Free-School Tuna Catch: Exactly How Much Is There?

The Western Pacific

The Western Pacific, the fishing ground representing over 50 percent of global tuna catch, is also, unsurprisingly, home to the most substantial volumes of free-school caught purse seine skipjack and yellowfin tuna worldwide.

The WCPFC, the RFMO dealing with tuna management in this area, has implemented an annual FAD ban, which now stretches a four month period for most tuna purse seine fleets, and this is believed to have partly driven an upturn in free-school tuna hauls.

The PNA, where the EEZs of eight Pacific island nations see over 60 percent of the world skipjack catch, boast the largest MSC sustainably certified free-school tuna fishery in the world, and these waters account for a large chunk of WCPFC recorded free-school catches, both skipjack and yellowfin. It’s believed volumes have climbed even more significantly since 2015.

It was recently shared by Pacifical, the marketing arm of the PNA MSC certified tuna fishery, that the volume of Pacifical branded MSC tuna delivered to Bangkok, the WCPO processing hub, climbed to 55,000 tons during 2016, from around 15,000 tons in 2015. This year, the quantity is expected to grow to around 100,000 M/T.

The demand for free-school caught tuna in the end market, among retailers and other buyers, is undoubtedly strengthening, and this is not only pushing up the MSC certified free-school volume, but also self-certified free-school/FAD-free landings, with more and more products carrying these claims. This call for FAD-free fish in the market has seen fleets respond, and supply of free-school caught fish increasingly being delivered to canneries. Free-school sets commonly bring in much larger individual fish, compared to tuna caught in FAD sets, and this gives canneries a higher efficiency in their production line.

The Eastern Pacific

The volume of free-school skipjack and yellowfin catches in the Eastern Pacific grew substantially from 2013 to 2015 according to IATTC data, in the shape of 45 percent and nearly 60 percent respectively, despite a 2014 dip in the numbers.

Globally, this is where the second largest quantity of total commercial tuna is caught. The significant rise in 2015 free-school volumes, to the highest on record for this region, is likely down to a strong El Niño creating favourable catching conditions in the Eastern Pacific in that year.

The Ecuadorian fleet is the largest tuna catcher in the region, and although still largely reliant on FADs, it has been reported to have boosted its free-school tuna SETS. Ecuadorian canners, who process these landings, are the biggest suppliers to the German market, where buyers have been recognized to have a high demand for FAD-free skipjack. However, it’s unclear what the effect of this increased demand has had on the operations of EPO fleets, and ultimately the volume of free-school catches.

Indian Ocean

Of the four major global oceans when it comes to commercial tuna catch, the Indian Ocean is the only region in which yellowfin catches commonly peak above skipjack. Major EU purse seine fleets in the region, mostly reliant on FADs, land a large chunk of their catches in the IO processing hubs of the Seychelles and Mauritius.

Free school purse seine catches of both skipjack and yellowfin have reportedly grown, however very modestly, and both the volume and proportion of FAD-free sets for skipjack, falls largely behind the two Pacific regions.

A higher proportion of FAD use has contributed to concern not only over the future state of IO skipjack stocks, but especially over the current state of yellowfin, which is now rated as overfished.

Per vessel FAD limits have been established in the region, and now purse seiners must reduce their annual yellowfin catches by an average of 15 percent, in an effort to rebuild this important regional stock.

Some fleets are calling for an even stricter FAD control, as they believe the use of these devices has largely led to the current issues. If such proposals are adopted, this could increase the IO free school catch, and create a FAD-free tuna supply to the three main Indian Ocean canneries. Right now Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles based processors have limited ability to offer any FAD-free tuna to buyers, which puts them in an unfavourable position in some EU markets.

In both the Indian and Atlantic Ocean regions, large sized yellowfin is especially in high demand for canneries exporting to the French market, with the main consumption in France being raw packed, canned yellowfin. This can only be processed from larger mature yellowfin caught mostly on free-schools.

Atlantic Ocean

While the volume of skipjack catch caught free-school in the Atlantic Ocean has dropped somewhat from past levels, yellowfin free-school landings, mostly by French flagged seiners, have remained fairly stable, with even a modest increase year on year.

These tonnages mean that in 2015, free-school yellowfin catches made up as much as 45 percent of total landings of this species in the region, making the Atlantic an important supply source for large sized yellowfin.

Similarly to in the Indian Ocean, the ICCAT has adopted per vessel FAD limits for purse seiners fishing in the AO, at 500 FADs per vessel per year, and this will have contributed to an increased volume in FAD-free raw material tuna supply heading to processors in the region.

With EU markets being key export destinations for Atlantic Ocean processors, like Ghana and Ivory Coast, the small free-school skipjack proportion in this region could likely rise in coming years. The supply of free-school yellowfin is essential for these canneries to serve the important French market, but they will also need steady discharges of FAD-free skipjack to maintain their market presence and competitive position.

Global

Combining all these ocean regions together paints a global picture that a third of all skipjack and a quarter of all yellowfin is being caught in free swimming schools.

When caught in this way, skipjack, but more notably yellowfin are of much larger sizes. The average size of a tuna is much smaller when caught on FADs, requiring a lot more individuals, such as juvenile yellowfin, to make up the same tonnages as mature fish caught in free-schools. Baby yellowfin caught on FADs are often no bigger than 1kg in size, and in free-schools can commonly weigh 15kg or more.

Many in the industry expect that this year free-school catch numbers will grow bigger, and will be looking to 2016 and 2017 stats to prove this point. The International Sustainable Seafood Foundation (ISSF), representing over 70 percent of the global tuna industry, and one of the first promotors of FAD fishing, is increasingly realizing the negative effects the unlimited use of FADs can have on the future of tuna stocks, and has called for more data to be collected by RFMOs to assess their impact.

One thing that is for sure is that the fishing industry, along with scientists and RFMO’s worldwide, will have to focus increasingly on finding the right balance between the amount of skipjack and yellowfin that can be caught by purse seiners in free-school and FADS sets in order to keep the stocks of tuna also and those of by-catch species in a healthy state. That way industry will be able to keep up with the increasing global market demand, but for how long?