FishSource

Eastern Pacific Ocean tropical tuna - purse seine (OPAGAC) (FIP)

Status: Completed

FIP Lead: Organization of Associated Producers of Large Tuna Freezers (OPAGAC), WWF (W)

Comments:

AGAC four oceans Integral Purse Seine Tropical Tuna Fishery- MSC certified as of December 8th, 2021.

https://fisheries.msc.org/en/fisheries/agac-four-oceans-integral-purse-seine-tropical-tuna-fishery/@@view

1. FIP Development	Sep 15	Fishery assessment or scoping document made public 23 September 2015 — Updated MSC assessment, expansion of Principle 2. 15 October 2014 — MSC pre assessment summary results
2. FIP Launch	Jan 16	Confirmation of project participants 12 January 2016 — WWF and OPAGAC sign MoU
2. FIP Launch	Jan 18	Workplan made public 17 January 2018 — Updated workplan published 30 September 2016 — FIP workplan 2016
3. FIP Implementation	May 20	FIP activities undertaken 21 May 2020 — OPAGAC and AZTI have signed a new contract for the verification of the Code's implementation for the period 2020-2021. 11 May 2020 — OPAGAC participated in a pilot project, with the aim of comparing electronic monitoring and human observer collected fishery data; Project data will be presented at a later time 16 December 2019 — Keynote presentation presented on the role of fishing industry towards improving bycatch mitigation and management at the 1st RMFO bycatch working group meeting 16 December 2019 — The 1st joint tuna RFMO bycatch working group meeting was held in Porto, Portugal 4 September 2019 — Updated Code of Good Practices during 2019. 13 May 2019 — Updated data on bycatch mitigation actions in the IATTC area of competence. 11 May 2019 — Data on verification and outcome of the Code of Good Practices. 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC presented a white paper on the FAD-Watch project (establishment, successes, difficulties, practical suggestions) to support the establishment of similar projects elsewhere, 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC participated in the 2nd meeting of the Joint Tuna RFMOs FAD Working Group, in San Diego 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC and TUNACONS met during the ISSF/WWF FIP support and harmonization meeting 30 November 2018 — The inclusion of cetaceans in the Code of Good Practice is still under discussion. 1 October 2018 — OPAGAC held a Tuna Congress in Madrid last Obtober (2018), where, among other things, their EMS experience was shared with more than 200 people (multiple stakeholders: fishing companies from other fleets, NGOs, retailers, government, etc). 1 August 2018 — Presentation to MSE workshop putting the industry case for harvest strategies 1 May 2018 — OPAGAC has a research agreement with AZTI to support and improve the sustainable management tropical tuna in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. 8 March 2018 — MoU between TUNACONS and OPAGAC for FIPs in the EPO 1 October 2016 — Research into different designs of FADs including non-entangling and biodegradable, based on the evaluation in D2
4. Improvements in Fishing Practices and Fishery Management	May 19	Verifiable improvement in policy/management and fishing practices 31 May 2019 — Since the implementation of the Good Practices program, the commitment of the fleet and continuous training of crew on the application of the Code has contributed significantly to the improvement on FAD use. 4 April 2017 — FIP extended data gathering programmes in all oceans via observer training, observer support, electronic observation on board. 100% of the at-sea activities of the OPAGAC vessels are covered by observers, in the four RFMO
5. Improvements on the Water	Aug 20	Verifiable improvement on the water 21 August 2020 — FIP entered into MSC full assessment in August 2020
6. MSC certification (optional)	Dec 21	MSC certificate made public 8 December 2021 — AGAC four oceans Integral Purse Seine Tropical Tuna Fishery- MSC certified as of December 8th, 2021.