Record Highs and Lows For SA Tuna Fishery

 The South African Tuna Pole Fishery has been bolstered this past season by the highest prices in history paid by the local exporters for their albacore catches. (South African Albacore Price Trend) Whilst the frozen yellow fin prices have remained consistently low, the albacore price roller coasted even higher and higher. This advantageous position for the vessel owners was drastically assisted by the competitive trading by these exporters to accumulate what little supply there was which was a major contributor to the high prices seen this past season. We need to be reminded that global catches were poor at this time which was also a major contributing factor. Whilst New Zealand had some catches of the smaller class of albacore, it was subsequently traded at a much lower price because of this. With the onset of the Spanish tuna season we have seen their canneries taking a more bullish position in an attempt to drive down the albacore price. This has had some effect on the price but with their catches remaining slow and low, SA albacore is still trading relatively high albeit at a level lower than last month. This past week we have seen improved catches of albacore with still the larger class of fish being landed. Interestingly, there have been increased reports of blue fin tuna swimming in and amongst the big eyes!

 With our tuna pole season still unbelievably in late operation, we have seen a decrease in the number of active vessels in our fleet still fishing. This is mainly due to the recent lull in catches prior, the presence of snoek (thyrsites atun) and the expiry of annual Local General Safety Certificates issued by SAMSA. The effect of the snoek fishing has seen a reduction in the availability of crew for the tuna pole vessels as the crews earn a higher wage catching snoek with landlines creating frustration for the tuna pole vessel owners who are port bound.

With SAMSA's Special Marine Projects Division being awarded the interim contract for our marine resource protection we have seen increased visible enforcing with the inshore and offshore patrol vessels; Lilian Ngoyi, Ruth First and Sarah Baartman, performing random inspections on the tuna grounds. Whilst they are perceived as a nuisance and hindrance by industry, we must all be reminded that it is pertinent for SA to show active policing of our marine resources to ensure that we fulfill our ICCAT mandates to ensure annual renewal of our quota for tuna species. Without this visible patrolling, SA would not be able to give guarantees (such as the IUU Catch Certificate system) that our tuna is caught according to the ICCAT rules and

regulations i.e. legally guaranteeing full IUU compliance of our fleet.

The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) has a simple diagram below highlighting some of the requirements our Department Of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) has to comply with ICCAT in order to maintain full compliance and membership. namely; timely reporting of tuna catch data per specie, observer coverage, vessel monitoring (VMS), active vessel register to name a few.

This tuna season will be reflected upon as providing a much needed respite for the vessel owners but it must be commented that many of them did not utilize this opportunity to fish aggressively and make the most of it, with some of the fleet having recorded very low catches indeed!

The State Of Your Tuna Fishery

The International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF) recently published online a downloadable technical report outlining the current health of our 23 commercial global tuna stocks titled: The Status of the Stocks. The report provides a comprehensive summary of the recent scientific stock assessments as well as the current management measures implemented by the respective Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMO's). The methodology behind the rationale of this report revolves around these three key main factors: Abundance, Exploitation/Management (fishing mortality) and Environmental Impact (bycatch).  

In 2012 the global total catch of the 23 commercial tuna stocks was 4.6 million tons with skipjack tuna accounting for a total catch of 56% of this volume. Whilst the total yellow fin and albacore are 28% and 6% only. Whilst these are large volumes, it is proposed that globally 52% of the tuna stocks are in a healthy level of abundance, 39% are overfished and 9% are at an intermediate level. In terms of exploitation, 43.5% of the stocks are experiencing a low fishing mortality rate, 17.4% are experiencing overfishing, and 39.1% have a high fishing mortality that is being managed adequately.

When viewed from the point of view of total catch, 86% of the catch comes from healthy stocks. This is due to the fact that skipjack stocks contribute more than one half of the global catch of tunas, and they are all in a healthy situation due to their high fecundity rate. In contrast, most bluefin stocks and 2 out of 6 albacore stocks are overfished, but combined they make a relatively small fraction of the total catch.

