Pacifical, the global leader in tuna traceability and verification, is excited to announce a significant expansion of its services within the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) MSC-certified tuna fishery. Pacifical’s enhanced capabilities will now include the verification and traceability of tuna caught using Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) for skipjack, yellowfin, and bigeye tuna, complementing its long-established free-school tuna verification services.

This pivotal development follows the recent recertification of the PNA MSC fishery for another five years, underscoring the health of tuna stocks and the effective management practices in PNA waters. It reinforces PNA’s position as a leader in sustainable fishing and reaffirms its commitment to protecting marine ecosystems through responsible fishing practices.

“We extend our congratulations to the PNA countries on this achievement,” said Henk Brus, Managing Director of Pacifical. “We have always felt confident that the PNA team would be able to successfully demonstrate to the adjudicator based on solid data and undeniable facts that their purse seine fishery is truly sustainable.  We are proud to be close long-time partners with the PNA communities and look forward to expanding our cooperation on traceability and verification throughout the entire tuna supply chain using our new SmarTuna platform”.

Through SmarTuna, Pacifical’s cutting-edge traceability and verification platform, tuna products from both catching methods and all three species are now fully verifiable. SmarTuna offers a real-time, digital supply chain map that delivers unparalleled transparency, evidencing sustainability and labor standards from sea to shelf. This platform gives brands, retailers, and consumers the confidence that their tuna products meet stringent environmental and ethical guidelines.

Key Features of SmarTuna:

• Verification of FAD-caught tuna: now fully traceable and verified as meeting sustainability and social responsibility standards, expanding on Pacifical’s established free-school verification.
• FAD-Free Segregation: We will continue to work along the chain to ensure verification and segregation are in place with their respective checks and balances to substantiate FAD-free claims of our customers
• Proof-point reporting per LOT code: Each batch of tuna is traceable back to the exact vessel and fishing trip (all details included), with a comprehensive filtering system to detect and prevent violations at sea, supported by 24/7 independent onboard monitoring.
• Comprehensive sustainability guarantees: Proof points preventing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, illegal transshipment, and assuring safe release of whale sharks, dolphins, and other vulnerable marine species.
• GDST-capable supply chain integration: The platform is capable to share data following the Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability (GDST) standard.

The PNA MSC certificationcovers approximately 1.3 million metric tons of sustainably caught tuna each year, making it the largest and most important sustainable tuna fishery in the world.