The Fishing Industry Association of Papua New Guinea (FIA PNG) is delighted to share that we have undergone a strict, exhaustive, and robust scope extension assessment by SCS Global to our Geographical Scope extension into the waters of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and the Western Central Pacific Ocean waters, collectively becoming the largest tuna supply source with 750,000 MT of raw material including Yellowfin tuna, and Skipjack tuna and Bigeye tuna under the FIA PNG Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) tuna fishery certification. The waters of the PNA member countries consist of Kiribati, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau
Our current tuna fleet of fifty-five (55) tuna purse seiners is fishing inside the PNG Exclusive Economic Zone and Archipelagic Waters. We are having good catches, however, we had applied for the geographical scope extension only because we do not know how climate change will influence the tuna stocks' behavior and migration
patterns.
We safely guarantee our stakeholders, clients, and retailer partners, that we will maintain the same rigor with the 100% observer onboard coverage, iFIMS real-time data collection, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) accessing our Vessel Monitoring System, Global Dialogue on Seafood Traceability Key Data Elements’ data collection & share and not forgetting FIA PNG accountability control system under our Responsible Sourcing Policy.
This is a result of great teamwork by our FIA PNG tuna fleet members and our FIA PNG office team to provide enough verifiable evidence to show how we are managing our fishery in a responsible and transparent manner to SCS Global, the MSC conformity assessment body. We greatly appreciate the support of the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) as the guard and regulator of our fisheries and tuna fleets.
Finally, to all our retailers and global tuna markets, we can ensure a stable and sustainable tuna supply aligning with the SDGs of food security.
According to an Undercurrent News article(click here to view), The Fishing Industry Association of Papua New Guinea (PNG FIA) said it has collectively become the largest supply source of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)- certified tuna.
The announcement comes after the extension of its certification's geographical scope, into the waters of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) and the Western Central Pacific Ocean waters.
The waters of the PNA member countries include Kiribati, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Marshall Islands, and the federated states of Micronesia and Palau.
An objection was received but was dismissed by the independent adjudicator and SCS Global Services.
FIA PNG said it had undergone a "strict, exhaustive, and robust scope extension assessment" by SCS Global for its geographical scope extension. Its MSC certification currently totals 750,000 metric tons of raw material, comprising yellowfin, skipjack tuna, and bigeye tuna, according to PNG FIA. The association explained to Undercurrent News that the 750,000t figure refers to the volume it can access, including the PNA waters to the PNG exclusive economic zone and archipelagos waters. The expansion is expected to "provide flexibility on fishing grounds access," it said.
In 2022, the PNG fleet caught approximately 131,000t of tuna, of which 93% were caught using unassociated sets or free school and 7% with associated sets or fishing aggregating devices, according to the association. In 2021, PNG's landings of MSC tuna reached 123,266t.
To view the full press release, download the file below: