Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation (CHMSF) British Columbia North Pacific albacore tuna: The fishers' story
Meet the British Columbia North Pacific albacore tuna fishers
The CHMSF British Columbia North Pacific albacore tuna fishery has been a pioneer in sustainable fishing for a long time due to its troll and jig fishing methods and conservative management. Lorne Clayton, of the Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation, discusses how the formal stamp of approval from the MSC is helping the fishery maintain market share and compete for new markets.
Quick facts
- Troll and jig fishery uses barbless hooks with no bait to greatly reduce bycatch and reduce resource consumption
- Good management maintains healthy stocks
"There's no bait; we don’t use another resource to catch our resource. We also use barbless hooks so that we don't have a bycatch issue – we don't catch dolphins, we don’t have sharks, we don’t catch birds. It's considered an extremely clean fishery for that reason."
– Lorne Clayton, Executive Director of the Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation
Why we chose MSC certification
By the time the British Columbia North Pacific albacore fishers began to think about MSC certification, they had already been deemed sustainable by three other organisations.
But it was not enough. "Some of those recognitions are only recognisable in British Columbia, some only in Canada and some only in North America, but nothing outside that," explains Lorne Clayton, executive director of the Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation (CHMSF), a coalition of fishers, buyers, scientists and managers formed in 2002 to protect and promote the BC albacore fishery.
The MSC label would remedy that problem but, at first, they were cautious of the time and cost of certification. Eventually, though, it came to the point where there were some markets to which they simply could not have access without the MSC label, says Clayton.
"So we thought, well we know we're already a sustainable fishery, we've already got the quality, but we're at the point now where if we don't start moving ahead with certification we're going to start losing markets," he explains.
What sets us apart
Here are a few of the steps the CHMSF British Columbia albacore tuna fishery has taken towards sustainable fishing:- Uses the very selective fishing method of trolling to harvest each fish individually
- Barbless hooks eliminate bycatch
- Jigs eliminate the need for bait fish
- Various measures to ensure the quality of products, including blast freezing at sea
- Ongoing commitment to teaching buyers, chefs, and other fisheries about sustainable fishing
- Supports and participates in international organisations and basic scientific research
Environmental benefits of MSC certification
"We've always been a sustainable fishery because of the way we fish and how it's managed in Canada," says Clayton.
Albacore stocks in the North and South Pacific are generally seen as at healthy levels. U.S. and Canadian albacore fisheries that use troll or pole-and-line methods help maintain those stocks.
By trolling, as the CHMSF fishery does, fishers can specifically target tuna without impacting other species in the process and without taking more tuna than would be sustainable. Moreover, the use of jigs rather than bait to lure fish onto the hooks eliminates the need to use up smaller fish in order to catch the carnivorous tuna.
"We don’t use another resource to catch our resource. We also use barbless hooks so that we don't have a bycatch issue – we don't catch dolphins, we don’t have sharks, we don’t catch birds. It's considered an extremely clean fishery for that reason," says Clayton.
Like all tuna, albacore are a highly migratory species that swim through or near many different countries' waters, but quotas for individual countries have not yet been set. Clayton says the CHMSF fishery is nonetheless "under agreement to international groups that we will not increase our fishery's capacity…so that there's not an ever-increasing capacity."
How else does MSC certification benefit the environment?Economic benefits of MSC certification
Though the fishery has always been seen as sustainable, without the official MSC stamp of approval there were some markets that simply were not open to its products.
Since they are so new to the MSC program, British Columbia albacore has not yet seen the price premium other certified fisheries have seen and because of the unique way in which their product is processed certification is only gradually opening the doors to new markets, but the future looks bright.
The tuna is blast frozen at sea so it tends to have a sashimi quality that draws a lot of interest from Asia, where MSC certification is not always as important to buyers. But Clayton says that recently they have received some interest in MSC products from places like Germany, France and the Netherlands.
"In the last couple months we've had a lot more requests specifically for MSC product, so I think we will be expanding," he says. "We're hoping that over time we will see a price premium and the fishers will be rewarded for their efforts."
How else does MSC certification improve economic prospects for fisheries?Policy benefits of MSC certification
The one thing MSC certification recommended the fishery improve upon was its participation in international organisations that track and manage migratory fish like tuna. Clayton says they have been involved with a number of organisations, as well as participating in some scientific research.
They have also reached out to other fisheries and to the culinary community to teach them not only about sustainably-caught albacore but sustainable fish in general – and even such topics as carbon footprints.
"There's a whole lot of different aspects to sustainability," says Clayton.
Looking ahead...
"We do have processors who are 100 per cent MSC – they will not buy non-certified fish. We have, I think, two or three of those now out of 16. That's a start. Once we can get more and more of our processors to only deal with MSC fish, that will be great," says Clayton.
He is helping spread the word through talks and presentations to other fisheries and to important buyers like chefs. "We want to make them aware of sustainability issues in all fisheries – not just tuna," Clayton explains, "so when they have the opportunity to purchase products they can focus on sustainable fisheries."
Get recipes for sustainable fish dishesFind MSC labelled products from this fishery
More about MSC certified fisheries and fish
The article above was written by an independent journalist commissioned by the MSC to find out how MSC certification has helped this fishery.
