FishSource

Marshall Islands bigeye and yellowfin tuna - longline (FIP)

Status: Completed

FIP Lead: Luen Thai Fishing Venture (LTFV), Norpac Fisheries Export (NFE), Marshall Islands Fishing Venture (MIFV) (MIFV)

Stock Profile Link
Yellowfin tuna - Western and Central Pacific Ocean
Bigeye tuna - Western and Central Pacific Ocean

Comments:

FIP is MSC certified (10/10/2019)

1. FIP Development	Dec 13	Fishery assessment or scoping document made public 1 December 2013 — MSC Pre-Assessment Marshall Islands Central and Western Pacific yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) and bigeye (T. obesus) longline fishery 2 March 2011 — FishSource profile 1 January 2011 — MSC pre-assessment available
2. FIP Launch	Feb 14	Confirmation of project participants 1 February 2014 — FIP participants 1 March 2012 — Suppliers are organised
2. FIP Launch	Jul 17	Workplan made public 1 July 2017 — Workplan for 2017-2021 1 July 2017 — A revised workplan was developed and adopted in July 2017, and covers the 5- year period of 2017-2021. 1 February 2014 — Workplan for 2014-2018 is adopted 1 January 2012 — FIrst workplan adopted
3. FIP Implementation	Jun 18	FIP activities undertaken 1 June 2018 — 2018 progress report 9 August 2017 — No individual shark species makes up >5% of the total discarded catch. 31 December 2016 — WCPO Tuna MSC Alignment Group 21 October 2016 — Updated milestones for 2016 1 June 2016 — Captain Training Materials and Ongoing Captain Logbook and ETP Handling/Release Training 1 June 2016 — Mitigate Problematic ETP catch 1 June 2016 — Domestic Surveillance, Enforcement and Compliance 7 December 2015 — Annual milestones achieved. See Downloads and Links for 2014-2018 workplan. 1 January 2014 — Improved sub-regional and WCPFC Management System 8 January 2013 — Norpac encourages MIMRA to get observer coverage to 5%. Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority trains observers with intent to resume onboard observer coverage of the domestically-based pelagic longline fishery in order to achieve or exceed the regional tuna RFMO requirement of 5% onboard coverage rate. (b) Norpac particiaptes in a WCPO bigeye tuna MSC P1 alignment group meeting and group activities following the inaugural meeting
4. Improvements in Fishing Practices and Fishery Management	Dec 17	Verifiable improvement in policy/management and fishing practices 31 December 2017 — ≥ 5% of trips are observed annually 1 August 2017 — New stock assessment report for WCPO bigeye tuna is published indicating that, based on new understanding on the stock structure, life history parameters, and recent recruitment, the stock is determined to not be overfished and overfishing not occurring 1 August 2017 — The 13th meeting of the WCPFC scientific committee met all milestones set out in the current WCPFC harvest strategy workplan 1 July 2017 — Electronic monitoring project is underway 1 January 2017 — The domestic management authority (MIMRA), TNC and LTFV begin an electronic monitoring (EM) pilot project. 21 October 2016 — Captain and crew have completed training for 2016. 1 January 2016 — Updated train the trainer workshop materials created for April 2016 workshop. 1 October 2015 — Planning implementation of 2016 PNA longline vessel day scheme 1 February 2015 — Electronic monitoring trial on one longline vessel 1 December 2014 — Longline captain training workshops 1 March 2013 — Luen Thai Fishing Venture adopts a company policy banning the retention of sharks or fishing gear and methods to target sharks 1 January 2013 — Vessel owner Luen Thai Fishing Venture voluntarily removed all narrow J-shaped tuna hooks and replaced these with wider circle hooks to reduce sea turtle bycatch 1 January 2012 — The regional fisheries management organization Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopts a formal limit reference point for bigeye and yellowfin tuna stocks
5. Improvements on the Water	Dec 18	Verifiable improvement on the water 1 December 2018 — Fishery has entered MSC FA 1 July 2015 — Increase in MSC outcome score 2.1.1 (Primary species)
6. MSC certification (optional)	Oct 19	MSC certificate made public 10 October 2019 — FIP is now MSC certifed