FishSource

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

Status: Completed

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

Stock Profile Link
Bigeye tuna - Indian Ocean
Skipjack tuna - Indian Ocean
Yellowfin tuna - Indian Ocean

Comments:

AGAC four oceans Integral Purse Seine Tropical Tuna Fishery- 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 pre-assessment expanded 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	Aug 16	Workplan made public 1 August 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. 1 May 2020 — FAD-Watch was featured as the first pilot FAD retrieval program in the world with the participation of different stakeholders to helpprevente and mitigate FAD beaching events 19 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 1 November 2019 — Participates in FarFish which aims at improving various aspects of RFMO and coastal state management 21 October 2019 — OPAGAC presented a study at the last Working Party on Tropical Tuna to explore how full seasonal closures may better assist multi-species fisheries 21 October 2019 — Index created for juvenile yellowfin tuna abundance in the Indian Ocean derived from echosounder buoys for the period 2010-2018 21 October 2019 — A "Case for Fishery Closures to Manage Purse Seine Fisheries for Tropical Tunas in the IOTC Area of Competence" was presented at the Working Party on Tropical Tuna 4 September 2019 — The Code of Good practices was updated during 2019. 17 June 2019 — Position paper on yellowfin tuna rebuilding 3 June 2019 — Presentation on abundance indices at Panama meeting 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC participated in the ISSF/WWF FIP harmonization meeting with and emphasis on FADs 8 May 2019 — OPAGAC participated in the 2nd meeting of the Joint Tuna RFMOs FAD Working Group, in San Diego 1 May 2019 — A bibliographic review of both peer-reviewed and grey literature was conducted on interactions between cetaceans and purse seine tuna fisheries in the Indian Ocean. 1 May 2019 — Guidelines on best practices for FADs 1 April 2019 — OPAGAC project proposals presentation 12 March 2019 — ISSF and the Common Oceans ABNJ Tuna Project (OPAGAC is a partner of the project) co-sponsored six sessions focused on bycatch in tuna purse seine fisheries and fish aggregating devices (FADs). 30 November 2018 — The inclusion of cetaceans in the Code of Good Practices is still under discussion. 29 October 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. 1 October 2018 — OPAGAC held a Tuna Congress in Madrid last October (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). 22 June 2018 — AZTI (on behalf of SIOTI, working with OPAGAC) has developed a questionnaire, which allows regional stakeholders to express their preferences for different options on management objectives and HCRs. 18 May 2018 — OPAGAC signed the Global Tuna Sustainability Appeal to IOTC's plenary meeting, along other industry and NGO . 3 May 2018 — Actions with several delegation members to prepare IOTC's plenary meeting. 1 May 2018 — A Strategic Research Plan including EBFM is currently under development (please check document link). 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. 1 September 2017 — Verification and improvement of the Code of Good Practices
4. Improvements in Fishing Practices and Fishery Management	Dec 19	Verifiable improvement in policy/management and fishing practices 19 December 2019 — Increase in PI score 3.1.3 19 December 2019 — Increase in PI score 3.2.2 - 32 of the 64 recommendations from the IOTC have been implemented which triggered an increase in score 19 December 2019 — Increase in PI 3.1.2 score 9 July 2017 — Verification of the implementation and outcome of the code of good practice 1 April 2017 — Support for data gathering programmes in all oceans: observer training, observer support, electronic observation on board
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- certified as of December 8th, 2021.