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Atlantic Ocean tropical tuna - purse seine (OPAGAC) (FIP)

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Last Updated:

Progress Rating: A

Evaluation Start Date: 2016-09-01

Type: Comprehensive

Status: Active

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

Stock Profile Link
Yellowfin tuna - Atlantic Ocean
Skipjack tuna - Western Atlantic Ocean
Bigeye tuna - Atlantic Ocean
Skipjack tuna - Eastern Atlantic Ocean

Comments:

FIP entered full assessment on 21 August 2020

1. FIP Development	Sep 15	Fishery assessment or scoping document made public 23 September 2015 — Updated pre-assessment with 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	Sep 16	Workplan made public 1 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. 12 May 2020 — OPAGAC participated in the EU Fisheries Control Coalition event focused on Remote Electronic Monitoring and Electronic Monitoring Systems (EMS) 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 30 November 2019 — Code of conduct has been updated 20 November 2019 — OPAGAC continues to actively engages with other industry stakeholders to encourage active support for the development of harvest strategies 1 October 2019 — OPAGAC continues to support technical inputs to develop alternative management options 28 September 2019 — FAD abundance index project is a collaboration with AZTI 17 June 2019 — Letter to FIPs participants on top priorities 3 June 2019 — Presentation OSPESCA meeting Panama 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC participated in the ISSF/WWF FIP harmonization meeting with emphasis on FADs (8-9 May 2019, San Diego), where a FIP overview was presented to the participants. 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC participated in the 2nd meeting of the Joint Tuna RFMOs FAD Working Group, in San Diego. 8 April 2019 — OPAGAC is working on bycacth estimations for industrial fisheries under ICCAT's Area of Competence. 1 April 2019 — Presentation to the joint Asian CPUE workshop, Pasaia, April 2019 1 February 2019 — OPAGAC has been working in actions intended to improve management of tropical tunas by the four Regional Tuna Fisheries Management Organizations (tRFMO) where the fleet operates. 30 November 2018 — The inclusion of cetaceans in the Code of Good Practice is ongoing. 1 October 2018 — Participated in several research papers on catch and effort monitoring. 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). 30 September 2018 — OPAGAC assists the stock assessment and management advice processes through research towards the development of purse seine CPUE indices of abundance (particularly important for skipjack stock assessments), through the release of fisheries data and high resolution buoy and echo sounder data from FADs. 23 July 2018 — Participate in Panel 1 inter-sessional meeting and encourage the EU and others to ensure that discussion of management objectives is on the agenda 18 July 2018 — Participated in ABNJ 5th STreering Group Meeting 21 May 2018 — Participated in ICCAT meetings - SWGSM and SCRS 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.This will significantly contribute to the development of indices of abundance (both fishery dependent and independent). 19 March 2018 — Participate in existing projects aimed at improving compliance with data requirements, as considered useful (e.g. ICCAT, ABNJ, WWF) 12 March 2018 — OPAGAC participated in the COMHAFAT/ATLAFCO meeting held in Morocco (12-13 March 2018), on the establishment of a Regional Harmonized Port Inspection Program in the ATLAFCO region; promotion of a EU Dialogue on Fisheries Governance to enhance regional initiatives, organized by LDAC, with COMHAFAT (date tbd) 1 September 2017 — Progress on Task B2 on Observer Data Collection and Quality Control 3 October 2016 — Propose a draft work plan and timetable for the implementation of 15-07 for all outstanding stocks to ‘harvest strategy group’ for review. Note: The work plan should be consistent with the milestones set out in Appendix 2, if possible. 1 October 2016 — Verification and improvement of the Code of Good Practices 1 October 2016 — Improved data collection for bycatch, discards, and interactions with improved mitigation where required 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	Dec 19	Verifiable improvement in policy/management and fishing practices 4 December 2019 — increase in PI score 2.2.2 - the implementation of the Code of Good Practice in relation to secondary species and the IPGs for silky sharks and whale sharks have been completed supporting increase in score 4 December 2019 — Increase in PI score 2.3.2 - cetaceans are now formally included in the Code of Good Practice 1 April 2019 — The most updated results for the Atlantic Ocean on the use of FADs and sensitive fauna release for the period 2015 and 2017 have been presented in April in Madrid to ICCAT’s Subcommittee in Ecosystems. Results show that the percentage of entangling FADs is nowadays a residual component, being the 81.3% of the FADs left at sea non-entangling FADs . 22 September 2017 — Verification of the implementation and outcome of the code of practice (the Observer Program) - Report presented to ICCAT
5. Improvements on the Water	Aug 20	Verifiable improvement on the water 21 August 2020 — FIP entered into MSC full assessment in August 2020 4 December 2019 — Increase in PI score 2.2.1 4 December 2019 — Increase in PI score 2.3.1
6. MSC certification (optional)	—	MSC certificate made public