Traceability shortcomings in Mediterranean farmed bluefin tuna production Dr Sergi Tudela WWF Mediterranean

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1 Seafood Summit, Vancouver February 2011 Traceability shortcomings in Mediterranean farmed bluefin tuna production Dr Sergi Tudela WWF Mediterranean

2 1996 to 2006 The happy gold rush years (The democratization of sashimi) The Eastern stock of Atlantic bluefin tuna is considered overfished since the decade of 1980 by ICCAT SCRS. The industrial purse seine (PS) fishery evolved locally during the 80 s from a medium-scale one targeting small pelagic fish. Tuna farming started in the Mediterranean in 1996 and boomed from 1996 to 2007: 77 t (1996) 6,000 t (1998) 30,000 t (2005) Mushrooming farms around the Med fuelled the development of a bloated high-tech purse seine fleet, following a vertically integrated business model: Catch capacity of PS fleets in 2007: 54,783 t Farming capacity of authorized farms: over 60,000 t Annual TAC in : 32,000 t Estimated real catches: 50,000 t up to 2006; 61,000 t in 2007

3 ICCAT 2006 (Dubrovnik) Let s keep the party going on! In 2006 ICCAT scientists sounded the alarm bell: The combination of high fishing mortality and low spawning biomass is considered to result in a high risk of fisheries and stock collapse Only scenarios considering the closure of the entire Mediterranean during the spawning season [MJJ] together with increasing size limits are able to significantly reduce F and to rebuild spawning biomass to levels safe enough to avoid fishery and stock collapse (SCRS report, October 2006) But the EU imposed a so-called recovery plan based on a TAC of 29,500 t, more than 2 times the maximum level advised by ICCAT SCRS (along with some strengthening of the closed season and the minimum catch size, and the activation of the 1975 ICCAT Scheme of Joint International Inspection) In 2006 the Commission agreed on a number of management measures which are viewed by the Committee as unlikely to rebuild the stock to the Convention objectives unless additional actions are taken (SCRS report, October 2007)

4 ICCAT 2007 Japan creates the BCD Amid increasing international pressure on ICCAT for failing managing the East Atlantic bluefin tuna, Japan presents a proposal for a bluefin tuna catch document system for the purpose of identifying the origin of any bluefin tuna in order to support the implementation of conservation and management measures The unique BCD scheme was adopted to have effective control of the catches of bluefin tuna to ensure compliance with management rules, by tracking the product from the point of capture throughout the whole operation to its final market Japan s real declared purpose was to avoid a potential CITES App. II listing by establishing an analogous trade tracking system under the ICCAT aegis The BCD scheme was born as an ad hoc measure for the Atlantic bluefin fishery only (it being applied on an exceptional basis )

5 Main aspects of BCD scheme The BCD scheme covers both domestic and international trade, including re-exports, and envisages numbered documents for every tuna consignment with sections covering catch, live fish trade, transfers, transhipments, farming, harvesting and trade (first sale). BCDs are subject to validation by producer State authorities (whether flag State, exporter State or farm State) and verification by import authorities: validation is conditional to compliance with ICCAT rules for fishing and farming; in case of inconsistencies raised by the verification process any trade, including importation, has to be suspended. BCDs should be transmitted to ICCAT Secretariat and to the authorities of the farm state or the importing state within 5 days of validation, and made available to all ICCAT CPs in a password-protected website. Implementation difficulties arising from the complexity of the fishing/ farming system has obliged to fully amend the BCD ICCAT Recommendation in 2008 and 2009.The BCD scheme currently covers 2008, 2009 and 2010 fishing seasons.

6 2008: Dubrovnik plan amended in Marrakech ICCAT 2008 fails again to base conservation measures on scientific advice, but it creates an ICCAT Regional Observer Programme (ROP) with 100% coverage on purse seiners and farms, and fully launches the ICCAT Scheme of Joint International Inspection (JII) ICCAT would have for the first time ICCAT Observers and ICCAT Inspectors -only for the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery, which will add to the BCD ICCAT ROP was fully implemented only in 2010, while the Joint International Inspection scheme worked well in both years 2009 and 2010

7 Some results of the WWF/Greenpeace analysis Observer s independent assessment of catches impossible & full reliance on fishermen Strong mismatch between figures on logbooks, estimates in transfer declarations, reports by tugboats to inspectors, caging declarations and BCDs Strong divergences between catch numbers and weight estimated by observers and data officially reported through BCDs Non-authorized transfers at sea of cages between tugboats; deliveries of cages in farms by tugboats different to those reported in transfers Tugboats with VMS switched off or lacking VMS at all; IUU tugboats Multiple transfers from different purse seines and from different fishing operations in a same cage Transport cages directly moored at the farm, skipping delivery operation and control by the observer Lack of mandatory video-recording in transfer or delivery operation or access to observers denied Incomplete information on BCDs and other mandatory paperwork Different versions for a same BCD And more

