Determining if the CCSBT Management Procedure sufficiently demonstrates sustainability credentials of Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna
After discussions with MSC, ASBTIA applied for MSC and completed the pre-assessment (ACDR) for SBT caught in the Great Australian Bight (GAB) for farming. An approved CAB, Marine Resources and Assessment Group (MRAG) completed the ACDR (attached) and identified three possible challenges to certification. First was that the MSC Standard requires the product to be “landed.” This was resolved because SBT caught for farming is officially deemed “landed” by AFMA and CCSBT. Second was the SBT listing under the EPBC Act 1999 – the same problem faced by Orange Roughy East (ORE). ASBTIA has applied to the Australian Minister for Environment for SBT to be delisted in 2021.
Another major problem is that the MSC Standard requires the SBT stock to be “at least an 80% probability that the true status of the stock is higher than the point at which there is an appreciable risk of recruitment being impaired” (MSC Standard SA2.2.1.1 and SA2.2.1.2). The Standard notes that: “Where proxy indicators and reference points are used to score Principle 1 (Pl 1.1.1), the team shall justify their use as reasonable proxies of stock biomass for the PRI and/or MSY.” The Standard also notes that “The recent trends in fishing mortality rate may be used as a means of scoring stock status.” (SA2.2.4). Currently the CCSBT MP is tuned to a 70% probability of rebuilding the stock to the interim rebuilding target reference point of 20% of the original spawning stock biomass by 2035, which does not meet the MSC Standards.
As soon as this problem was identified by MRAG in the ACDR – ASBTIA had detailed discussions with AWE and CSIRO on how this barrier could be overcome. The view that SBT could not pass the MSC Principle 1 without this being resolved was then supported by the ISSF analysis in February 2021 (see www.iss-foundation.org) CSIRO noted that the problem could be addressed by a project – but that it required use of data and analysis which evolved from the meetings of the CCSBT Extended Scientific Committee (ESC) but were not published or used in the ESC annual Reports (see www.ccsbt.org)
Final report
This research project is an important step for the Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna fishery for catching fish for farms. The project directly addressed the point which is seen as the remaining barrier to the fishery achieving Marine Stewardship Council certification.
The project establishes that Southern Bluefin Tuna exceeds considerably the Marine Stewardship Council sustainability criteria required to meet Marine Stewardship Council Principle 1: Sustainable target fish stocks. The methodology used by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation was confirmed by the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna Extended Scientific Committee in August 2021 and might be seen as model to be used by other fisheries facing the same problem with certification bodies.
ASBTIA Southern Bluefin Tuna Research Program: Coordination, Facilitation and Administration
People development program: 2012 FRDC governance scholarship for women - Claire Webber
Industry organisations need to build their capacity to meet future challenges and opportunities. Building the skills and confidence for industry to influence is one aspect of capacity that the people development program aims to address through this project, providing opportunity to influence is another.
There is a need for coordinated delivery of opportunities to develop governance capability in the fishing
industry and and to promote opportunitites to foster diversity through succession planning within industry committees and boards.
Aquafin CRC - SBT Aquaculture Subprogram: provision of research platforms for projects requiring Port Lincoln based R&D support
NEED
This project is essential for cost effective and cohesive R&D aimed at meeting the priority needs of the
highly successful SBT aquaculture industry. While the industry has developed rapidly since its initiation in
1990, R&D is a pivotal requirement to underpin its development and assure the long-term sustainability of
the industry. This project is focused on maintaining an offshore SBT R&D capability.
It involves providing services to support to research activities undertaken on and around offshore commercial tuna farms including managing and coordinating the infrastructure for small scale, experimental, high risk and/or novel research and development activities utilizing live SBT.
These services have been and continue to be required by a range of projects managed by the SBT Aquaculture Subprogram (the specific scientific methods associated with each research project are developed more fully within the relevant project).
This project will:
1) ensure high quality technical services are provided in Port Lincoln to tuna researchers in a coordinated
way. These services are provided for experiments primarily on commercial tuna farms and the waters adjacent to these.
2) ensure that the use of the available resources is optimized and that a minimum level of duplication
occurs;
3) enable the costs associated with these activities to be clearly distinguished;
4) play a key role in communication between researchers and tuna farmers, as the project staff is based in
Port Lincoln, the centre of commercial activities.
This project will provide support for scientists involved in effectively undertaking research using the new commercial (industry) seacage research platform, where research with live tuna will occur on commercial farms. This strategy has the advantage of conducting research in the most appropriate circumstances to achieve the desired outcome. The greater industry involvement in this project, through the involvement of an experienced industry operator, also has the advantage of improving the transfer of research outcomes to industry, involving industry to a greater extent in the evaluation of outcomes, enhancing industry development of innovative technologies and practices to address commercial issues,and disseminating information more representative of their commercial operations. All these aspects are important in facilitating the take up and commercialization of the research outcomes.