(IntraFish) Netherlands-based seafood supplier Culimer plans to join the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a stakeholder in a fishery improvement project (FIP) to help erase deficiencies in Vietnamese tuna fisheries.
The project will focus on the improvement of catching methods and data, tracking and tracing and preservation methods to reduce post-harvest waste.
The final goal of the FIP, which is supported by the Vietnamese and Dutch governments, will be Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for Vietnamese line-caught bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
“With data showing that yellowfin tuna stocks are in healthy condition, and big eye stocks not in overfished state (but overfishing is occurring), there is a realistic chance of seeing MSC-certification in the coming years for line caught tuna from Vietnam”, says Martin Brugman, managing director of Culimer.
A previous study identified the lack of resource data and region-wide resource management as the most important issues of the Vietnamese tuna fishery, he said.
Vietnam is also a cooperative non-member of the Western and Central Fisheries Commission body which regulates the highly migratory tuna stocks in West and Central Pacific, with the intention to become full member.