The Rise & Fall Of FAD Fishing?

A massive 100,000 new drifting FADs have been deployed into the ocean annually in recent years, according to several reports – a level that has been branded as “out of control” by environmental groups.

To put more digestible figures on the proliferation, some individual purse seiners have been deploying up to 1,400 FADs per year into the Indian and Atlantic oceans, several industry sources have stated.

So What Is A FAD? From Payoa To Satellite Buoys

Drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) are artificial rafts that tuna purse seiners drop in the ocean to attract and catch the skipjack that gather under them. As well as target catch, however, they also cause the bycatch of juvenile bigeye tuna and put serious pressure on this stock.

First coming onto the scene in the 1970s, Filipino fishermen developed FADs named Payoas, and Japanese tuna fisheries also adopted their use. Before this, all tuna vessels hunted free swimming schools of tuna. Some fleets, US-flagged seiners for example, were slower to adopt the use of FADs, but as their proliferation swelled, any vessels still concentrating solely on free school catch got left behind, with FAD fishers bringing in much bigger hauls.

Over time, FADs have constantly been re-designed and made more efficient. Over the last 20 years especially, they have been developed rapidly; from simple bamboo rafts to hi-tech floating objects.

As they evolved, FADs became equipped with sophisticated solar powered satellite sonar buoys, and skipjack fishing changed from hunting free schools to harvesting a FAD’s aggregated ecosystem.

Now, using the latest advanced technologies, these floating devices can be tracked via satellite by fishing companies from anywhere in the world. These companies can monitor its exact position and the marine life under a FAD and determine which FADs they want to target.

FADs are split up in two categories: drifting or free floating, and anchored. Drifting FADs are often deployed in such a way that they drift along with the currents through tuna fishing grounds, and they are used by industrial purse seiners. Anchored FADs are mostly deployed in less deep coastal waters and often used for small scale, artisanal fishing such as pole and line and handline.

The combined growth in FAD numbers, as well as in their efficiency, has put increased pressure on bycatch species. While major tuna industry group ISSF does not regard baby bigeye tuna as a bycatch species of FAD fishing, many other industry sources, NGOs and scientists do; recognizing that juvenile bigeye tunas are not commercially marketed or traded.

Around the late 1970s data shows that around 5,000 tons of juvenile bigeye tuna was being caught each year in the WCPO, the largest tuna catching ground. By 1990, this figure had already rocketed to over 40,000 tons annually, and more recently, we have seen years in which the volume of baby bigeye has surpassed 70,000 tons in this region.

Due to the increased technologies and the rise in bycatch, environmental groups have branded FAD fishing as “out of control”. It has been stressed that as well as the surging numbers of devices in the ocean, there have been no regulations limiting their use and no rules governing how or when to remove them from the ocean.

As a response, NGOs have pushed brands and retailers to make sustainable tuna sourcing reforms, in an attempt to have a profound effect on the tuna fishing industry.

With evidence of the huge scale of drifting FAD use globally, in the last 12 months extensive FAD-related measures have been implemented within major tuna fisheries, in pursuit of reducing pressure on vulnerable bycatch species.

So will the massive number of these devices being launched into the world’s waters every year start to decline?

After a massive surge and due to this recent adoption of more FAD-specific measures across major ocean regions, several industry sources now believe that we could be entering a period in which FAD use will be substantially lower. There is some hope therefore that the bycatch species that suffered from a FAD boom might finally start to rebuild.

Despite this, other sources are less convinced that FAD fishing has already reached its peak.

Francisco Tiu Laurel, Chairman of the World Tuna Purse Seine Organization (WTPO) and CEO of Philippine tuna fishing firm, Frabelle, believes that FAD fishing is here to stay. He also admits that if the boatowners had their own way, FAD use would continue to surge.

However, due to the recent regulations and limits that have been put into place, and the “external influences” on FAD fishing, he now believes there will be no more growth.

Tiu Laurel acknowledges that in the Pacific, environmental factors, like concerns over the bigeye stock, caused FAD sets to be limited, however he thinks the biggest push has come from the market.

Many buyers in the EU are showing increasing demand for FAD-free tuna products,” he states, with retailers adapting their sourcing policies to “keep radical environmentalists off their backs.”