8 Structural shortcomings: is traceability ensured by the BCD system? BCD is currently a paper-based system. ICCAT Secretariat is overwhelmed and can t process it properly: 2008 BCDs still absent from the on-line database Only Japan, as the main market, gathers most of the BCDs and process them in search of inconsistencies: several thousand tonnes of ABFT were stopped at Japan s customs in early 2010 (short before CITES ) In a conventional fishery BCD may potentially evolve towards a functional system but farming poses formidable structural problems, starting by knowing how many tunas were actually caught (and then transferred to transport cages, delivered to farms, harvested and exported) In other words, we might know what happened to the fish after harvest at the farm, but what about between catch and harvest?

9 Structural shortcomings: is traceability ensured by the BCD system? Summary based on available BCDs associated to 2008 deliveries to Malta Fishfarming Ltd. ATEU1MLT00004 BCD Number Vessel name Flag N caged N harvested % change Weight Weight % change caged (Kg) harvested (kg) FR St Sophie François 2 France FR St Sophie François 3 France FR St Sophie François 3 France FR St Sophie François 3 France MLT690/ Azzurra II Malta KR Sajomelita Korea traceability?

10 Improvements adopted (ICCAT 2010) Electronic BCD system (to be operational in 2012 fishing season) Compulsory video-recording and obligation for observer to use it to assess numbers and biomasses of tuna at transfers to cages and deliveries to farms; in case of discrepancies bigger than 10%, obligation for ICCAT CP to investigate the case (including denial of BCD validation and caging authorization, and release of excess fish from the farm) But fundamental problems with catch estimates remain: only a vague reference to initiate pilot studies aimed at the use of stereoscopical systems to better estimate both the number and weight of bluefin tuna at the point of capture and caging is found in the new text adopted in the meeting in Paris

11 The elusive issue of growth in farms (or the soap of the washing machine ) Distortion posed by potential weight gain at fattening farms has been a key factor affecting the reliability of 1. size samplings at harvest for stock assessment purposes and 2. catch estimates from farm harvests for compliance purposes It s well known unrealistically high, tailor-made fattening ratios have been reported the last years to cover up unreported catches In 2009 ICCAT adopted a standard table with inflated growth rates of up to 246% per year based on several industry studies. In 2010 a new study by WWF and others demonstrated that the 2009 table was invalid for back estimating original catches and, accordingly, ICCAT derogated it. The issue remains unsolved and no reliable standards currently exist, which provides ample room for laundering IUU catches

12 Further remarks on Atlantic bluefin tuna traceability: final consumers While each consignment of BFT domestically traded shall be accompanied by a validated BCD, there is no obligation to take it to the final consumer WWF has been repeatedly informed that IUU Atlantic bluefin tuna has been traded mislabeled as other tuna species that don t require BCDs (such as yellowfin) Currently, WWF is performing a large scale market sampling in different key countries to check for mislabeling through DNA testing techniques.

13 How exactly is the stock doing? Analyses were done prior to CITES showing the stock at less than 15% of the maximum historical level; a new stock assessment was made in October 2010 by ICCAT that highlighted important data shortcomings and considerable uncertainty not addressed by the modeling exercise. Current biomass would be at 1/3 the sustainable level (B MSY ) Theoretically, current measures should result in population recovery by 2023 with 67% probability, but overall uncertainty is too high. Hopefully, collapse trend of last years has been reversed (?) However, recent data indicates important population structuring within the Mediterranean: some subpopulations might be in a particularly bad shape (off Egypt, Turkey). Next and hopefully better- stock assessment scheduled for 2012: challenge now is to improve data and the assessment methodology.

14 WWF s advice to consumers Until: 1. a new reliable stock assessment in 2012 or later indicates any meaningful and sufficient improvement in stock status and a clear recovery trend, 2. compliance in 2011 and 2012 fishing seasons radically improve and 3. ICCAT bluefin tuna fleet capacity reduction plans for are effectively implemented, WWF keeps its recommendation not to trade and consume ABFT

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16 The future: ICCAT stock assessment in 2012 indicates on-going recovery at the required pace? (unlikely!) ICCAT in 2012 adopts stricter management measures? ICCAT fails again and a new listing proposal is debated at CITES COP16 in 2013 in Thailand? Other?

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