale Boats Land Exceptional Catch As Season Starts
After a long hiatus, gillnet boats of Kasimedu, located in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, are back in operation as the fishing season began last week. The capture will likely be at...
Mexican Pole & Liners Accuse US Fishers Of Plundering
A group of Mexican fishermen is pointing fingers at North American recreational fishers for plundering bluefin in their waters. The activity has exasperated members of a Mexican tuna...
US Seiners Want American Samoa Licenses To Avoid FAD Ban
US purse seiners have demanded that the American Samoan government issue licenses to land fish in the island nation. The administration bill submitted to the Samoan legislature Fono points out...
The Man Behind The “John Burton Factor”
Ahead of IOTC’s Special Session on FAD management, much controversy has been kicked up, especially over drifting FADs utilized by the EU purse seiner fleet in the Indian Ocean. Spanish...
Tunago Seeks MSC For Pacific Albacore, Bigeye, And Yellowfin
Taiwanese fishing company Tunago Fishery Co. Ltd. – with longliners flagged to Vanuatu – is seeking the MSC blue logo for its fleet's albacore, bigeye, and yellowfin catch. The UoA is for all...
Study Concludes: Private Sector Lobbying In WCPFC Does Not Hinder Sustainability
A new study that analyzed tuna companies and industry involvement in WCPFC meetings concluded that their participation and lobbying national delegations have not hindered any sustainability...
Multi-Stakeholder Participation Necessary To Improve EM Development Says Pew
Electronic Monitoring (EM) is a new development in tuna fisheries and AI and machine learning are even more so. Adopting these technologies has been slow, but an increasing number of parties...
Mexican Fishermen Say Low Tuna Catches Are Worrisome
The fishing industry at the Mexican port city of Tuxpan is stumbling in the dark as its lucrative tuna catches have dropped. Tuxpan holds 90 percent of the tuna fishing fleet in the Gulf of...
Major Global Highlights January 2023
There was a lot of impactful news within the global tuna sector in January. From Mitsibushi being rumored to sell Princes Foods to the EU seiner fleet coming under a lot of pressure from...
PNA Transshipments Remained Stable, Arriving In Low-Demand Bangkok
The WCPO transshipments of tuna in November remained more or less the same as in the previous month despite the lower catch rate per day. Ports in PNG and Micronesia operated the largest...
EU Seiner Fleets’ Fishing Activities 100% Observed
Compliance with fishing regulations is essential for tuna fleets across the globe. All Spanish and French purse seiners have onboard observers or an electronic monitoring system in line with...
Will There Be A 3-Mth FAD Ban In The IO?
The upcoming IOTC Special Session in Kenya scheduled between February 3 to 5 will focus primarily on FAD management measures. No consensus was reached during the last annual meeting on...
Port Lincoln’s Annual Tunarama Festival Back After 2 Years
The annual two-day Tunarama festival – held at Port Lincoln in Australia – concluded on Saturday. Tunarama, which began on January 26, was back in full swing after a two-year break due to the...
Seychelles Gears Up For Second Coastline FAD Retrieval Mission
Seychelles is accelerating its course of action to clear FADs washing up on its reefs, lagoons, and coastlines. After a successful ten-day clean-up event last October, the Seychelles...
Higher WCPO Fishing Effort Not Translated Into Higher Catches
The increase in total purse seine fishing effort in the WCPO continued in November, reaching the highest level of 2022. However, the result of their activities fell slightly by three percent...
Irish Displeasure With Foreigners Fishing Tuna In Its Waters Grows
Irish fishermen cannot catch Atlantic bluefin in the country's EEZ because no quota has been allocated under the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Meanwhile, fleets from its...