While he thinks we have seen the FAD fishing peak, Tiu Laurel stressed that FAD fishing is ingrained in the industry and that without it, there would not be enough supply to feed market demand. With the right rules and policies in place, he says it will become accepted by everyone that a certain level of FAD fishing is here to stay.

There has never been an instance when the fishing industry has been 100 percent FAD-free, Tiu Laurel stresses. The “best case scenario” in the last two decades according to him, has probably been a proportion of 70 percent free school sets and 30 percent FAD sets.

Indian Ocean Fleet Addicted To FADs?

On paper, the strictest FAD reduction measures have recently been implemented in the Indian Ocean. The news that yellowfin stocks in the region had reached an overfished “red rated” level finally spurred member nations to take action.

At the latest Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) annual meeting, member states agreed to further limit the amount of active FADs per purse seiner in the region; down to 350 from a previously higher 425. This had already been reduced from a 2015 FAD measure of 550 per seiner.

An IOTC representative explains Active FADs: “Activation of an instrumented buoy results in an entry in the logbook or the FAD logbook, which specifies the buoy number and the geographical coordinates of its activation. An instrumented buoy may be activated only when physically present on board the purse seine vessel to which it belongs, or its supply vessel, in anticipation of its deployment to sea.”

The measures taken in the IO should represent a substantial reduction in FAD use, if managed correctly, and have the potential to bring positive impacts for yellowfin populations in the region, as this species is often caught juvenile within FAD sets. However, how to ensure member state compliance with such limits, and the submission of more accurate data on FAD deployment and use, have become key challenges for all tuna RFMOs.

Where the IOTC and its member nations took a big step in reducing the pressure that FAD fishing has on vulnerable tuna stocks, is with their adoption of measures to limit the amount of supply vessels. These scouting supply boats are used by purse seiners to deploy, maintain, search for and sometimes even steal drifting FADs. Industry data shows that one supply vessel can add up to 5,000 tons of catch per year to the purse seiner it serves.

Earlier in 2017, in a bid to relieve pressure, particularly on yellowfin stocks, the IOTC decided that in 2018 and 2019, only one supply vessel will be permitted per two purse seiners, and all have to be of the same national flag. From 2020-2022, just two supply boats will be allowed per five purse seiners, again all of the same flag state.

Several additional proposals have been submitted to the IOTC, stating that after 2022, there should be a total ban on supply vessels in the Indian Ocean. However, what will actually come into force following that year is yet to be decided.

The proportion of skipjack and yellowfin tuna caught on free school sets in the Indian Ocean is still falling significantly behind other ocean regions, while FAD fishing continues to dominate. It should be noted however that the free school proportion has been rising modestly in recent years.

When using 2015 catch figures, just two percent of skipjack catch in the IO is caught on free school sets, and 16 percent of yellowfin was netted in this way. Despite this, much stricter FAD controls have come into play since these numbers were recorded, and therefore results could shift significantly in the future.

Doubts Over Compliance In The Atlantic

In the Atlantic Ocean the ICCAT has also adopted measures to limit the use of FADs. It is currently stipulated that 500 FADs can be active per purse seine vessel at any given time, however it has been argued that some vessels are still deploying upwards of 1,000 drifting FADs per year. This figure used to be more in the range of 100-400, showing the rapid FAD growth that has been seen in the region.
As well as this, a two month closure on FAD fishing is implemented in the Atlantic Ocean each year, and by 2018 at the latest, the effectiveness of this measure will be evaluated. Sources representing the Spanish fleet, which is particularly active in this ocean area, also told Atuna that any fleets with seiners fishing on FADs must annually submit details on the use of the devices.

Each fleet under ICCAT must therefore collect and report details for each FAD deployment, FAD visit, or FAD loss, which include position, date, FAD type, and the catch and bycatch result of any FAD set made. While the adoption of these rules is undoubtedly positive progress from the RFMO, there have been calls for even stronger FAD limits, and concerns have been expressed on the rate of compliance of the Atlantic Ocean operating fleet with conservation measures put in place.

Around 45 percent of all yellowfin tuna caught in the Atlantic Ocean was from free school purse seine sets, according to 2015 data. However, just four percent of skipjack tuna, the most commonly fished species in the region, was hauled in free school operations.

