The time has come for the PNA unassociated / non FAD tuna purse seine skipjack and yellowfin fishery to undergo reassessment to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard.
This reassessment is part of the lifecycle of MSC certification, already planned since 2011 when the MSC certificate was granted to the PNA. Once an MSC certification is granted, annual surveillance audits are required to confirm the status of the certification reviewed annually for consideration of any changes in the fishery as well as progress on conditions and recommendations. Every 5 years a full reassessment to the MSC Fisheries Standard is required.
Since the current PNA MSC certificate (F-SCS-0090) expires on June 20th 2017, it is now time to start reassessment in order to ensure that PNA can continue to provide the platform to our fishing and processing partners, working under the PNA Chain of Custody group, to land eligible MSC certified sustainable tuna and place the blue MSC label on Pacifical MSC certified products.
In order to continue guaranteeing all our loyal customers around the world that our FAD free skipjack and yellowfin stock and fisheries meet the world’s highest certification standard on sustainability, our PNA ministers and officials have been actively working to set up all required management measures and to put harvest control rules in place. With the latest skipjack assessment by WCPFC demonstrating an even improved and healthy spawning stock biomasses and the recent renewal of our PNA MSC Chain of Custody (COC) until 2019, which remains one of the most comprehensive COC systems in the industry, we are positive this reassessment will be a success.
A third party independent auditor – Acoura Marine – has been contracted by the PNA to undertake this reassessment. More information on the assessment timeline and other aspects can be found here.
We are confident that this process will go smoothly and that deliveries of Pacifical MSC tuna to your company throughout 2017 will continue uninterrupted.
The recertification of the PNA Skipjack and Yellowfin fishery is scheduled for August 2017.