Southeast US North Atlantic big eye tuna and yellowfin tuna
Last Updated: 2nd July 2010
Number of fisheries: 2
Species
Big eye tuna (Thunnus obesus) yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares)
MSC assessment status
The certification body, MRAG Americas, has put forward an additional nomination for the fishery assessment team that will be responsible for assessing the Southeast US North Atlantic big eye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishery against the MSC Standard.
Any stakeholder wishing to provide comments on the suitability or otherwise of this nominee is invited to contact Robert Trumble no later than 5pm GMT, 16th July 2010.
The certification body MRAG Americas, has also announced its intention to use the MSC’s default Assessment Tree and to use the RBF in place of the default Assessment Tree to evaluate PIs 2.1.1, 2.2.1 and 2.5.1 in the scoring of the Southeast US North Atlantic big eye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishery against the MSC Principles and Criteria.
The default Assessment Tree is defined in the MSC Fisheries Assessment Methodology (FAM), available for download here. Information on the Risk Based Framework is available here.
Any persons wishing to comment on this proposed use of the Default Assessment Tree and RBF are invited to contact Robert Trumble by 5pm GMT, 2nd August 2010.
The certification body, MRAG Americas, has further announced that the Southeast US North Atlantic big eye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishery is now entering the information gathering phase of the assessment. The primary objective of this stage is to collect information on the fishery and in particular to speak to representatives of the fishery, fishery management bodies and other stakeholders of the fishery. Meetings will be carried out over the period 9th to 12th August in Miami.
Any stakeholder with information on this fishery that should be considered in the assessment, or who wishes to meet with MRAG should contact Robert Trumble, no later than 5pm GMT, 2nd August 2010.
Please refer to the assessment downloads section for further information.
Fishery location
North Atlantic Ocean in FAO statistical area 31.
Fishing method
Pelagic longline
Fishery management
The US north Atlantic big eye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishery are managed as Atlantic Highly
Migratory Species (HMS) under the dual authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act, MSFCMA) and the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA). Under the MSFCMA, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) must manage fisheries to maintain optimum yield (OY) by rebuilding overfished fisheries and preventing overfishing. Under ATCA, NMFS is authorized to promulgate regulations, as may be necessary and appropriate, to implement the recommendations from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). The current HMS Fishery Management Plan combines the management of all Atlantic HMS into one FMP (where there were previously two), and combines and simplifies the objectives of the previous FMPs.
Commercial market
The fresh market in the US.
Assessment timeline
The assessment process is expected to take a minimum 12-14 months and is scheduled for completion from April 2011. Please see the download section for a detailed assessment timeline.
The target eligibility date for this fishery is the date of certification.
The MSC ecolabel can only be applied to product from certified fisheries. The MSC program does allow, in certain circumstances and within strict traceability requirements, the MSC ecolabel to be applied following certification to product caught before the actual date of certification. The target eligibility date therefore represents the date from which products may become eligible to carry the MSC ecolabel, however they cannot be sold until and if the fishery is certified. The actual eligibility date will be determined if the fishery is certified to the MSC standard.
To find out more about when fish from this fishery may be sold with the MSC ecolabel, please follow this link (http://www.msc.org/get-certified/supply-chain/eligibility-dates).
Tonnage of the fishery
In 2008, North West Atlantic catch for big eye tuna was 380.2 metric tonnes and 460.5 metric tonnes for yellowfin.