Despite the strong measures that have been brought into action in both the IO and AO, WTPO Chairman Tiu Laurel believes that the Spanish and French fleets, which are dominant in these regions, are deploying too many FADs per vessel, noting figures of 300 – 500 FADs/sonar buoys per seiner.

While he groups these fleets together, it must be remarked that the French fleet focuses largely on free school fishing, while it is well known that Spanish-flagged seiners rely heavily on FADs. During RFMO meetings, efforts from French representatives have been more commonly targeted at reducing FAD deployment limits further, while the Spanish fleet works more on making FADs sustainable, like non-entangling FADs, or biodegradable devices. Spanish boatowners also believe that rather than reducing FADs further, data collection on their use should first be enhanced. The EU, however, grouping these two countries and other member states, is regarded as one Commission member and therefore collective decisions are made for the entire European fleet.

The approach of working to change FAD designs rather than directly reduce them is one that has also commonly been adopted by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), which represents around 75 percent of the global tuna buying power.

Having promoted FAD fishing as a sustainable method for many years, the ISSF also recognizes that management needs to be strengthened around the use of these devices. However, the industry group mostly looks to RFMOs to take the responsibility on conservation measures, and while it has never directly called for a reduction in FAD fishing, it looks at ways to create more sustainability within the FAD fishery, creating biodegradable designs and proposing enhanced rules on data collection.

What Is A Biodegradable FAD?

FADs are made from all kinds of materials ranging from steel drums to old nylon nets, plastics, and others. At the end of their use they commonly end up on beaches and reefs and create pollution. There has also been instances of sea life getting entangled in them, and shortening the length of the degradation process has been seen by researchers as key to reducing the damaging impact of these devices.

There have been several designs discussed to create biodegrable FADs, such as the use of balsa wood, bamboo, cotton and pinewood. The materials are selected and the designs are created with the objective of the FAD degrading and disappearing from the ocean faster than conventional devices. However despite the fact ISSF has held workshops to test these structures, no exact timeframes have been offered as to when partial or complete degradation could be achieved.

Although these bio degradable FADs are sometimes named eco-FADs, the ecological issues such as bycatch of non-target species and juvenile tuna, would not be solved by FADs breaking down more rapidly.

Compared to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Tiu Laurel believes that in the Pacific, where his own fleet is also active, most purse seiners are using far less FADs, at around 20 to 60 active per vessel at any given time. At this level he believes there is a good balance between the need for FAD fishing, and in keeping stocks at healthy levels.

We need FAD fishing to catch more fish, Tiu Laurel stresses, and if the industry was only permitted to fish free school, the price of tuna would skyrocket, he believes. This is due to less supply and the increased cost related to searching for free swimming schools of fish.

Active And Non-Active FADs In The EPO

In the EPO, governed by the IATTC, there has been little done in terms of FAD-specific reduction measures until recently. At the last RFMO meeting, member states agreed on the extension of the annual purse seine fishing closure, from 62 days to 72, not only prohibiting FAD use, but all fishing operations by purse seiners.

Additionally, measures more directly related to FADs have been introduced, prohibiting seiners from deploying FADs during a 20 day period prior to the start of their chosen closure period. There is also a limit placed on the number of FADs that can be active at any given time, ranging from 70 up until 450 per vessel, dependent on size.

On top of these measures, the IATTC introduced a very innovative approach by demanding each EPO purse seiners to gather up any FADs that are set on in the 15 days leading up to their chosen closure period.

Overall FAD operations in the EPO do still dominate, however the tonnage and proportion of free school fishing have been rising in recent years. Around 35 percent of the total skipjack catch is caught free school, and around 16 percent of yellowfin.

Despite measures so far, one large boatowner in the EPO region believes that if FAD fishing is not more strictly prohibited, the tuna resource will be completely wiped out. He indicates that FAD fishing has already gone too far, and that stocks have been at risk from the large increment that the regional fleet capacity has seen in the last five years. The building of big boats, and their pursuit of profitable fishing, which boatowners believe must come from FADs, has had lasting impacts according to him.

Until recently, he considered that vessel owners did not realize the damage that they were causing the resource but also themselves by their extensive use of FADs. Speaking frankly, he said this was very stupid, because in the end some fishing companies have destroyed their own business.

