By Atuna
Friends of the Sea (FOS), the seafood certification organisation, that also certifies tuna fisheries, will not reveal the names of the two longline fleets which have been audited and don’t match the organisation’s sustainability requirements. “We are not comfortable in publishing their namesâ€, Paolo Bray said in a interview with Atuna.
One of the fleet was found to practice big scale shark finning. FOS chief executive Paolo Bray stated two weeks ago his organisation would name the Indonesian and Korean fleet involved, but now says FOS is still talking with the companies to get observers on board and stop the shark finning.
The end of last month, FOS state that seventeen Indonesian longline vessels fishing for yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean had been audited together with “the major Korean tuna longline fleet†active in the Pacific. The audit was done on request of Dutch traders, whose name was also not revealed. According to FOS, several non-conformities were raised. In both cases the vessels had no independent onboard observer programme. “Therefore, no reliable data was available about the level and quality of discards or the implementation of any appropriate seabirds and endangered species by catch reduction methodâ€, said the statement.
According to Bray, the Korean fleet, which cooperated with the audit - was found to practice large scale shark finning. “According to our calculation, this fleet of 23 longliners could make a catch of half a million sharks a yearâ€, Bray said. The fleet owners said that they were not aware of the shark finning, but allowed the crew to fish sharks on their own account as compensation for their income. According to Bray, the company tried to hide the illegal finning by falsifying documents.
FOS has reported the case to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), because transhipment of the catch of the Korean fleet took place in the Eastern Pacific. FOS also reported the case to the