MSC pre-assessment

MoU with participants.

Full workplan October 2017

A newly announced decision-making process by the FAJ, the process includes stakeholder consultation in order to determine harvest scenarios to set the Harvest Strategies.

The NC15th report adopted at WCPFC16 in December 2019 included the revision of the CMM for the Northern Pacific Albacore. 

Report of the potential impacts on habitat of longline gear loss by the Wakayama albacore tuna fishery

The fishing vessel reported that sharks are sometimes caught and then released alive, typically by cutting the line on which a shark is caught. Sharks are not targeted, and finning does not take place.

FIP has started gathering information on ETP species with distributions that overlap fished areas. A plan for monitoring incidental catches is not yet in place but will be developed.

The project have obtained one year of catch data (confidential) from the fishing vessel and have requested additional years of catch information. The FIP is in the process of obtaining more detailed information about the bait species and source populations.

Fishery impacts on ETP species are better understood and any negative impacts are minimized.

FIP obtained 4 years of catch data (2014-2017) from the fishing vessel and confirmed that bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, and Japanese pilchard (bait) are main primary species (information confidential).

Increase in PI score 2.4.3

Increase in PI 2.3.2. and 2.3.3. scores 

After reviewing catch data (2014-2017) from the producers, it was confirmed that bigeye tuna, yellowfin tuna, and Japanese pilchard (bait) can be categorized as main primary species. Based on the available information, are all likely or highly likely to be above their respective biologically based limits. 

Improvements in the following scores were noted during the second year: 2.3.1