A foreign vessel offloads its catch of tuna:

There are three main albacore tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean ICCAT area namely: North Atlantic, South Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Albacore catches in the South Atlantic increased 2% in 2012 (24,600 tons) from the previous year. Long linging accounts for 67% of this and 26% for Pole and Line. In 2012, the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) was set to 24 600 tons with a Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) at 25 200 tons. Due to the respective scientific advice and recommendations, the TAC for 2013 was reduced to 24 000 tons by the RFMO ICCAT. The Pole & Line review notes the lack of information regarding the impact the live bait vessels inflict upon the small pelagics and therefore could possibly be upgraded in the future with adequate data collection.

Currently South Africa has a quota allocation of 4 400 tons only. Previously South Africa and Namibia had a sharing scheme but last year's ICCAT meeting it was generally voted to be split thereby Namibia's quota will be set at 3 600 tons. With the recent figures circulating around the Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF), South Africa should reach and succeed our quota before the end of this year. This has major implications and repercussions with the most noticeable being a reduction in our quota by the volume of what was over caught for the 2016 season. (the quota will remain 4 400 tons for the 2015 season)

South Africa who has the second largest albacore quota (Chinese Taipei has been allocated 9 400 tons) will have to approach the other South Atlantic fishing nations and request additional quota from them should we exceed our limit. 

Priorities For ICCAT

The general public may not be aware of the international regulations/ stipulations that is being recommended from such an organisation as International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF). Their latest article highlights the importance of the Regional Fishery Management Organisation (RFMO's) to govern and regulate their respective oceans for sustainability. In Cape Town the South African government is hosting the 23rd annual International Commission  For The Conservation Of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) conference. I was unable to attend as part of the 54 man South African delegation comprising the Department of Agriculture, Forestry & Fisheries (DAFF) and industry as for certain reasons. Besides this setback, I feel that the South African Tuna Pole Fishery will be well looked after by those representatives from our industry namely, The Large Pelagic SMME Association and The South African Tuna Association both of which I'm on the respective committees. Various topics will be tabled for discussion throughout this week concerning the tuna species in the North and Southern Atlantic Oceans. A more heated topic is that of the blue fin tuna with Japan and Spain baying for an increase to their respective quotas and in stiff opposition to this are the likes of Green Peace and ISSF, who will compellingly argue that scientific data proves otherwise. The South African quota is so small that our vessels manage to catch our country's quota in a matter of a few weeks and such, blue fin tuna on the long lines are simply cut off the line dead when the quota is finished. However, South Africa is in the final stages of full membership with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) will subsequently have their quota increased substantially. South Africa which shares its quota with Namibia have consecutively under caught its ICCAT quota for albacore.

ICCAT is responsible for the management of the tuna stocks within the Atlantic and thus allocate Total Allowable Catch (TAC's) to each nation with an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Atlantic. Based on their scientific research conducted on stock assessment, they will issue each complying nation with a respective quota for each specie. ICCAT ensures that sufficient management systems are in place and functional to ensure correct governance of each flag state as well as a comprehensive fishing vessel register. In short the Atlantic tuna is only as well governed as the flag state within that particular stock is being caught and ICCAT ensures with all its checks and balances that thus is so.

The ISSF has notably made recommendations to ICCAT on the global issues of Harvest Control Rules and predetermined Reference Points to avoid and prevent over fishing of the stocks. ISSF is pushing for a closed vessel registry and a cap placed on the total number of fishing vessels allowed to actively fish in the Atlantic. Currently ICCAT does have this in place, but the ISSF is rallying even further for the reduction of the total fleet capacity to more acceptable levels. Under the topic of Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD's) the ISSF is challenging ICCAT for the comprehensive recording of data in log books for all catches concerning these as well as a FAD closure such as what is implemented in the Pacific for 2 months of the year. FAD's are responsible for the majority of juvenile tuna catches. Currently ICCAT does not enforce total catch retention to ensure that all tuna caught is landed and not dumped at sea. Undesirable species and sizes are discarded at sea to allow for the more valuable species to be landed.

Whilst ICCAT remains on top of all the five RFMO's with regards to compliance within the Atlantic, there is still scope for improvement from the pilot scheme that is currently been implemented by the ICCAT Compliance Committee. All in all our Atlantic Ocean is in good hands so to speak and is one of the better managed global oceans.