Pacifical’s Increasing Grip On The Sustainable Canned Tuna Market

Having reached a milestone of over 1,000 MSC trips last summer, and with a customer list that is rapidly growing, Pacifical, the market development company for MSC skipjack and yellowfin caught in the waters of the eight Pacific island nations that make up the PNA, is increasing its dominance on the world’s sustainable canned tuna market.

Henk Brus, who has over 30 years of experience in the canned tuna business, was one of the founders of Pacifical, a joint venture with the eight island states that make up the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA). Pacifical, which was established in 2011, is the marketing arm of MSC certified free school skipjack and yellowfin tuna from PNA waters, a marine area of over 15 million km2 and undoubtedly the world’s largest tuna fishery.

Brus functions as Pacifical’s CEO, and he explains that although the company has seen several accomplishments since its foundation, the firm’s potential is a lot bigger than what has been achieved so far. “We are just starting to take off, this is only the beginning,” he says to Atuna.

Growth for Pacifical’s tuna is directly linked to buyer demand for MSC certified tuna, especially in the EU and Australia, Brus explains. Australia is one of the biggest markets for Pacifical MSC co-branded tuna, with John West Australia, the main brand in the nation, carrying the Pacifical logo on the majority of its products. John West Australia’s tuna products are also available in supermarkets in China, showcasing the Pacific lady with flowers in her hair on the can, confirming the origin of the tuna.

All Pacifical products carry the logo, as well as the MSC blue tick of approval. This co-branding strategy is unique, and Pacifical is the only marketing company in the global tuna industry with this tactic. According to Brus, Pacifical is approaching 200 million consumer units with the Pacifical logo traded on a global level, and the co-brand is currently available in 30 countries.

But the growth of Pacifical is being held back. Not because of a lack of supply of sustainable tuna, but rather by the fact that not enough buyers are genuinely interested or motivated in buying MSC-tuna at a premium.

“Our problem is not supply. We have plenty of supply,” Brus says. “The problem lies with the fact that globally, demand for MSC certified tuna is still quite slow.”

The total MSC eligible amount of sustainable tuna that can be delivered from PNA waters is around 800,000 tons a year, a number that represents about 16 percent of the world tuna catch. In 2016, a total of 60,000 tons of raw material was supplied from the PNA fishery, showing that there is significant room for growth.

And Pacifical does have such ambitions in mind. In the next few years, the company would like to see at least 300,000 tons of sustainable PNA tuna marketed around the world.

But for that to happen, there are a few obstacles that need to be overcome. One challenging market in the EU is Germany, Brus notes. Most seafood sold in the country is in fact certified as sustainable by MSC. However, although tuna is one of the most popular fish for German consumers, the majority of the tuna sold in canned form is not MSC certified. The excuse often used by brand owners is that there is not enough MSC tuna available, Brus states. “In a way I have to disappoint these German buyers, as Pacifical can easily supply the entire German market with MSC certified sustainable tuna.”

Brus however reiterates that if retail or branded buyers do not want to purchase MSC tuna, fishermen will not go on MSC catching trips either.

“I think it is time that these buyers recognize that it is not the fishermen who are the problem, it is the buyers that are slowing down the development of sustainable fishing by continuing to buy tuna that is either caught unsustainably, or at best is self-certified as sustainable.”

He says that in some markets, such as Germany and the Netherlands where there is a very high market penetration of MSC certified seafood, it is apparently crucial for retailers that the fisheries they source from are certified independently by MSC.

However, their line of logic seems to be different for tuna. Buyers appear to trust that a company or the captain on a tuna boat can verify catch as sustainable. “Ironically they do not really trust a captain in any other fisheries, not on herring boats, or mackerel or sardine vessels. But when it comes to a captain on a tuna seiner, they immediately accept that he can certify his own catch as sustainable. So they take his word that the tuna is caught sustainably. No chain of custody and no independent monitoring or catching certificate seems to be needed,” Brus says. “I find that extremely inconsistent.”

Some companies also claim that their products are sustainable as they are certified by observers. “That is also a fairytale, because observers do not certify anything and they do not report to companies either. These are all self-certification schemes that really undermine the growth and development of MSC fisheries and of truly reliable certified sustainable tuna,” Brus argues.

There are two reasons why retailers do not buy MSC in large quantities, Brus explains. The first is the price factor. “If retailers do not want to buy MSC certified it is usually because of the fact that it costs more, and they want to get tuna as cheaply as possible.” Secondly, Brus says, there are limited choices of where MSC certified tuna can be sourced from. Ecuadorian canners for example, the biggest suppliers of canned tuna to the EU, do not supply MSC certified tuna.

