The Tuna Conservation Group (TUNACONS), fishery improvement project, made up of the tuna companies NIRSA, EUROFISH, JADRAN, SERVIGRUP and TRIMARINE, Yesterday organized a workshop to refresh the knowledge of the Tunacons crew members in Manta.
On October 2 and 3, 2017, TUNACONS in cooperation with WWF Ecuador, approved its “Code of Good Practices On Board for the management and release of the sensitive companion fauna according to the mitigation measures. adopted by the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (CIAT)” that will be obligatory use in all its vessels with the purpose that captains and crew members frequently adopt in their activities all the necessary measures to protect marine species from possible negative impacts.
The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (CIAT), through resolution C-16-01, encourages CPCs (countries members of IATTC) to develop testing processes for non-entangling FADs in order to reduce some impacts on the marine ecosystem.
Recently, CIAT Resolution C-17-02 has already determined the mandatory use of non-entangled FADs in the entire EPO fleet as of January 2019.
For this reason, this working meeting will strengthen these concepts and provisions of purse seine fisheries in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO).
Among the topics discussed:
- Summary of good practices developed by Tunacons
- IATTC regulations on silky sharks and white tip sharks
- Biodegradable FADs Progress in the vessels of the companies member of Tunacons
- Coaching abut importance of previously discussed topics
Guillermo Moran Velasquez Manager of the TUNACONS project, indicated that the 5 tuna companies are actively involved in a fishery improvement project to take the fishery towards a sustainable and responsible development in favor of the conservation of tuna species and their ecosystems .