“There is a law that most people forget; the law of diminishing returns. That is a fact that is happening to this industry.”

This EPO boatowner had an opposing view, unsure if FAD fishing has actually reached its peak. Despite noting that growth was definitely stronger in previous years, he is less certain it will stop. Current measures do not satisfy him and he believes that tuna stocks will disappear completely if FADs are not further prohibited.

“The boatowners are the ones that must understand the damage they are causing the resource if they continue to use this fishing method. However, the majority are blind and do not want to accept it.” Instead they keep on investing in bigger boats, which have to be profitable, and FADs are used to do this, he states.

“My crystal ball is telling me that the crisis in the resource has already been created due to this fishing method.”

Western Pacific: 8 Years Of FAD Bans

Heading to the region where tuna purse seine operations contribute the majority of volume to global tuna catch, the WCPO governing RFMO, the WCPFC, has been different in its approach to FAD fishing controls. Since 2009, addressing FAD use earlier than other regions, it implemented a three month annual FAD ban for large purse seiners operating in the region.

This prohibits FAD use and deployment, and for most fleets the measures now last an extra month, meaning it is a four month closure, starting July 1st and ending October 31st.

While this was taken as a positive conservation measure to protect yellowfin and bigeye tuna stocks, several industry sources have questioned its credibility. It has been seen in the past that fishing on the devices booms after the ending of the FAD ban. To date, there have been no per vessel annual FAD limits implemented for WCPO fleets.

In the PNA however, formed by eight Pacific island nations and their EEZs, and where over 50 percent of the world’s skipjack tuna is caught, there have been stricter rules placed on FAD use, in an effort to preserve the region’s rich and economically vital resource. FAD tracking and charging is taking place, and currently, seiners are required to pay an extra USD 1,000 per vessel day, on top of the usual Vessel Day Scheme (VDS) price, if they wish to fish on FADs.

The achievement of MSC certification for free school operations of the purse seine fishery in the region is also believed to have incentivized free school fishing, with all of these points said to have contributed to a recent positive recovery for bigeye tuna. The species has moved away from a red rated overfished status and into the green, according to the RFMO.

Most recently, the PNA Office also announced that with its continued efforts to increase management of the FAD fishery in the region, it hopes to also gain MSC certification for purse seine FAD catch within five years’ time.

As much as 43 percent of the total skipjack catch in the WCPO region was caught in free school sets in 2015, the highest proportion of any ocean region. A share of 31 percent of total yellowfin catch was also caught in this way.

And while we have heard from the industry what they think, it is important to get the scientists’ perspective on FAD fishing, its impacts, and where its use is heading. John Hampton, Senior Fisheries Scientist at SPC, who has been involved in tuna tagging programs and the development and application of stock assessments, talks specifically about the WCPO. He indicates that we may have seen the peak of FAD fishing, noting that the proportion of purse seine catch on FADs has been fairly stable for a few years.

“According to our data, the big change has been the reduction on natural floating objects (log sets) and the increase of catch in free school sets.”

However, Hampton believes that FADs will always have a role in purse seine fishing. “But the use of them needs to be smarter.” This includes:

• Clear management objectives for the fishery, so that the use of FADs can be appropriately controlled.
• Avoidance of FAD sets that are known in advance to have high quantities of overfished target or vulnerable non-target species - Better acoustic technology and appropriate market or management-
• based incentives will assist this.
• Use of non-entangling FADs to avoid the capture of sharks, turtles and other non-target species.
• Use of biodegradable FADs to mitigate marine pollution.
• Appropriate controls on the numbers of FADs deployed to avoid undesirable changes in the pelagic ecosystem.
• Availability of detailed data on FAD deployments, FAD tracks and catches on individual FADs to scientists, so that decisions on FAD fishing can be science-based.

Alain Fonteneau, an expert tuna fisheries scientist with many years of experience in research related to the industry, also believes that FAD fishing activities will always be existent in the industry. However, speaking on a global basis he thinks that they will not develop significantly because of the various legitimate pressures against them. He therefore also gives indication that FAD fishing has reached a peak and the rate of such operations will likely steady or reduce.

Operators have to maintain their activities because FADs are the only way to efficiently catch the large quantities of skipjack that are needed today by world canneries, he states. “FADs are also the only way to catch the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) of skipjack stocks, the legal target of tuna RFMOs.”

