Fisheries scientists warn over 50% of tuna stocks not meeting MSC standards

Over 50% of major commercial tuna stocks are falling short of meeting criteria for the Marine Stewardship Council fisheries standard, new data has revealed.

Twelve of the 23 major tuna fisheries worldwide are unsustainable, a new report from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation has shown. 

The ‘An Evaluation of Sustainability of Global Tuna Stocks Relative to Marine Stewardship Council Criteria’ report found 11 of the 23 stocks worldwide are avoiding overfishing and maintaining target stock biomass levels when measured against the MSC standard.

This is an increase from last year when only eight stocks passed MSC principle one, which requires fisheries to be managed in a manner that does not lead to overfishing or depletion of exploited fish populations.

The 11 stocks are western Atlantic skipjack, north Atlantic albacore, south Atlantic albacore, eastern Atlantic bluefin, western Pacific yellowfin, western Pacific bigeye, western Pacific skipjack, eastern Pacific yellowfin, eastern Pacific skipjack, Indian Ocean skipjack and Southern Ocean bluefin.

Seven of the 23 stocks have also implemented well-defined harvest control rules.