Culimer in Fishery Improvement Project for MSC certification of line caught Tuna in Vietnam
Culimer will join WWF as stakeholder in a Fishery Improvement Project (F.I.P.) in order to help improve deficiencies that will be identified in a fresh MSC pre-assessment study. The F.I.P. is being targeted at improving catching methods and data, tracking & tracing and preservation methods to reduce post harvest waste. The final goal of the project will be MSC certification of the Vietnamese line caught Big Eye and Yellow Fin tuna.
After finishing a successful circle hook implementation and data collection project last year Culimer and WWF are looking forward to initiate further improvements in the Vietnamese tuna fishery. Together with multiple stakeholders and WWF as coordinator they have proposed to initiate a new Fishery Improvement Project (F.I.P.) in Vietnam. The project will focus on the improvement of catching methods and data, tracking & tracing and preservation methods to reduce post harvest waste.
“With data showing that Yellow Fin tuna stocks are in healthy condition, and Big Eye stocks not in overfished state (but overfishing is occurring), there is a realistic chance of seeing MSC certification in the coming years for line caught tuna from Vietnam”, says Martin Brugman, Managing Director of Culimer. “A previous MSC pre-assessment study has identified the lack of resource data and region wide resource management as the most important sustainability issues of the Vietnamese tuna fishery that needed to be addressed. We welcome the governmental, NGO and industry efforts to join in the developments towards MSC certification.”
Supported by the previous MSC pre-assessment study, in close cooperation with the Vietnamese governmental agencies and supported by the Dutch government, considerable improvements have been achieved. Vietnam has become a cooperative non-member (CNM) of the WCPFC body that regulates the highly migratory tuna stocks in West and Central Pacific, with the intention to become full member. Furthermore, the circle hook project by WWF and Culimer helped to collect important catch data and reduce by-catch issues significantly. These results will help forming a basis for the F.I.P.
Fishery Improvement Project
The F.I.P. will be targeted at improving catching methods and data, tracking & tracing, preservation methods to reduce post harvest waste and increased cooperation with the WCPFC regional fishery management organisation for tuna. Culimer will continue to support the sustainability efforts under the F.I.P. in combination with its super freezing activities, that reduce carbon footprint and distribution losses whilst improving quality and subsequently value, compared to fresh tuna to be exported by air.