However, he also warns of the negative impact of FADS on the biological productivity of bigeye and yellowfin stock. He stresses that FADs lead to the catch of many small yellowfin and bigeye tuna, which has reduced the MSY of these stocks in the four ocean regions.

FAD Fishing Might Not Have Peaked Just Yet

As one of the main environmental groups to stamp a global figure on FAD use in recent years, and to raise the alarm on the proliferation of these devices, NGO The Pew Charitable Trusts is not as convinced as others that FAD fishing has peaked in the global purse seine tuna fishery.

Amanda Nickson, Pew Director for Global Tuna Conservation, told Atuna: “We do not see evidence that FAD fishing is declining…and we see no evidence it has peaked yet.” She notes that FADs continue to be an efficient way of fishing for tunas, particularly with the advent of GPS trackers and echo sounders that are attached to the devices. Speaking of the WCPO specifically, she notes that “drifting FADs on average catch more than three times the amount of skipjack than free school, on a per set basis, and the number of sets made on FADs has remained relatively constant despite four months of the year closed to FAD fishing.”

Sticking with the Western Pacific region, Nickson adds that evidence suggests that FAD use can go lower than current levels (47 percent in 2016). “Concern over bycatch is likely to drive a two-pronged path to decrease FAD usage.” Pew believes that there should be an increase in regulation of FADs across all WCPFC waters, and there will also be increased pressure on this due to MSC certification in the region.

While Pew’s position is that individual FADs are not necessarily the major challenge with respect to management, it is the “unmanaged proliferation of FADs, and the lack of effective regulatory measures on FADs globally, which are the key problems.”

Nickson agrees that if FADs can be effectively managed and their use properly monitored and regulated, it should be possible to continue to deploy them. “However this really is dependent on major improvements in management and oversight of this gear, and limitations on numbers of FADs deployed, and the number of FAD sets fished in any given area.”

It seems likely that improvements in technology, such as the use of echo sounders and the uptake of regulatory tracking of FADs will become commonplace, and continue to keep FAD use attractive, according to Pew. However, Nickson, while believing that we are not yet seeing decline, is a little more positive in the changing existence of FADs in the fishery. “It is likely that work will continue on all aspects of FAD use to increase selectively and decrease unwanted and adverse impacts on the use of FADs,” she states.

It is undeniable that certain chunks of the industry, along with scientists and NGOs, recognize that FAD fishing has reached a level and style that has put far too much pressure on stocks. Stakeholders are therefore working on ways to scale it back, but this can be challenging when there are very different proposals and opinions from several corners.

While some believe that FAD fishing altogether should be a thing of the past, others are a little more realistic, pushing instead for a reduction on FAD sets, FAD numbers and increased FAD monitoring.
But with a major share of the tuna industry, under the ISSF umbrella, pushing to make FAD fishing sustainable, rather than cutting its use, and pushing RFMOs in the same direction, the current limits could be as strict as they get.

Most recognize that FAD fishing is here to stay, and even the PNA Office, one of the biggest frontrunners in pushing for increased free school fishing, and a decline in FAD operations, identifies that fate. With it aiming for the region’s FAD fishery to also have MSC in five years’ time, the position from these major resource owners is clear; the industry needs FADs, but they must be strictly managed for their use to ever become sustainable.

What Now?

What is clear is that right now it is essential what steps the industry takes on sustainably managing the global tuna resource, and FAD measures are a key part of this. If companies do not swallow the bitter pill now and make the necessary decisions to recover vulnerable stocks, it is likely that heavier, more impactful measures will need to be taken later.

Much stronger FAD and catch reductions in the future would put substantial pressure on the efficiency and profitability of individual fishing firms and could possibly drive the prices of raw material tuna up even higher.

If the industry does not act now, boatowners are likely to face even more extreme conservation measures at a later date; brands and importers will be presented with much higher prices; and these rising costs are likely to be passed onto the consumer. With canned tuna demand in certain major markets already seen to be slipping, such a domino of effects could be extreme.

From fishing ground to supermarket shelf, how industry and government choose to act now on sustainability issues that are staring them in the face, has the potential to change the shape and viability of the future tuna market.