Rapidly increasing eco-certification coverage transforming management of world’s tuna fisheries

Abstract

Tuna support some of the world's largest, most valuable and spatially extensive fisheries, but effective management has been challenging due to their transboundary movements and the need for multilateral decision-making. To address public concerns of over-exploitation, fishing companies have sought to differentiate themselves through involvement in “sustainable seafood” eco-certification programmes. Here, we show that the volume associated with such initiatives for tuna increased 237-fold between 2007 and 2019. Today, 2.31 million tonnes (47%) of the global tuna catch comes from fisheries holding or seeking Marine Stewardship Council eco-certification. This is due to a 57-fold increase in the number of fisheries engaged in the eco-certification process. Crucially, this growth is also correlated with a concurrent 14-fold increase in the adoption of harvest strategies by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). Semi-structured interviews with a broad range of RFMO stakeholders corroborate that the rapid uptake of harvest strategies is largely attributable to pressure from fishing companies needing to meet eco-certification requirements; over 90% of respondents had directly observed or speculated on this type of advocacy. These results suggest the tuna fishing industry and associated seafood supply chain actors are now playing an unprecedented role in shaping the international governance of these species.