American Western Fish Boat Owners Association (WFOA) albacore tuna: the fishers' story

Meet the American Western Fish Boat Owners Association albacore tuna fishers

After years of being primarily a backup supplier for major U.S. and overseas canners, the small family-owned boats of the WFOA North Pacific albacore tuna fishery are selling more high-end products and increasingly selling them domestically – and MSC certification has been key to opening the doors to these markets. Wayne Heikkila, head of the Western Fish Boat Owners Association, discusses the fishery's low-impact fishing methods, sustainable management processes and new emphasis on selling locally.

Quick facts

• Highly selective troll-and-jig and pole-and-line fishery significantly reduces bycatch and avoids catching juveniles

• Smaller, family-owned boats

• Level of effort – and pressure on albacore stocks – is decreasing

• Good management maintains healthy stocks

• MSC certification is opening up new markets, particularly U.S. retailers and in Europe
   
  

"You could take all the gear and put it in one little shopping sack, no matter what size the boat. So it's a real simple fishery."

– Wayne Heikkila, Executive Director of the Western Fish Boat Owners Association

Why we chose MSC certification

Up until about a decade ago, 95 per cent of the albacore caught by the small, family-owned boats that make up the Western Fish Boat Owners Association went to the major U.S. canneries.

"But we knew we were only a sort of market filler for them – only if they had a void in their production and had a need for us, would they buy some," explains Wayne Heikkila, executive director of WFOA, which represents about 400 small fishing vessel owners in the U.S.'s Pacific Northwest.

A huge glut of fish in 1998 drove prices down so far that they had to look for new markets, which they found in the Spanish canneries and the Asian sashimi market.

"But," says Heikkila, "up until three or four years ago we were still basically a place filler for the Spanish canners and Asian markets, so in the last few years we started looking more at the domestic market."

Ironically, most of the albacore eaten in the U.S. is imported from Asian longline fleets and, in the early 2000s, most of the albacore caught by the WFOA vessels was going overseas. Only about five to ten per cent of the catch was going to local markets in the U.S.

The fishery began a campaign to sell more fish locally – just as U.S. retailers such as Whole Foods, as well as some U.S. processors and European buyers, were pushing their suppliers to be MSC certified. "That drove our decision to go down the road to certification," says Heikkila.

What sets us apart

Here are a few of the steps the WFOA North Pacific albacore tuna fishery has taken towards sustainable fishing:

• Uses the very selective fishing method of trolling and pole-and-line fishing to harvest each fish individually

• Barbless hooks and the way in which the fish self-segregate from other species significantly reduces bycatch

• Has seen its own level of effort decrease and supports not raising current levels of effort generally for North Pacific albacore

• Various measures to ensure the quality of products, including blast freezing at sea.

• Ongoing commitment to opposing illegal driftnet fisheries in North Pacific and to supporting scientifically-based reference points for assessing stock levels

• Supports and participates in international organisations

• Emphasis on selling more tuna locally reduces environmental and climate impacts of transporting fish internationally

Environmental benefits of MSC certification

"The great thing about albacore here is there is almost zero bycatch because they segregate by themselves – the only thing you catch is an albacore. And they kind of segregate by size," says Heikkila.

The troll-and-jig and pole-and-line fishing methods used by WFOA vessels are as selective as they come: after locating a school of albacore and setting their lines, each fish is pulled from the water one at a time.

For trolling, they use ten to fifteen plastic jigs with double barbless hooks – no matter how large the vessel is. "You could take all the gear and put it in one little shopping sack, no matter what size the boat. So it's a real simple fishery," says Heikkila.

About 300 to 400 of the boats that make up the fishery – and which catch about 90 per cent of the fish – are smaller, family-owned boats. And while it is an open-access fishery, it is not expanding, so the pressure on albacore stocks has not ramped up in recent years, as has been the case with other tuna fisheries.

"If anything it's less," says Heikkila.

The last stock assessment showed North Pacific albacore might be approaching maximum sustainable yield levels, but a new assessment, which will be released later in 2011, is expected to actually look better than the last. "We're somewhat encouraged by that," says Heikkila.

Economic benefits of MSC certification

With MSC certification, the goal of selling more fish domestically seems to be becoming a bit more attainable.

Though the economic situation may have slowed sales for now, "I see certification as potentially being something positive for us in the U.S. and North American market down the road, especially with value-added products and high-end custom canned products," Heikkila explains.

Today, almost none of the fish goes to U.S. canners anymore. Instead, a third goes to Europe, mostly to Spanish canners; a third goes to Asia, particularly to Japan as sashimi; and the rest is sold in the U.S. to retailers in major metropolitan areas, to small custom canners and as off-vessel sales.

"We would like to sell it all here at some point. Anytime you ship a fish overseas you have to pay a freight charge of 25 to 30 per cent,” says Heikkila. Even though the fishery was already considered well-managed and sustainable according to stock assessments, having the MSC label meant greater interest from some U.S. retailers and processors.

He has also noticed a positive reaction from chefs. "We have a Twitter following and there's a lot of chefs on there who ask a lot of questions about MSC," Heikkila says.

Social benefits of MSC certification

Selling more fish domestically is not just a logical business goal, says Heikkila, "it's a better deal for consumers here too."

"What we've noticed in food demos at places like Whole Foods is that people come up and ask about sustainability, but one more thing they're really interested in is if the fish is local, so that's something we've really been stressing too – that it's a local product and is benefitting local communities," he says.

Having that stable, local market for their products is even more important these days for the WFOA fishers as, for most of them, their livelihood will not be passed down to the next generation.

Though it is not necessarily a bad thing for sustainable albacore stocks, "most of the boats are getting older and the people are getting older. So [the fishery] is kind of shrinking by attrition," notes Heikkila. 

Looking ahead...

Fishery representatives have been trying to address illegal driftnet fisheries in the North Pacific and have been attending national and international management meetings to emphasize the need to support current levels of effort and reasonable, science-based reference points for measuring the health of albacore stocks. Instituting those new reference points "looks like it's going to happen fairly soon," says Heikkila.

 
The article above was written by an independent journalist commissioned by the MSC to find out how MSC certification has helped this fishery.