ISSF Sails in Search of Improved Fishing Solutions

My recent article about bluefin tuna hit a nerve on Twitter, Triple Pundit, and in my inbox, where I got my fair share of nasty-grams.  I welcome the debate.  Aquaculture may be an answer to feeding millions if we deplete our fish stocks; but most methods of fish farming are not tenable in the long run.  Meanwhile tuna stocks, including those of the yellowfin tuna (pictured here, click to expand), are falling to dangerous levels because of overfishing.

One organization searching for answers is the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), a multi-stakeholder organization of companies, trade organizations, and non-profits to develop some far reaching solutions for replenishing our fisheries.

One scientist affiliated with ISSF is Kurt Schaefer , a senior scientist with the Inter-American Tropical Tuna who is about to spend two months aboard a ship for ISSF’s Bycatch Reduction Project.  In his own words:

The objectives of the cruise include advancing some areas of study about bycatch in tuna fisheries of which the scientific community has been working on for years. Our goal is to  hopefully reveal some practical solutions for reducing the catch of bigeye tuna and sharks, as well as other undesirable species, commonly captured by purse-seine vessels (fishing ships that are up to 100 meters long) fishing around FADs (fish-aggregating devices, floating objects that attract fish).  A primary consideration of the research is to determine whether the potential exists to develop alternative fishing methods to avoid the capture of bigeye tuna and other undesirable species, while maximizing catches of skipjack tuna, by investigating the accuracy of catch prediction estimates, and the behavior of tunas and other species.

Learn more about what ISSF is doing around the world here.