By Atuna

The objection hearing on the final report and determination on the proposed certification of the PNA Free school skipjack tuna will be taking place on November 7^th and 8^th in London.

This was reported in a letter published on the MSC website yesterday by new adjudicator Mrs. Melanie Carter.  The previous independent adjudicator Mr. Michael Lodge had to hand over his duties to Carter, because he found it impossible to arrange a date for the hearing that was acceptable to the objectors ISSF, OPAGAG and Eurothon.

Mrs. Carter writes:
“In fixing the dates and venue, I have taken note of the latest correspondence from ISSF advising of its non-availability on 1-3, 16-18 and 23-25 November, as well as from OPAGAC indicating its non-availability from 8-20 November. I further take note of the communication from PNA (the client fishery) indicating flexibility in dates, but requesting a venue in Australia or a regional location such as Singapore, Tokyo or Manila.”

Eurothon was not mentioned, likely because it might be represented by OPAGAG, also a Spanish organization.

She continues:
“Whilst it is desirable to try to accommodate the reasonable requests of the parties, this cannot always be done, especially where, as in this case, the parties are located in different geographical regions. On the other hand, the intent of the Objections Procedure is to achieve a timely and efficient resolution of the objection and that must be the priority. It is noted that in so far as it is not possible to accommodate the wishes of all of the parties, alternative arrangements for representation may be made if necessary.”

London is also where the headquarter of MSC is located.

Normal MSC policy is that the objection procedure takes place within 30 days from the day the adjudicator invited all parties to the table. In this case the hearing will take place almost 60 days later.

It seems that both the independent adjudicator and MSC want to ensure that the objection procedure of this very important MSC tuna certification process will be completed within this year, and no longer delayed by complications over hearing dates. It is unclear at this point of time if indeed the objectors and the PNA will actually attend the hearing to give oral explanations, or if it will be purely based on the submitted written material.