South Pacific Albacore and Western and Central Pacific Yellowfin Tuna Longline FIP
Overview
The South Pacific Albacore and Western and Central Pacific Yellowfin Tuna Longline FIP aims to improve fishing practices for longline vessels operating in the Pacific Ocean that land albacore in Fiji and supply Bumble Bee Foods. Bumble Bee sources albacore tuna from these vessels through the Taiwanese-founded company FCF Fishery Company, Ltd. (FCF), much of which is canned and exported to North American markets. While the fishery’s target stocks are healthy and management is well-document and well-implemented, the fishery lacks independent observers, electronic monitoring, qualitative information about bycatch, and explicit harvest control rules and harvest strategies which are fundamental tools used to limit the risk of overfishing.
What We're Doing:
- Convening fishery stakeholders to generate support, participation, and funding, including matching funds and in-kind contributions, for improvement efforts.
- Reviewing and updating a 2017 pre-assessment of the fishery to identify priority environmental challenges, including a lack of information about fishery interactions with endangered, threatened, or protected (ETP) species.
- Developing a FIP workplan to address the concerns found during the pre-assessment and pre-assessment update.
Project News and Additional Resources:
Fishery Improvement Project Information:
| FIP Status: | Prospective FIP (tracked fully on FisheryProgress.org) |
| Project Launch: | January 2019 |
| Location: | South Pacific Ocean |
| Participants: | Ocean Outcomes, Bumble Bee Foods, LLC, FCF Fishery Company, Ltd., Clover Leaf Seafoods |
| Species: | Albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga), Yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) |
| Gear Type: | Longline |
| Volume: | To be determined as FIP develops. |