When it comes to why brands are reluctant to buy MSC tuna, it is because many of them have factories in areas where there are no MSC certified fisheries. “Promoting MSC creates a huge problem for them,” he says. “They would have to import fish from other waters, as their own fisheries are not sustainable.” For access to the EU these processors also have to pay high duty fees for tuna that is not origin to the waters of the exporting country. There can however be exceptions, such as in the Indian Ocean, where a derogation rule allows canneries in the region to export a certain volume of tuna caught in other ocean areas duty free to the EU bloc.

In addition to providing sustainable tuna, certified to the highest standard through MSC, Pacifical also brings something extra to the product in terms of social responsibility. One of the selling points of Pacifical tuna is its social accountability, evidenced through its extensive social guidelines for purse seiners that were launched in 2016.

The firm has strong links with the resource owners of the tuna stock in the Pacific islands’ waters. “The Pacifical logo is a way of expressing the human aspect of sourcing tuna. It gives an indication that the company cooperates directly with the people that own the resource, and indeed are partners in Pacifical” Brus says.

A strong geographic indicator also comes with the Pacifical logo, and one of the trademarks’ main selling points is that it gives a clear idea as to where the tuna is sourced from, a unique aspect that sets Pacifical apart from others. This fits in with one of the biggest food trends at the moment, people wanting to know the story behind the food they eat.

“We want people to know where their tuna comes from, and that is from those who sustainably manage tuna to the level that it is MSC certified. There is a lot of effort going into handling the resource, and the people in the PNA want the people who buy their tuna to know that.”

Not everyone is as appreciative of the work done by Pacifical and the PNA nations however. The usual five year checkup of the PNA fishery by MSC was met with efforts to try and stop it from being recertified. The main driver behind this campaign was an NGO named On The Hook, which opposed the MSC standards and wanted to bring the reassessment to a halt due to the fishery being ‘mixed’, meaning that MSC certified free school catch and non-certified FAD catch are caught during the same fishing trip.

This campaign however proved unsuccessful, as PNA’s free school yellowfin and skipjack fishery was indeed recertified in March this year, once again proving that the fishery lives up to the MSC standard. Brus emphasizes that the MSC and non-MSC catch is kept very separate through the entire supply chain, and this is independently monitored, guaranteeing consumers that a PNA MSC Pacifical co-branded product is indeed sustainable to the highest level. The CEO also confirmed that vessels are involved in FAD fishing in the PNA fishery, but this catch is not MSC certified nor marketed by Pacifical.

On The Hook is, according to Brus, led in the background by John Burton, CEO of World Wise Foods, a major supplier of pole and line tuna to the UK market. He is also Chairman of the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF), which was also the main objector to the PNA’s MSC recertification. “The On The Hook campaign, which is led by a company that holds a very dominant position in the UK pole and line business, is very clearly commercially motivated,” Brus says.

The campaign is supported by the Swiss retailer Migros and South African supermarket chain Woolworths, as well as the niche brands American Tuna and Fish 4 Ever. Several British Members of Parliament (MPs) and a range of small NGOs including Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and Forest & Bird are also listed as partners on the On The Hook website.

On The Hook’s argument on mixed fisheries is, according to Brus, just as applicable when it comes to pole and line fisheries – some of which are MSC certified. “During a trip, pole and line vessels catch MSC certified skipjack in the Indian Ocean, but with the same pole, in the same hour, also catch red listed juvenile yellowfin, while typically fishing on FADs. There is also plenty of evidence of two fishing methods, handline and pole and line, taking place on many of their trips, without any clear chain of custody on board these vessels”.

As well as the PNA reassessment having been met with resistance, the overall MSC standard and assessment process has also been under scrutiny from pole and line stakeholders on the credibility of its sustainability standards, as they argue the Council allows fisheries to be partially certified.

Following the criticism to its standards, the MSC decided to no longer allow mixed fisheries to be certified. By August 2021, fisheries that have already received MSC certification will have to alter their practices accordingly in order to keep living up to the standard. From February 2019, any new fisheries wishing to gain the MSC approval have to comply to enter assessment.While the decision does not yet affect the PNA’s MSC certification, changes will have to be made in order for the fishery to live up to the Council’s new policies in three years’ time. And work is being done to ensure that the PNA will follow suit. Already ahead of the MSC’s update to its ‘Theory of Change’, the CEO of the PNA, Ludwig Kumoru stated that the PNA fishery aims to achieve MSC certification also for its FAD associated purse seine operations within the next five years.

Despite the obstacles experienced, Brus believes that higher focus on sustainability, consumers being increasingly aware of where the food they eat comes from, and companies caring more about social accountability are all factors that can continue to drive Pacifical ahead. However, for sustainable tuna to become the mainstream option on supermarket shelves, buyers have to step up and encourage this trend by actually purchasing tuna that has been certified to the MSC standard.